Q. The season that naturally reminds us of <Dear Summer Sky> is approaching. How have you been spending your time lately since the series concluded?

A. Actually, I wasn't feeling very well around the time the series ended.
   Warning signs started popping up here and there, and I even started to worry about how long I'd be able to keep working on webtoons.
   So I focused heavily on recovering by exercising and traveling.
   Thankfully, I'm okay now.
   After taking some time to rest, I've been learning new things here and there and reading books while preparing for my next work.

Q. After choosing the career of a comic creator and already safely wrapping up your third series, what is the driving force that kept you running without getting exhausted?

A. From <Chirelujah>, to <Jjin: General Game Club>, and now <Dear Summer Sky>, listing them out makes it feel brand new all over again.
   Whenever the thought "It'd be fun to draw a comic like this~" flashes in my mind, I try my best to focus on that exact moment.
   I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to serialize, which brought me here. I am always just so grateful.

△ You can check them out on WEBTOON~! 📢

Q. Among art fields other than comics, which one do you usually draw the most inspiration from?

A. Hmm.. I usually get inspired by my daily life.
   Some comics started because I thought it would be fun while having silly chats with friends,
   and others I drew thinking, "Wouldn't it be more fun if I just drew what I like?"

   <Chirelujah> started because fried chicken is delicious,
   <Jjin: General Game Club> started while playing games with a friend,
   and <Dear Summer Sky> started because I love the sky. Simple, right?
   After intuitively deciding on a topic from daily life like that, in the stage of fleshing it out or planning specific episodes,
   I get help from music and video media. I don't really have a specific field!

Q. What kind of student were you during your school days, Creator SOJANG? We're curious if you shared any similarities with the characters in your work.

A. Even in my school days, I lived entirely immersed in comics.

   I was busy drawing comics all day, showing them to friends, or talking about comic-related stuff.
   I formed a comic club with my friends, got it approved, went around the school recruiting members,
   put up posters, and even did extracurricular activities.
   Even in college, I went to the club room constantly.

   Come to think of it, most of the characters are kids who are deeply engrossed in something.
   And they don't look back once they fall into it.🤭

   I think that part is what resembles me.

△ What were you like in your school days?

Q. Do you have a music playlist you enjoy listening to while working, or any songs you put on endless repeat to capture a specific emotion?

A. I have a playlist I made while working on <Dear Summer Sky>. 

   Kang Tae-wook - Youthful Lightning, EumYul - A Song Left for a Trivial Youth, Miiro - Seasonal Crime,
   Soon-ae - What Do You Think Love Is, SEVENTEEN - Cheers to youth, LUCY - Jogging, Adios Audio - Endlessly We,
   tuki - Cherry blossoms, you, and me, Mrs. GREEN APPLE - StaRt 

   They are all so good, so I highly recommend them~

Q. When is the moment you feel the happiest as a webtoon creator, and conversely, when do you feel the most lonely or exhausted?

A. When I read the readers' comments!
   Especially after finishing a series, many people mention how much they enjoyed it in the final episode or the epilogue, and I cherish reading those.
   It makes me truly happy.

   On the flip side, it's really exhausting every time I have a deadline.
   There are many times when I barely finish it by pulling all-nighters for several days. I can't do anything for about a day afterwards.💦 

Q. We're curious about the studio where your delicate works are drawn! Please introduce it to us~!

A. I work from home! I'm feeling a bit shy about it for some reason.🤭

△ The creator's space where the density of a whole season is perfectly drawn 🎨

[About <Dear Summer Sky>]

Q. The season of 'summer' is heavily felt throughout the entire work.
   When drawing <Dear Summer Sky>, what was the most representative summer landscape you visually wanted to capture the most?

A. I wanted to show the contrast between the dazzling, brilliantly blue sky that makes you almost dizzy and the fluffy, pure white clouds filling it above all else.
   The kind that makes you stop walking without realizing it, think 'Wow, the sky is so pretty today,' and turn on your camera—
   that exact dense summer sky is what I wanted to portray.

   Actually, you can encounter it surprisingly often.
   However, I think it's more important to have the presence of mind to pause for a moment and look up at the sky.
   I wanted to gift readers that refreshing moment of peace, at least while they are reading my work.

△ Have you seen the sky today? 

Q. As it is your third work, comparing it to your previous ones, what aspect of <Dear Summer Sky> do you personally feel you have 'grown the most' in terms of art style or panel direction?

