[Seoul=Newsis] Reporter Lee Yesul = The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency announced on the 15th that they held the completion ceremony of the first “Webtoon Expert Program” on the 13th at the Seoul Garden Hotel in Mapo, Seoul.
The Webtoon Expert Program is an educational course designed to cultivate field-oriented professional personnel who can be immediately deployed in the rapidly growing webtoon industry. It was promoted as part of the “Comics & Webtoon Industry Development Direction” project announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in January. The first session of the program ran from July to November over approximately five months and consisted of three courses: training for new webtoon PDs, retraining for current webtoon PDs, and education on the use of new technologies (AI).
The program for new webtoon PDs offered systematic education covering the entire PD role, from planning and production to distribution and marketing, in cooperation with six major companies in the webtoon industry, including D&C Media and Jaedam Media. As a result, 7 out of 24 trainees secured early employment at major webtoon production companies, such as Redice Studio, the producer of “Solo Leveling,” and global webtoon producer ToYouDream.
The Korea Creative Content Agency continues to support employment linkage by providing employment consulting with executives from major webtoon companies to trainees even after the completion ceremony.
The retraining program for current webtoon PDs was conducted in two courses: secondary commercialization and global business. In the secondary commercialization course, opportunities for 1:1 business consultations with seven major film and drama production companies, including Showbox, Lotte Cultureworks, and KT Studio Genie, were provided. In the global business course, employees from global webtoon companies such as Piccoma, Dupuis, and Koomik conducted real-time lectures and Q&A sessions, sharing insights on overseas market conditions and entry strategies.
The program focused on new technologies (AI) included in-depth education on the latest generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion. Trainees learned the basics of AI and prompt writing techniques, and through practical exercises, they strengthened their practical skills in various AI application technologies, such as maintaining character consistency, adjusting poses, and improving image quality.
A representative from the Korea Creative Content Agency stated, “As the first Webtoon Expert Program was successfully operated, we will continue to provide support that drives the growth of the webtoon industry and further promote market entry for regional webtoon creators.”