One Full Year on Steemit! Celebrating with Cartoons

This week marks my first of many anniversaries of joining this incredible platform. I joined shortly before the first iteration of STEEMFEST in Amsterdam last year and I believe that the communal energy that exuded from those dynamic posts carried me through the abysmal winter of last year when Steemit was full of conspiracy theories and fears of inevitable doom. I wondered what I could do for this occasion and instead of doing some full retrospective, I wanted to take a chance and compile all the ways that other Steemians have contributed to my joy of being here...

… specifically in the form of cartoons =).

@tonesquare

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My wife and I co-write a lot of posts on this account and many of the topics come from our non-stop discussion on the position of Korean culture today. She's a Korean national and I'm Korean-American and together we pursue a great deal of social projects both in New York and Korea related to the subject. Since the launch of our podcast Hansik House, we've mostly hid behind the black & white and mechanical facade of our logo.

But as soon as @tonesquare burst onto the platform with his hit illustrations, we knew that this might be a perfect way to personalize our voice. Plus, I'm a big fan of webtoons and the prospect of getting one done for me was too much for my humility to overcome...

His awesome drawings have become our most versatile tool to characterize our content and we resort to using them for so many occasions both on Steemit and in real life. Thank you @tonesquare님!

@soyo

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After being fully inducted into the KR community by springtime, I noticed a big gap in the growing Korean community and general international audience of Steemit. Very few KR members were actively writing or engaging in English, of course not for any bad reasons other than comfort in familiarity. I wanted to put a spotlight on some of the great content that was being held back by language barriers so I started a “Lost in Translation” series.

Soon after, I got a wonderful message from @soyo, a young illustrator from Korea who wanted to help me make a custom cover image. His wonderful drawing is the mainstay of my series. Thank you @soyo님!

@cheongpyeongyull

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And last but definitely not least, I got my latest one done just this past week by the hilarious @cheongpyeongyull who often does events for fellow Steemians by drawing them. I mistakenly submitted my photos in over-excitement before even being chosen and yet he was gracious enough to embrace my boyish wishes and made me this wonder -

• Am I as magnetizing as these Japanese chibi illustrations? Source: deviantart

Koreans know this well but the bobblehead aesthetic is used often in Asia as a cutesy style. I'm obsessed with this ridiculously awesome rendition of my actually large noggin and I'll be sure to use this a lot in the months to come. Thank you @cheongpyeongyull님!

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I know these aren't nearly as charming or flattering as the ones for @ramengirl but they nevertheless really capture the motivation and energy behind the communities I'm involved in. There are already a few more Hansikhouse-centric illustrations in the works and I'll be sure to share them as they appear, including an upcoming wedding-illustration by the fabulous @leesongyi. Thanks for indulging in my big-headed narcissism and thank you again all for such fun on this platform!! Cheers to another year or two or twenty.