“Fluttering a sky blue skirt into a rabbit hole”… Disney is also captivated by hanbok, black obsidian artist.

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Heukyoseok Artist, ‘In the year-end of 2014 before Christmas, a reinterpretation of the representative British fairy tale ‘Alice in Wonderland’ from a Korean perspective began to be shared on online communities in North America and Europe. This was a silhouette of hanbok that appeared in popular dramas such as ‘Hwang Jin Yi’ and ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’ which captivated Una Young, an illustrator (pen name: Heukyoseok).’
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, ‘Una Young’s ‘Western Fairy Tales in Hanbok’ series quickly became a sensation. Hundreds of emails poured in daily, inquiring about purchasing the illustrations. The picture book museum of Eric Carle, a master of American illustrated fairy tales, proposed an exhibition of Una’s works. Subsequently, Una’s exhibitions held in various locations around the world, including France, Denmark, Brazil, and Japan, introduced the beauty of hanbok to the world. Collaboration with overseas famous companies such as Disney, Marvel, Adobe, Netflix, Johnny Walker, among others, is actively ongoing.’,
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, ‘On the 7th, the Cultural Heritage Administration appointed Una Young as the National Heritage Ambassador in a business agreement with Disney. Una will illustrate various products and exhibitions developed by the Cultural Heritage Administration and Disney. In an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper, she stated, “Even after drawing hanbok for over 10 years, there are still so many hanbok styles that I want to draw.”‘
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, ‘Una Young, a graduate of Ewha Womans University with a major in Oriental Painting, started her career in a game company. She participated as a dot graphic designer in the development of the online game ‘Baramui Nara’ after joining Nexon. She said, “I have always been interested in games and comics since I was young. I especially liked fantasy RPGs like Ultima and Baldur’s Gate, so naturally, I ended up in a related industry.”‘
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Heukyoseok Artist, ‘Although she accumulated nearly 10 years of experience in the game industry, she found it difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment as an artist. She said, “It was a job I started because I loved games, but at some point, I felt that the pictures I had to draw to meet the company’s demands were not ‘my own’. I felt the need to establish my own identity.”‘
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, ‘The theme that caught Una’s attention was hanbok. Captivated by the silhouette of hanbok worn in popular dramas such as ‘Hwang Jin Yi’ and ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’ at the time, she began to draw hanbok, utilizing her major in Oriental Painting. She said, “At first, I tried to draw hanbok from traditional fairy tales. However, the hanbok in traditional fairy tales seemed too obvious. Just like how dresses in Western fairy tales are taken for granted, I began to think, ‘What if we break the norm.'”‘
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, ‘While working at the company, Una devoted her time to personal projects. She said, “I started working, but I wasn’t sure about the direction. Since I was only working on dot graphic designs, my hands were getting stiff.” To secure time for her artwork, she often used lunch breaks or worked until dawn after work. “It was a strenuous task, but the sense of fulfillment that came from drawing out of pure desire, not because it was work that ‘had to be done,’ was significant.” Her representative works, the ‘Western Fairy Tales series’ and ‘Hanbok Women series,’ were started during her employment.’,
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Heukyoseok Artist’s illustration of Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’,

Heukyoseok Artist’s illustration of characters Jin and Kazuya from ‘Tekken 8’, ‘As interest in the works of ‘Heukyoseok’ grew, collaborations with global content companies followed. Disney proposed to dress up ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ Marvel Comics suggested dressing hanbok to ‘Thor’ and ‘Spider-Man,’ and Bandai Namco asked to dress ‘Kazuya Mishima’ from the fighting game Tekken in hanbok.’,
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, ‘In 2019, having studied and learned about hanbok, Una published a book herself. This book, which has been translated and published in Japan and Taiwan, contributed to correcting the controversy of China’s ‘Hanfu distortion,’ which stereotypes hanbok as a minority culture. She said, “When I first started drawing hanbok, I didn’t know much about it. The books I found were text-heavy and too difficult. At that time, I wanted to create an easy-to-read and beautiful hanbok book that would captivate the eyes of those who, like myself at the time, were starting to take an interest in hanbok.”‘
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, ‘Through collaborations with the Cultural Heritage Administration and Disney, Una expressed her ambition to present various contents embodying the value of our cultural heritage. She said, “After realizing that my drawings can make foreigners interested in hanbok and Korean culture, I gained a sense of mission.” She added, “Through artistic activities that combine tradition and modernity, East and West, I will make efforts to widely introduce Korea’s unique beauty and charm to the world.”‘
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