The Art of NURI

THE ART OF

CONCEPT ART BY SEUNGMIN OH

THE ART OF

ABOUT THIS BOOK

This collection of concept art, backgrounds and character design sketches follow the story of Nuri. Nuri is a 2D animated feature ilm with a heart-warming story aimed towards children. It is about a small family running away from their hometown and moving to a new magical world full of magical creatures. There, they open their own tiny restaurant all while trying to it in the new unconventional society as outsiders.

HOMETOWN

The village the family is originally from, is designed based on Korean historical background, 19th century Joseon Dynasty. It is a small village full of houses that the common people live in.

HOUSES OF HOMETOWN

Compared to the New City Plowomida, the houses have low, rounded shapes. They were mostly hand built. They used straw, rice straw and reed to build the roof.

The house is cluttered with household objects that present the time period and location.

THE HOUSE OF NURI’S FAMILY

The house of Nuri’s family is one of the smallest houses in the village. There exists 3 rooms including the kitchen. The grandfather used to sleep in the big room but ever since he started living with the children, he moved to the small room giving the big room to the kids. However, they gather to have meals together everyday. The house has small front and back yard where they store or ferment food in earthenware jars called Jangdokdae.

CHARACTERS IN THE VILLAGE

These are the concept sketches of the family members of Nuri. Nuri and his brother Mir met their Grandfather when they were newborn babies. They were found infront of his door abandoned. The Grandfather accepted them as his family and raised them until now. All that was left with the siblings were two tiny necklaces made with moonstone jewels to protect them. Even though they are not blood related, the bond between them is stronger than any other families.

NURI IN THE VILLAGE

It is a tool used to separate the grains. They made kids put it on their heads and collect salt door to door from their neighbors if the kids wet their beds.

They are tools to carry objects.

MIR IN THE VILLAGE

GRANDFATHER IN THE VILLAGE

The family goes ishing during the day and brings them back to the village to sell at the marketplace.

They were living happily with the other village folk until a black moon appeared and darkness covered the village. Through the dark shadows, a monster attacked the people and dragged the children away. When Nuri and Mir were about to be taken away, the small moonstone necklaces that they had from their parents, glowed and protected them from the monster.

MONSTER CONCEPT SKETCHES

Concept sketches were created based on the researches of ‘Horror’. The feelings of horror and fear that Seungmin experienced in her life also became part of these ideas.

CONCEPT SKETCHES

1. It is a character designed based on the idea of ‘Greed’. With the huge body, it loats like an air balloon and traps kids inside it.

2. He is a character that is designed based on a myth that existed in Korea for a long time. He is known as ‘Mangtae Grandpa’ that kidnaps the children if they behave badly. He kidnaps the kids and takes away their youth.

3. They are twins that are always by each other’s sides. This character is created based on the fear of ‘Loneliness’. Most people live among others and have to be socialized to be not lonely. Wanting to be loved and to get attention are one of the basic needs of human. And to get attention, people tend to create diferent personas to show others. The twins each represent two diferent egos. The true ego inside and the ego that is built on purpose.

HAE AND DAL

It is a monster that represents loneliness. It is very lonely that it craves for love. Therefore, it lures kids in their dreams into the dark in order to kidnap the children, making them part of it’s body to feel complete.The name came from Sun and Moon the old myth in Korea.

The twin each represent diferent egos. They each have personalities that difer from each other. The colors of their masks are the colors of sun and moon which the sun is more emotional and expressive while the moon is more calm and cold.

MOVEMENT SKETCHES

Hae and Dal can change sizes and shapes. The mass of hair creates various movements in shapes. Their long multiple legs and arms allow them to crawl and sneak in children’s bedrooms without a sound.

ENVIRONMENTAL SKETCHES

These are original sketches for environmental studies of the architectures in Victorian era England.

MAP OF PLOWONIDA

NURI’S NEW HOUSE

The family inds a new home to settle. They buy an old house on a hill that is covered with vines. It is a bit far from the center of the city but it is the best spot for the family to go ishing.

THE NEW HOUSE CONCEPT SKETCHES

Compared to their old house, the building is narrower and higher. It has a back yard where they store their earthenware jars and the little door at the back leads straight to the kitchen. It has a lot of windows that let both sunlight and moonlight in the house.

There are windows on the roof as well so that they let the moonlight shine through the house while they are asleep.

HOUSE INTERIOR

The grandfather opens his own restaurant. There are three loors in total. The irst loor is the restaurant, second and the third loor is where the family lives.

FISH AND CHIPS CART

Nuri often goes out to the city with her ish cart and sells ish and chips.

CHARACTERS IN PLOWONIDA

These are the concept sketches of the family members in Plowonida. Based on the new environment, they have new designed costumes and props. It shows how the family is adapting to the new city.

NURI IN PLOWONIDA

In this story, the main character is the granddaughter. Her name Nuri means ‘the World’. She is energetic and brave but can also be a troublemaker. In the new environment that they have decided to live in, she is the one that wants to it in with the other groups the most.

She is a child full of emotions with a warm heart. She loves to explore and make new friends. She works hard to help her family as well.

SKETCHES OF NURI

Nuri is very playful and honest. She likes to show her feelings to others.

MIR IN PLOWONIDA

means ‘Dragon’ but his personality is the opposite. He is very timid and indecisive. He is the worrior in the family. One thing he loves to do is creating his own magic spells.

