IP Interview ┃ A Character with 'Dad-like' Charm ─ Heollaengimulgae

Q1. Is there a reason you started drawing the Heollaengi seal?

When I was in elementary school, I liked drawing cartoons in my notebook and showing them to my friends.

When I was young, Pokémon was popular, and I enjoyed making up any story using Pokémon characters and drawing comics.

I think I've had a dream in my heart since then that I wanted to become a cartoonist.

And as I grew older, I forgot about my dream of art, but then I saw my girlfriend writing a poem a day.

Anyone looks cool when they do what they love.

I also wanted to copy everything that looked cool, so I drew one picture a day.

In the meantime, I also made KakaoTalk emoticons a bucket list item.

Q2. I'm curious about the backstory of the birth of the Hollang seal.

Hurray Seal is a character I created to represent the person I want to become.

I am a perfectionist by nature, so I get very stressed when I work.

The slacker seal was born while I was doodling with the mindset of "let's try to be a little more relaxed" when drawing.

Maybe that's why it's very easy to draw.

It is a character that you can draw freely, with any body length and any pose you like.

Just like the free-spirited appearance of the Hollaeng seal, we wanted to convey a message of comfort and love.

I wanted to convey the comfort that comes from that honesty—just showing my true feelings as they are, and being naive if I am.

The reason the slacker seal finally became widely known to people in earnest was thanks to the song Reels.

I'm the type of person who hums any song when I walk alone.

I don't want to admit it, but I'm a bit of an old man.

Just like middle-aged men hum when looking for the remote, I hum any song.

That blended with the slacker seal, and my humming and the slacker seal's loose dance became a combination.

I'm just grateful that people see me as cute, perhaps because I sang while wearing a clumsy seal mask.

Q3. What is the MBTI of the Heollaengi Seal that you set?

Um... Heollaengi Seal's MBTI is INFP.

I'm not that extroverted, but I have a lot of fun daydreams,

Expressing your emotions honestly and living life just going with the flow, no matter what the situation is, seems like an INFP.

I am also an F like Hurlang-mulgae, but even though we are both Fs, Hurlang-mulgae expresses his emotions more honestly, so I often envy him.

Q4. What do you think fans like about Heollang-imulgae? Is there a point that attracts fans?

Even I think the roughly drawn style of the slacker seal is really cute.

The slightly crooked face, posture, and expression have the effect of making you feel better the more you look at them.

In addition to this, I think people like it because I create songs and cartoons with mostly positive content.

I also felt more at ease and better after watching positive content.

You know how you want to share good things about a person.

So, it seems like new fans are also joining well through sharing among the existing Jjollangis (fan nickname for the Heollaengi Seal).

Q5. So many emoticon series have been released; isn't it difficult to come up with ideas?

I am the type of person who decides on the concept first and then composes the emoticons.

I found it easier to come up with ideas if I decided on a concept (office workers, students, season, etc.) first and then imagined the people who would be there at that time.

For example, when conceptualizing 'Cold Day Slacker Seal,' I imagine it is currently winter and organize ideas derived from the people around me or my own actions.

I also search for the keyword 'winter daily life' on blogs to look at other people's blogs and find detailed winter scenes.

When you need more ideas, looking up related search terms on Kakao Emoticon Plus can also be helpful.

If we assume it is winter, start by enriching your ideas using keywords that come together, such as 'cold' and 'cough'.

Q6. What else do you feel is needed to increase the character's vitality?

In the case of the sloppy seal, it seems that working on it in a messy way actually increases its vitality.

So, I guess you could say I should try my best and do it half-heartedly.

As I draw the slacker seal a lot, the proportions are gradually becoming prettier and the lines are becoming cleaner.

Sometimes, to find my original mindset, I look back at the early days of Hollaengi Seal and edit it to look distorted again.

Q7. What activities do you plan to focus on this year?

This year, we are working to make it possible for you to meet the Hurlang Seal offline.

With the help of many people, we are preparing a pop-up store and even getting ready to expand overseas.

I would like to create friends for the slacker seal in social media content.

I want to draw a picture of a slacker seal with friends, just like in 'Pororo and Friends' or 'Kakao Friends'.