Girls Don't Cry

Gina Jun | South Korea

In one corner of a blank page, a girl is crying. Her tears gradually fill up from the bottom, eventually covering the entire scene. Oblivious to being completely submerged in her own tears, the girl continues to cry, while a long horn appears behind her.
<Girls Don’t Cry> is a flipbook and a silent book of consolation. The title says, "Don’t cry," but the book actually says, "It is okay to cry." Even when completely submerged in darkness, it is the time to encounter your inner light. The pace of turning the pages contrasts with the spreading tears, compelling readers to continue. The relief of finally seeing the tears provides comfort, revealing the light within. In a world filled with intriguing and short digital videos, I hope this small flipbook remains cherished and treasured in your hands for a long time.
The book is composed of over 100 images, made in an analogue style. Although digital processes are much more efficient for creating flipbooks, most of the work for <Girls Don’t Cry> was done by hand. I used various analogue techniques to express certain feelings through a variety of textures. To convey the feeling of the background gradually filling with water, I used traditional Korean coloring methods on Hanji paper to create a wet, saturated effect. I took advantage of the hydrophilic nature of oriental ink and its flexible extensibility to depict tears making the world wet. Additionally, mixed media such as conte, charcoal, oil pastel, and oil ink were used, with final touches added through digital editing.


Published titles: 2

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