He loves books so much that most of the time during the day, he visits the Book Nookery and sits there for hours just reading.

SKETCHES OF MIR

Mir writes his own magic spells in his book of spells. He uses bookmarks that look like eyes which will open and close depending on the purpose.

THE SIBLINGS

Nuri and Mir are siblings. Most of the time, Mir is the victim of Nuri’s liitle pranks.

GRANDFATHER IN PLOWONIDA

He loves cooking and he uses two big axes to chop food ingredients including ish. He only opens his eyes wide when he is chopping ish. His talent shines by opening the restaurant. This gives the family the chance to get closer with the neighbors.

NEIGHBORS IN THE CITY

The buildings of the city were designed with long, narrow and sharp shapes. The neighbors who own the city are trolls. Considering that, the buildings were designed with a combination of organic and artiicial elements.

This is the Grandfather’s restaurant signage design. ‘EOBUBA’ means piggyback in Korean. It came from how the grandfather raised the siblings and he is the one protecting them.

SIGNAGE DESIGN

There are numerous stores in the city. The signage designs present the characteristics of the shops and the owners.

TROLLS IN THE CITY

TROLL CONCEPT SKETCHES

They are the trolls in the city. They look somewhat diferent with Nuri but have the same hearts.

MS. EVELYN NELLIE & WILLIAM

They are one of the neighbors who become friends. Ms. Evelyn is one of the friendly neighbors. She owns a bakery with two little kids, Nellie and William.

THE TROLL BAKERY

This is a troll bakery owned by Ms. Evelyn. Her specialty is the Mudpie that she bakes every morning.

BOOK NOOKERY OWNER

MR. BERRY

He is the owner of the bookstore. Mir visits him almost everyday to read books. The owner often gives him recommendations on which book he should read next. He is also an author himself. He has a strong passion in literature.

His personality might seem cold but has a warm heart hidden inside him. Troll kids in the city make fun of his name because his name is Berry like how the kids pronouce ‘Liberry’. Even though they sometimes throw real berries at him that are from Ms. Evelyn’s bakery, he lets them do it. He spends most of the day in his bookstore and writes his own stories in the evening at home.

The Book Nookery is Mir’s favorite place to be. He spends most of the day reading. Mir becomes a little assistant of the owner.

GUARDS

These are the concept sketches of the guards in Plowonida. They go on a patrol at night to make sure all the kids are back to their family for safety.

CONCEPT SKETCHES

They are the trio guards that go on a patrol as a team.

COSTUME CALLOUTS

The armor is designed with both artiicial and organic elements. It is made with shiny materials like metal that relects the moonlight.

The story is mainly about how the family adapts to the new society and Nuri making new relationships. She is the one who wants to make friends and it in the group the most.

NURI’S BEST FRIEND WINIFRED

She is a troll kid that becomes Nuri’s best friend. Her favorite dish is her mother’s homemade sticky soup. She suggests Nuri to try it and that is how they irst start talking to each other. She is the one who brings Nuri to school.

She becomes very emotional when she gets hungry. Her hair grows extremely long when she gets too excited.

NURI’S CLASSMATES

These are the concept sketches of the classmates.They become a big part of Nuri’s life. The body shapes are designed based on the shapes of teapots.

The monster that appeared under the black moon is one of the obstacles that the children have to encounter.

Despite the diferences, the family was accepted, surrounded by friends who supported them. In the end, the family grew bigger.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The main story of this concept came from my own experience. South Korea is where I am from and to purchase my dreams in a bigger world, I moved to the United States. When I irst moved, I was full of excitement but was also scared of the new, unfamiliar things around me. As a foreigner that is from outside the country, I needed to put efort to it in within the people and learn about the diferent culture and language. However, from that process I was able to make new relationships and make precious memories. I think this is something that everybody can relate to. It could be going to a new workplace, or even the irst day of school every year.

The experience of myself moving to a new environment and the people around me became my biggest inspiration. Like this, my vision of visual journey and storytelling originates from my own journey of life. It was always the big and small moments in everyday life that made my art special. Nuri is a project for me to show that aspect of life hidden in the story.

Throughout this project, storytelling and world building was the most important thing that I focused on. Growing up watching numerous animated ilms, what fascinated me the most was how the imaginative world was built, which got me into the ield of art. To build the world starting from the irst story plot to visualizing the concept was never easy. Therefore, I went back and watched ilms from diferent time periods and studied the basic plots of storytelling. This gave me a clue how to imply the message that I want to deliver to the viewers in the story. Then it became clear what design elements I would like to use for developing the idea visually.

Nuri was a project that was almost like putting my puzzle pieces of memories together. We encounter numerous new things as we live. Through this ilm I want my viewers to see how unfamiliar can turn into something special and it is just something we get to experience continuously through life. Like so, my goal as an artist is to share these puzzle pieces in life through creative artwork in various forms such as animation, game, and children’s books.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Seungmin is a Visual Development artist and an Illustrator who’s in love with Visual Storytelling. She was born in South Korea. She studied Visual Communication Design at Ewha Women’s University and continued her educational journey at Ringling College of Art and Design. The love and passion for creating an imaginative world made her pursue this dream up until now. Those dreams that she has kept in her heart made her hands, covered with graphite and paint, just keep swimming in her sketchbook. Every day of her life is her inspiration and she is always ready to keep swimming through the journey of Imagination.