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An illustration of a dog with an impossibly long body stretching across a green hillside. The dog rests its chin on an open book, with a small hourglass standing beside it.

Jooyoung Kim’s illustrated book is about a long boi in a world of fluffy short bois

Emerging from a refreshing swim, a long dog leaps onto the grass to swish and shake the water off its body. In her hilarious new book, the Leipzig-based illustrator creates a world of day-to-day dogs.

Words
Peach Doble
—
Date
12 December 2019

Emerging from a refreshing swim, a long dog leaps onto the grass to swish and shake the water off its body. In her hilarious new book, Leipzig-based illustrator Jooyoung Kim creates a world of day-to-day dogs.

Jooyoung says of the story: “It’s about a dog living on a mountain. She lives on a mountain, commutes downtown every day and has a normal life.” Jooyoung’s inspiration for the book came from pet-sitting her friend’s sausage dogs when they were out of town. In particular, one named Kami, “this year the mommy Daschund spent the whole summer with me,” she tells It’s Nice That, “I felt very peaceful watching her running around on a field freely and happily,” she continues.

The book itself was never planned, instead, it progressed naturally from funny sketches drawn on a whim. “First I made a few illustrations of the character taking a bath, eating lunch and so on and slowly it started becoming a project,” she tells us.

As a freelancer, Jooyoung’s working life is sporadic and she finds herself constantly wondering what normal life is like: “I fantasised about having a day job, a normal daily routine and a regular income.” Reimagining herself as an everyday city dog, Jooyoung says: “the book reflects two of my longings: happy dogs and stability.”

A watercolour illustration of a dog with an elongated body stretching upwards between two apple trees. The trees and a smiling sun in the sky all have simple, happy faces.
Above

Jooyoung Kim: Welcome to My Life

Hailing from Seoul, Jooyoung came to Germany as an exchange student back in 2008. After studying Illustration in Halle, she dipped her toes into the underground creative scene of nearby Leipzig, which she now calls home.

Jooyoung’s naïve drawing style is awash with deadpan characters and awkward scenes. “I realised almost everything I make is already weird, even if I don’t try to be,” she says. Using a mixture of analogue materials from paints to pencils, she relishes in the clumsiness of her media: “I like to make images that are not too obvious. I like to mix opposite aspects: big and small, happy and sad, messy and neat,” she says.

Next up for Jooyoung will be 3D projects and lots more books, which are bound to tickle you further. However, as she tends not to plan ahead, she concludes by saying: “I will have to see.”

GalleryJooyoung Kim: Welcome to My Life

An illustration on a book cover shows a rolling green hill under a blue sky. A wooden sign across the grass reads “Welcome to my life”, with the name “Jaoyoung, Kim” written below.
An illustration of a pink rectangular surface with a small, centred window. Inside the window, a brown sofa sits on a green field under a blue sky.
An illustration of a brown, long-tailed creature swimming in a small blue pond. The pond is set within a rolling green landscape under a yellow sun with a smiling face.
An illustration of a long, orange dachshund on a green hill. The dog looks through a circular portal at a duplicate of its own head.
A watercolour illustration of a forest with thick, colourful tree trunks and rounded canopies. Small, white, stylised dogs lounge and play in the green grass between the trees.
An illustration of a room full of stylised dogs dancing under a colourful disco ball. The dogs are drawn in simple outlines with bright, multi-coloured splatters of paint across the scene.
An illustration of a busy office filled with white dogs sitting at desks. The room is rendered in bright yellow and pink, with large windows and three clocks on the wall.
An illustration of dogs shopping in a supermarket. The dogs push small trolleys through aisles filled with colourful produce, including grapes, apples and broccoli.
A watercolour illustration of two smiling, green trees with purple fruit on brown trunks. Between them, a wooden post holds a glass of purple liquid above a tree stump topped with a striped cloth, fruit and cheese.
An illustration of a group of dogs gathered in a pink room with a yellow floor. A dog wearing a chef’s hat stands by a pot, while a whiteboard on the wall reads “BEST TEAM”.
A watercolour illustration of a large brown log sliding down a steep green hillside. In the distance, a row of colourful hills sits under a pale blue sky with scattered grey clouds.
An illustration on a book cover shows a row of small, stylised trees atop a green hill under a blue sky. A wooden sign in the centre reads “Welcome to my life”, with the name “Jeayoung Kim” written below.

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Further Info

www.kim-jooyoung.com

About the Author

Peach Doble

—

Peach joined us as a writer in the autumn of 2019 and wrote plenty of articles across art, illustration, film and everything in between.

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