WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. made its Anime Expo debut this year with a series of exciting panels as well as meet-and-greets at their booth in the Entertainment Hall. Fans had the opportunity to meet some of their favorite creators and purchase exclusive merchandise. Among those creators was Junepurrr, the creator of “SubZero.” Junepurrr spoke with us about the series, her inspirations, and how the series changed her life entirely.

Junepurrr Describes “SubZero” as Life-Changing at Anime Expo

At Anime Expo, we asked Junepurrr when she felt inspired to begin writing “SubZero.” She starts from the beginning, giving us her life story, which led to the creation of the story.

I’ve watched anime as a kid. I read comics, but like, I think for me, I always aspired to want to draw and do art for a living. And so, but, because my parents are immigrants, they’re like, ‘You can’t do art,’ of course. And so, I went and I studied accounting. And I remember when I was sitting in my internship, and I was looking at the spreadsheets in front of me, I was like, ‘This cannot be, like, the rest of my life.’ So that’s when, I think, I started feeling like actual motivation. Like, I need to put something out there. Like, if I want to do this, I want to draw comics, I want to make art, I need to have something to show for it.

I joke that it came out of desperation. But that’s one of those things that really motivated me to just, you know, want to tell stories for a living. And from then on, I…was watching a lot of anime, a lot of dramas, and I think I was just very inspired. So, I created this very simple story about two, like a prince and a princess. And they’re both dragons, and they’re forcing this, like, political alliance. And so I was like it’s gonna be simple, short, and sweet. It ended up not being all that short. I’m still working on it, and it’s changed by life, basically.

Overcoming Obstacles in the Creative Space

Creative writing brings plenty of challenges. However, great creators find ways to overcome those obstacles instead of letting them stop the process. We asked Junepurrr what one of her biggest challenges is when creating and how she overcomes them.

She says:

I think the biggest challenge is always, ‘How do you convey information?’ Like, I have an outline. How do you convey information to an audience in an interesting way? Because anybody can say, like, you just tell them the information. This week, Clove and Kyro are gonna kiss, right? But it’s like, how do you convey that? How do you build up to it so that it’s like an interesting thing?

And I think it takes me, because of how tight the schedule is, like Monday through Wednesday… the hardest part is really just imagining the scenes and storyboarding the scenes and communicating that information in a way that’s interesting and it’s engaging for readers [and] for audiences to read.

Junepurrr half-jokingly explains that the “pressing deadlines” have something to do with her pushing through any obstacles.

And I feel like the pressing deadline does have something to do with my ability to come up with content. It always seems like, at the last minute, I’m like, ‘Oh, I have it!’ Like, I think it’s the adrenaline that pushes me to, like, finally come up with something that I think is interesting.

She goes on to remind people that “creativity is an unlimited resource.” She explains:

I don’t think there’s any one thing that, you know… there are some writers where they love to write themselves into corners because they are able to, like, think up new and interesting ways. And, to an extent, I’m a little bit like that too. But it does get tough sometimes. And, thankfully, we have editors, and I have other webcomic friends that I like to bounce ideas off of. So, if I’m really stuck, I will always just go to somebody that I trust that is, again, very good at generating ideas.

Junepurrr’s Process has Changed Over Time

“SubZero” has been updating for several years on WEBTOON. We asked Junepurrr how her process in creating has changed from the start up until now.

She says:

I did not know that the majority of WEBTOON creators, at least in Korea, use 3D assets. I thought everyone is just amazing at drawing backgrounds! And I was like, how do these people do it? And so, I’ve definitely started incorporating more 3D assets into my webcomic, and it’s definitely been a lifesaver. I also found out that there’s actually websites where you can buy assets or you can commission artists that you can like, just…create an asset for you so you can use it in your webcomic.

I think the way that the coloring style has changed, but I think the major factor’s now that I have assistants, I don’t really color as much anymore. I mostly do the inking, and then I do corrections on my assistants’ work. So, thankfully, WEBTOON has granted me the opportunity to essentially pay for my assistants.

With the help of assistants, Junepurrr says it is still difficult to delegate the coloring work.

Even though you have people who do color for you, it’s still difficult. Like, it introduces another side where you have to kind of be manager. And you have to kind of like juggle multiple people at a time in your process. So, I think that’s like definitely part of the process that’s changed a lot. I used to do just everything myself, and now it’s about, like, delegating work and sending corrections back and forth.

It’s a lot of emails, but I do feel like the current product is much better than the way it started. And I’m really thankful to have met so many talented people who, you know, just want to work for me to begin with. I think that’s the crazy part.

Other Work Inspired by “SubZero”

“SubZero” draws inspiration from things like “Pokémon” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” We asked if Junepurrr has seen or read any work that was directly inspired by her “SubZero” WEBTOON.

If I did, no one’s ever told me! There’s definitely some things that I have heard where they have, like, ideas for a dragon story and they’re shifting and stuff. And I’m like, this sounds kind of similar. I do think…a lot of my webcomic, too, is like, not a Zutara fan fiction, but I think that’s a little bit how it kind of started, right? I always tell people if you read something or watch something and there’s a ship you like, and it didn’t happen, you need to make it happen. Because there’s always gonna be people on that side that, you know, they want to see it.

So it’s like, I’m always shocked when people say, ‘Your work inspired me to draw or do something else.’ It’s really the way that the author tells the story that, like, is what’s unique. It’s like the lens that you tell the story through. That’s what makes it unique.

She goes on to say that she’s seen fan fiction but never direct novels that were inspired by her work.

About “SubZero”

“SubZero” is a webcomic that follows the story of Clove and Kyro. Clove is the last princess of an almost extinct dragon clan who must make a difficult decision to save her people. She must marry Prince Kyro, the prince of her people’s sworn enemies.

The story is a compelling and emotional enemies-to-lovers style romance with gorgeous artwork and brilliant character development. Plus, there are dragons! It is currently on hiatus, but WEBTOON users can read 223 episodes now!