South Korea 2015: Zaemiro (Seoul Comics Road)

Scott and I headed for the Seoul Animation Center one morning. This day trip was by far one of the most exciting for me. I haven’t been practising animation in forever, but three years of studying the craft has definitely left an impression. Sadly, we found out when we got there that Seoul Animation Center was closed for a private event when we went. On the bright side, staff had put up a sign directing disappointed patrons to Zaemiro (Seoul Comics Road), a small little artsy area a 5-minute walk away. It was the best treasure trove of murals and cute that we discovered! I do not regret a thing.

Our disappointment upon realising that Seoul Animation Center was closed for a private event.
Oh well we took some pictures with the sculptures outside. With Red & Yellow from Larva.
A 3.5 meter-high statue of Robot Taekwon V.
Road signs leading us to Zaemiro.
Chanced upon a row of super cute cats along the way!
Loved walking along and viewing all the awesome cartoon murals.
My favourite piece for all the references from Studio Ghibli & Nickelodeon.
We stopped by Little Ani Center, which was a small area for families to create and film their own stop motion characters.
I loved how immersive the experience was for young kids.
Scott and I took a look around the workshop but didn’t want to spend hours stuck in there. The fee for participating was pretty nominal if I remember correctly? Definitely worth a chance if one has the time.
Very cute sets for filming!
Finally, we dropped by Zaemirang (Seoul Comics Space) which to our surprise was completely free to enter and which housed a few cool exhibitions and a pretty amazing library of comics (or Manhwa, as they call them in Korea) on the 4th floor.
We chilled for a long time at the top floor despite not being able to read a single comic book. It was mostly to escape the cold, quite frankly. It was -4°C outside! Brrrr.
So I think this Manhwa is about a form teacher who’s a huge swimming nerd???
I drew some stuff.
The basement featured works from Won Soo Yeon of Full House fame.
I RECOGNISE THIS PAGE OMG. *fangirl moment* Colour page from Let Dai.
It was a great day.