Hyung Joo Kim

I thought it would be simple.

Draw something. Turn it into a pattern. Upload it. And of course, someone would buy it.

Ha. I knew nothing. 😂

But the funny thing is, taking the long way around brought me somewhere much more interesting.

I never wanted to give up drawing. And I...

I’m really curious about how far my illustrations can travel.

It actually started with a Procreate brush set.

I realized I couldn’t find a Korean bunsik brush set filled with the kind of little characters I wanted to use.

So I thought, why not? I’ll make it.

And I did.

Then, somehow,...

Have you noticed?

LALATOWN has been quietly growing.

Every new illustration brings a few more neighbors, a few more cozy little places, and another tiny story waiting to happen. Before I knew it, the town had become so full of wonderful little details that they simply had to move...

Let’s Take a Slow Walk Through LALATOWN

This illustration began with a simple idea: drawing Bukchon, one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seoul.

But somewhere along the way, it became LALATOWN.

Bread became stairs. Scallions grew into trees. A paper monument honored Frankie instead...