• Smart Media Journal
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.76-83
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• 2023

This study proposes a method to assist webtoon artists in the process of webtoon creation by utilizing a pretrained Text-to-Image model to generate webtoon images from text. The proposed approach involves fine-tuning a pretrained Stable Diffusion model using a webtoon dataset transformed into the desired webtoon style. The fine-tuning process, using LoRA technique, completes in a quick training time of approximately 4.5 hours with 30,000 steps. The generated images exhibit the representation of shapes and backgrounds based on the input text, resulting in the creation of webtoon-like images. Furthermore, the quantitative evaluation using the Inception score shows that the proposed method outperforms DCGAN-based Text-to-Image models. If webtoon artists adopt the proposed Text-to-Image model for webtoon creation, it is expected to significantly reduce the time required for the creative process.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.44
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• pp.307-331
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• 2016

Webtoon is the most popular cultural contents representing contemporary Korea. This study explores the cultural aspects of participatory culture surrounding Webtoon, and reveals the cultural implications of webtoon in contemporary Korea. Particularly, this study notes that the engagement of the participatory culture is formed from the user-generated images and analyzes the reproduction patterns of them. Chapter 2 analyzes the mimicking process of user-generated images based on the 'meme' concept. Especially based on the variation degree of text or image, the user-generated images could be classified into three types of 'completely variant', 'partly variant', and 'completely same'. Users use these images as one of the fun factor by transplanting them into daily messenger conversation. Chapter 3 reveals the cultural meaning which is derived from the process of user-generated images creation. In particular, this study notes that most of the user-generated images are mimicking the main character of the original webtoon, and analyzes the underlying desire of the mass based on the literary theory of Northrop Frye. The main readers of webtoon are petit-bourgeois living in Korean metropolitan, and the user-generated images also reflects the daily lives of these ordinary people. User-generated images of webtoon are imitating the original contents in a way of replicating or mutating the images or texts. Also, they are consumed and enjoyed as an amusing code among users. Especially by mimicking the appearance of the main character in a self-reflective way, they appeal to day-to-day sympathy of users. In that user-generated images reveal the desire of the public living in contemporary Korea, this study examines the cultural implication of webtoon.

• The Journal of Bigdata
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.173-185
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• 2022

Nowadays, Korean webtoons are leading the global digital comic market. Webtoons are being serviced in various languages around the world, and dramas or movies produced with Webtoons' IP (Intellectual Property Rights) have become a big hit, and more and more webtoons are being visualized. However, with the success of these webtoons, the working environment of webtoon creators is emerging as an important issue. According to the 2021 Cartoon User Survey, webtoon creators spend 10.5 hours a day on creative activities on average. Creators have to draw large amount of pictures every week, and competition among webtoons is getting fiercer, and the amount of paintings that creators have to draw per episode is increasing. Therefore, this study proposes to generate webtoon background images using deep learning algorithms and use them for webtoon production. The main character in webtoon is an area that needs much of the originality of the creator, but the background picture is relatively repetitive and does not require originality, so it can be useful for webtoon production if it can create a background picture similar to the creator's drawing style. Background generation uses CycleGAN, which shows good performance in image-to-image translation, and CartoonGAN, which is specialized in the Cartoon style image generation. This deep learning-based image generation is expected to shorten the working hours of creators in an excessive work environment and contribute to the convergence of webtoons and technologies.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.770-773
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• 2019

본 논문에서는 매년 성장하는 웹툰 시장 속에서 신인 작가들이 성공할 수 있는 성공 요인을 밝히고자 하였다. 국내 1위 웹툰 플랫폼인 네이버 웹툰 중 데뷔작을 기준으로 완결 웹툰 212개, 연재 중인 웹툰 112개, 총 324개의 웹툰을 수집하여 연구를 진행하였다. 기존 선행연구와의 차별화를 두기 위해 독자의 직접적인 반응 중 하나인 댓글을 성공 요인에 포함하였다. 댓글에 담긴 긍정, 부정을 나타내는 주관을 탐지하기 위해 딥러닝을 이용하여 감성 분석을 실시하였다. 각 웹툰에 대한 댓글 반응을 포함하여 평균, '좋아요' 수, 장르 그리고 첫 화 댓글 수와 5화까지 평균 댓글 수를 흥행에 영향을 미치는 독립변수로 사용했다. 댓글 반응이 중요 요인인지를 확인하기 위해 각 모델 생성 시 댓글 반응을 포함한 모델과 포함하지 않은 모델을 생성하여 성능 평가를 실시하였다. 로지스틱 회귀분석, 아다 부스트, 그리고 서포트 벡터 머신 모델을 정확도와 ROC 그래프를 이용해 효율성을 비교하고, 이를 통해 댓글 반응을 활용한 로지스틱 회귀 모델이 가장 적합하다고 판단하였다. 모델 생성 결과 '좋아요' 수, 1화 댓글 수, 댓글 반응 순으로 성공 요인에 많은 영향을 미치는 것을 알 수 있었다.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.718-727
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• 2022