A. After safely finishing my second work, I was deeply immersed in something for a while and did a lot of so-called 'fangirling/fanboying (deokjil)'.
   During that time, I drew a massive amount of art out of pure joy.
   When I counted later, I had drawn nearly 300 to 400 pieces.
   Because it was something I loved doing, I wanted to express it even more beautifully, so I looked up a lot of references in various fields and studied fiercely.
   Thanks to that time, my drawing skills improved so much that even I could feel it.

   Working on this piece, I realized deeply once again that when people have that energy of liking something in their hearts,
   and they pour it all out while fully enjoying it, that's when they can achieve dazzling growth.

Q. The main characters' names, 'Baek Gihu', 'Choi Haneul', and 'Seo Yeoreum', bring to mind weather and seasons.
   Is there a special reason you gave the characters such intuitive, season-themed names?

A. When I first drew Haneul, I conceptualized her image thinking, "If the sky were personified, I hope it would look something like this~"
   As I broke it down further, Haneul became the blue hour, and Yeoreum became the golden hour.
   Perhaps because of that, the names just naturally followed.

   There is a very amusing behind-the-scenes story for Gihu's name.
   While only the character's visual design was set, I was pondering, "Isn't there a cool guy name somewhere?"
   And a friend casually tossed out this name recommendation.
   I happened to be listening to the song 'Betelgeuse by Yuuri' a lot at the time, and 'Baek Gihu' was derived from Betelgeuse.
   It perfectly matched the series' atmosphere and even captured the meaning of weather and 'climate (gihu)', so it killed two birds with one stone, right?!

   My friend and I had a great laugh about it after deciding on it.

△ Friends who match their names perfectly 🎈

Q. The title <Dear Summer Sky> (Saranghaneun Yeoreum Haneul) contains all the main characters' names: Han Sarang, Seo Yeoreum, and Choi Haneul.
   We heard that 'Han Sarang' in particular wasn't planned from the beginning but was finalized after seeing a reader's comment.
   We'd love to hear more about this fascinating behind-the-scenes story.

A. After Yeoreum and Haneul were introduced, I remember seeing a comment that said, "Since the title is <Dear Summer Sky> (Saranghaneun Yeoreum Haneul), is there someone named Sarang going to appear too?"
   That's when I thought, "Hmm, that's a good idea!" 

   I usually tend to decide character names spontaneously.
   For Sarang, I only had her image conceptualized and hadn't decided on a name yet.
   Plus, I thought if I named her Sarang, readers might playfully wonder, "Could she be the third heroine?"
   and watch with excitement.
   I'd like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to that reader.

   I usually actively reflect readers' comments into the series.
   It's something I feel while publishing weekly, but at the end of the day, I really love the sensation of building the story together with the readers.

Q. Their first encounter goes awry due to a misunderstanding, but their relationship takes a turn when Gihu starts capturing Haneul through his lens to practice for a contest.
   What steps did you take to narratively unfold this process of deeply understanding and approaching another person?

A. Gihu and Haneul naturally get to know each other while practicing for the contest and preparing for the festival together.
   Originally, Gihu didn't have much interest in others, so he wasn't good at taking portrait photos.
   At first, he suggested the shoot to Haneul simply because her image fit well,
   but since his heart wasn't in it, the photos didn't turn out that great.
   Then, upon hearing the advice that "you must first understand the subject you are photographing,"
   Gihu starts to think deeply about Haneul as a person and gradually becomes more conscious of her.
   As Haneul starts being beautifully captured in his photos, Gihu's heart also begins falling for her.

   I wanted to depict that process narratively.

   At the end, there's a scene where Gihu hangs Haneul's photo in his room.
   This was to show that, setting aside the purpose of the contest, he had come to deeply love the very existence of 'Haneul', not just as a simple 'portrait subject'.
   It was a scene meant to show just that.

△ Written as photography, read as ulterior motives...📸

 

Q. Through an incident where Gihu's mother mistakes them for a couple, they eventually develop into real lovers.
   When directing the emotions of the moment they embrace each other's scars and 'truly start dating', what did you pay the most attention to?

A. Haneul confirms she has overcome her trauma,
   and Gihu shows her portrait photos imbued with his feelings, moving beyond merely getting physically closer.
   I wanted to highlight 'the changes that were only possible because they met each other'.

   The fact that they are changing because of the other person and giving each other a positive influence,
   and the emotional line of that crucial moment when that influence finally hits home as heart-fluttering excitement and a pounding chest—
   that is what I focused on the most.

