Kang Full

Kang Full (or Kang Pool, ) is the pen name of Kang Do-young (born December 7, 1974), a South Korean webtoon artist and screenwriter.

Kang Do-young was born on December 7, 1974, in Seoul.

His father is a pastor.

He moved to Gangdong-gu, Seoul when he was 2 years old and has lived there ever since.

During his time as a college student, he gained the nickname "Kang Full" because he frequently wore green clothes.

In Korean, 'full' (풀) means 'grass' (풀), hence the nickname.

"When I was in college, I saw a cartoon by artist . I thought cartoons were so fun, and I started drawing as a cartoonist in school. By the time I graduated, I had become so fond of cartoons that I thought of it as a career. However, I had no intention of becoming a current affairs cartoonist. I prefer creating stories. Even now, I have the most fun thinking up stories before serializing them."

Kang, who majored in Korean Language and Literature at Sangji University, did not undergo any formal training in comic art.

During his involvement with the student body at Sangji University, he crafted comic-style wall posters.

Realizing that the written posters were not effectively captivating the students, he decided to convert them into comics.

Kang made the decision to pursue a career as a comic artist shortly before completing his university studies.

Kang began his career as a cartoonist in 1997, serializing comic reviews in Yeongseo Newspaper, then in 2002, began publishing his cartoons on his personal website.

He is one of the first-generation webtoon artists in South Korea.

His works have been adapted into a variety of movies, dramas, and plays.

Film adaptations include APT, BA:BO, Hello, Schoolgirl, Late Blossom, Pained, The Neighbor, and 26 Years.

However, it was his Disney+ original series Moving (2023), based on his own webtoon of the same name from 2015, that solidified his popularity on an international scale.

In 1997, he began serializing comic reviews in the Wonju Yeongseo Newspaper, working under the name Kang Do-young.

Despite his efforts, he faced rejections from publishers and ward office gazettes.

Only two companies showed interest, but one of them went bankrupt while his series was being serialized.

To make a living, Kang resorted to sporadically publishing his works in a few magazines and sports newspapers.

Kang achieved a career breakthrough through the internet.

Prior to that, he got hired as an illustrator in Weekly Toto.

However, there was a significant difference between the life he envisioned and the reality.

The challenges of working in the company also became overwhelming, leading him to resign shortly after.

When asked about his motivation for exploring the online option, he elaborated,"Daily comic strip are immensely popular as they offer entertainment through relatable and predictable subjects. After a few years, I reached my limits, especially with the saturation of comic strips in the market. During the early 2000s, the concept of web narrative comics didn't exist. Since I wasn't receiving much attention offline, I took a chance online, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Given my limited drawing abilities, I had no choice but to focus on storytelling. Despite my shortcomings in writing and art skills, I was able to excel in creating comics. In a way, comics became my salvation."In July 2002, Kang's website had 10,000 daily visitors, securing the top position among personal websites with a 35% market share.

Soon, Kang's works began to be featured regularly by media outlets such as Ddanji Daily, JoongAng Ilbo, Sports Today, and Daum Communication.

Additionally, civic organizations such as the Korea Teachers and Education Workers' Union and the Participatory Solidarity Network formed partnerships with him.

In 2002, he established his personal website (kangfull.com) and started sharing his works online.

Kang made his entry into the webtoon industry with his debut work, the online daily comic strip titled Everyday Matters (일쌍다반사).

In fall 2002, Kang curated comics from his website, incorporated new works, and published his debut compilation book titled "Unwavering Question Mark" which released by Yeoreumsol on October 28, 2002.

Later in the same year, he signed a contract with Daum and began serializing a movie review comic titled Let's Have Fun with Movies within Daum's movie section.

This pivotal opportunity catapulted him from being a relatively obscure comic artist to a prominent figure in the industry.

As the series approached its conclusion, a new platform called "Daum Manhwa-sokseong" was introduced, serving as a precursor to Daum Webtoon.

This platform primarily featured essay comics, omnibus comics, and political commentaries.

Kang requested additional time from Daum as he contemplated his next project.

He deviated from the prevailing trend of short webtoons and opted to develop a new webtoons format.

In 2003, Kang introduced a full-length story format.

From August 2003 to April 2004, he serialized Pure Love Comics. The webtoon gained traction on Daum.

It reached a total of 60 million page views and maintained an average of 2 million page views per day until its conclusion in April.

The webtoon was subsequently published as a two-volume offline manhwa, and plans were made for a film adaptation.