The Korean domestic cartoon industry has grown explosively by 65% compared to the previous year. Then the market size is expected to exceed KRW 1 trillion. However, excessive work results in health deterioration. Moreover, this working environment makes the production of human resources insufficient, repeating a vicious cycle. Although some tasks require creation activity during cartoon production, there are still a lot of simple repetitive tasks. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a method for creating a character pose through human pose estimation (HPE). The HPE is to detect key points for each joint of a user. The primary role of the proposed method was to make each joint of the character match that of the human. The proposed method enabled us to create the pose of the two-dimensional cartoon character through the results. Furthermore, it was possible to save the static image for one character pose and the video for continuous character pose.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.42
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• pp.105-123
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• 2016

The webtoon market has been consisently developing in the digital market. Under such circumstances, The Korea webtoon market is rapidly growing and leading of them. This is the time to prepare the base of a stable environment for the webtoon market which shows a swift rise. The Korean webtoon is surely aiming at the global market as well as the domestic one. As the Korean webtoon companies spread out to the world briskly, The leading publication cartoon market, Japan tries to break into the Korean digital market. The domestic market that has the good-quality cartoons through exportation and importation to make people of all ages enjoy them. and also the Korean webtoon is in the center of the global webtoon markert. The early model of Korean webtoon, line-webtoon is translated in English, Chinese, Thai language and Indonesian language to use on the mobile applications and web. Nevertheless, It is just the stating point. With Eradicating of the Achilles heel of the digital contents, illegal distribution and finding materials for cultural discount rate minimized cartoon, The Korean webtoon can become the highest in the global market and hold it. Moreover, not only webtoon but also published cartoons are existing together to have a long run. Beyond the existing cartoon books printed on paper, we should reach toward the digital books with portability and economic feasibility to make the contents stay out longer.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-99
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• 2024

This study aims to identify the competencies required for webtoon artists to survive in the future era of AI commercialization. It explores the current and future use of AI in webtoons, and predicts the role of artists in the future webtoon industry. The study finds that AI will replace human workers in some areas, but human empathy-related fields can be sustained. Artist roles like story projectors, Visual directors, and AI editors were identified as potential models for the changing role of artists. To address terminology ambiguity, a three-step AI categorization mechanical type AI, humanoid type AI, and transcendent type AI was proposed for a more realistic separation of AI capabilities. The researcher suggested these findings as guidelines for developing skills in emerging artists or re-skilling existing ones, emphasizing collaboration with AI for mutual growth rather than a negative acceptance of new technology.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.17
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• pp.5-19
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• 2009

As webtoon became activated, new forms of expression corresponding to a web format were appeared. New forms can be classified into two. The first is regarding on the computer, which includes a wide use of CG, and color comics. The second is related to web-based one, which includes the trend of a vertical scroll, the introduction of concept in time, animation stage effects, the manufacture trend of media optimization, and the various media mixing. While problems regarding web-based comics service such as copyright and cartoonist become manifested, webtoon will widen new horizon of comics with its characteristics and the change in the form of expression.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.147-153
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• 2022

Most of the metaverse service is a gamification type of metaverse solution composed by placing 3D objects on a 360 panoramic world base. However, the metaverse webtoon service is lacking in implementation and research. In this study, a method for realizing a 2D flat image form in a 3D space and a realistic 360-degree panoramic webtoon metaverse service were studied. The research process consisted of basic storytelling and design work for webtoon production, panoramic image creation to convert the produced image into 360-degree form, and content creation process for viewing 360-degree directions. Finally, we implemented shading and material work with game engine tools so that you can enjoy virtual reality-based webtoons. The webtoon-based metaverse study studied the process of creating a 360-degree panoramic webtoon from content that can only be viewed in 2D format. Accordingly, it is thought that webtoons will also be presented as a standard for the production and implementation method for the metaverse service.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Computer Information Conference
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• 2023.07a
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• pp.569-572
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• 2023

최근 하루가 다르게 발전하고 있는 생성형 AI가 창작과 예술 분야에 어떤 영향을 미칠 수 있는지, 새롭게 등장하고 있는 다양한 분야에서 활용 가능한 획기적인 기능 등을 살펴보고 이를 바탕으로 새로운 창작 방향을 제시할 수 있는 방법들을 살펴보려 한다. 최근, 작곡가와 소설가들은 물론, 디지털 아티스트들까지도 생성형 AI를 활용하여 독특한 음악, 글, 그리고 이미지를 창조하는데 성공했다는 사례들이 속속 드러나고 있고 영상, 게임, 웹툰 등 많은 산업현장에서 직접적인 활용방법에 대한 연구결과가 등장하고 실제 적용 사례도 늘어나고 있다. 이미지 생성기인 미드저니와 스테이블디퓨전 같은 도구들은 혁신적인 방법으로 빠르게 높은 퀄리티의 이미지를 생성하고 다양한 아이디어를 제공 받을 수 있는 도구로 창작과 예술 분야에서 큰 관심을 받고 있다. 이러한 발전은 창작과 예술 분야에서 생성형 AI의 무한한 가능성을 보여주는 한편, 인간의 창의성 침해와 예술가들의 노력 희석에 대한 비판적 시각을 불러일으키기도 한다. 본 연구는 이런 다양한 관점에서 창작·예술 분야의 생성형 AI 활용을 깊이 있게 탐구한다. 그 과정에서 여러 생성형 AI 도구들, 특히 이미지 생성기 미드저니와 스테이블디퓨전의 기능과 활용 방안, 그로 인한 사회적, 윤리적 측면을 분석하며, 창작·예술 분야에서의 생성형 AI 활용의 적절한 방향성과 미래 전망을 제시해 보고자 한다.