Q. Various times of the day appear, from a clear daytime sky to a sunset, and then a night sky.
   Did you have a special color palette to set the overall mood of the webtoon,
   and are there any directing techniques you intended where the changing colors of the sky as you scroll down influence the reader's emotions?

A. To give a visual sense of unity throughout the piece, I set a specific central color as a base and utilized it.
   I primarily used light sky blue hues as the base color, subtly layering it over the characters as well as the backgrounds to tune the overall mood.
   I varied it slightly depending on the time of day.

   From morning to daytime, I set the tone with refreshing, light sky blue hues,
   during sunset, a warm, pale yellow glow,
   and at night, I unified the entire screen with calm, deep, dark tones.

   I directed it as if the characters were melting right into the air and colors of that time of day,
   so that readers could naturally and immersively feel the characters' emotions and the changes in the work's background as they scroll down.

△ Art that even illustrates the humidity of the day 🌤️

Q. Main character Gihu feels the sky through various elements like the air, rain, and dew.
   Are there any directing devices you used to visualize complex senses like hearing or smell in a visual medium like webtoons?

A. Thank you for the detailed question!

   In this work, I poured a lot of effort into the background details so you could fully feel the fresh summer mood and air beyond just the visuals.
   By utilizing foreground/background expressions that adjust the sense of distance between the characters and the background, along with a deep sense of space,
   I wanted to give a sense of presence as if you were standing there with them.
   Especially in moments where the senses are maximized, like scenes where they are getting rained on, I meticulously directed the narration and images
   so that complex feelings like sound or touch would naturally seep out of the screen.

△ ☔

Q. Among the many episodes of <Dear Summer Sky>, which iconic scene (or episode) do you personally take pride in for showing the 'highest level of perfection' in terms of art and directing, and why?

A. First, in terms of directing, I'd like to pick episode 59, 'The Bluebird Story'.
   The build-up leading to the play's finale by naturally connecting the narrative with the bluebird story was expressed so smoothly
   that it's an episode I'm personally very attached to.

   For episodes where you can see iconic scenes in terms of art, I would like to recommend
   episode 27 'Blue Hour', episode 41 'Amusement Park', and episode 53 'Golden Hour'. 

△ The creator's heart = my heart 💕

Q. As a youth romance set in high school,
   what was the differentiating point you hoped would make <Dear Summer Sky> remembered differently by readers compared to other youth stories?

A. It's a youth romance, but I hope it's a youth romance that comes to mind in the summer.
   I also hope it's a comic you think of whenever you see a beautiful sky. 

△ For some reason, I think of it every day lately...🎨

Q. Among the readers' comments during the run, was there a comment that gave you goosebumps by exactly catching your intention,
   or reader feedback that provided a fresh stimulus for the story's development?

A. Since the blue hour and golden hour were the main images of the work, the reader's comment that guessed this part correctly left the deepest impression on me. 

△ Isn't it foul play to draw not only time and space but even the air?

Q. If you were asked to express <Dear Summer Sky> in one color, what color would you choose?

A. Bright sky blue, RGB(14,180,252), Hex(#0eb4fc) 
   ( I referenced this site: https://ko.tacolor.com/hex/0eb4fc/ !)

[Outro]

Q. Even if it's not your next work, if you had infinite time and capital invested in you, is there a genre or story you definitely want to draw?

A. I want to try drawing a shounen comic, a super-powered comic, a magical girl story, a mecha story, a sentai story, a gag comic... haha.
   That's a lot, right? If I had infinite time and capital... I'd personally love to draw them!

Q. For readers who are newly discovering <Dear Summer Sky> or readers trying to find new fun while binge-reading it for the Nth time,
   please let us know if you have any tips on truly understanding the charm of this work!

A. If you watch it again after seeing the ending, there will be parts that look brand new to you!
   Also, I wrote down some TMI about the kids in the epilogue, and it might be refreshing if you focus on those parts!

Q. Lastly, if you have anything you'd like to say to the readers who loved <Dear Summer Sky>, please feel free to share.

A. Everyone, how was the sky today?
   It's nice to take a moment of peace to look up at the sky~!
   Thank you for loving <Dear Summer Sky>.
   Have a wonderful day, and look at beautiful skies a lot~!

The season that resembles the work is drawing near. How is the sky today?
Thank you for joining us for this long interview.☀️