London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

The Manhwa 100 Workshop

manhwa100workshopCelebrating a Centenary of Korean Comics
The Korean Cultural Centre
Tuesday 23rd June 2009

‘Finding Your Own Way’
With Damian Gascoigne

As a culmination of this summer’s centenary celebrations of Manhwa at the Korean Cultural Centre UK, we are proud to announce that the guest speaker for The Manhwa 100 Workshop will be established illustrator; Animator and senior lecturer at London’s Kingston University, Damian Gascoigne.

The workshop will be held at The Korean Cultural Centre on Tuesday 23rd June at 6pm and will feature:

  1. A discussion on Damian’s influences and his connection with Manhwa
  2. A live drawing session demonstrating the specifics of character design for animation and graphic novels. Using his own work as an example, Damian will guide the audience through each step of the design process from the initial research to the final film.
  3. Offering an insider’s insight into the animation business.

Damian is a firm believer in the idea that one must discover their own way of designing: finding a style that is borne from the direct observation of life and then applying a range of approaches to this imagery A natural people watcher, Damian is rarely seen without a pen and paper nearby so that he can capture the people around him. His relaxed style and eye for detail mean that he can almost effortlessly transfer someone’s body language into a character design.

Damian’s film ‘Careful’ (2005) won first prize at the London Animation Festival (2006), runner up for Best Short Film SICAF Seoul 2006, runner up for Best Short Film at Annecy 2007 and runner up for Best Short Film at the British Animation awards 2006. His other films include: ‘A cream and two plains’ which was nominated for the Best Animated film at the British Animation awards in 2002. ‘How to get rid of information’ was nominated for the Best Short film at the Hiroshima animation festival in 2000 and Chaucer’s ‘The Franklin’s Tale’ was part of a collective body of work that was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999.