'News of Kian84 Becoming a Building Owner'... Even Amateurs Earn Over 100 Million Won as Webtoon Artists

483 People Earn 140 Million Won Annually
Amateur Writers Also Make Over 100 Million Won
Impact of Various Income Stabilization Systems

In the past, cartoonists were strongly associated with poverty, but now they have become high-income professionals, buying buildings in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and driving sports cars.

Webtoon artist and broadcaster Gian84 is known as a building owner worth 6.2 billion KRW.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The income scale of webtoon artists, who have become a coveted profession, has come to light and become a hot topic.

According to materials submitted by Webtoon Entertainment to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 7th, among the creators at Webtoon Entertainment, the top 100 artists earned an average annual income of $1 million (approximately 1.38 billion KRW) last year.

Webtoon Entertainment is the headquarters of Naver Webtoon and the largest webtoon platform company in the world.

According to the data, the number of artists who earned more than $100,000 (about 140 million KRW) annually at Webtoon Entertainment was 483 last year, about a 10% increase from 429 in 2022.

Also, the average annual income of professional artists who have contracts with Webtoon Entertainment and are serializing regularly was $48,000 (about 66 million KRW).

Webtoons, once regarded as "comics free to read on the internet," have become an industry that brings significant income to creators, thanks to various income stabilization systems provided by webtoon platforms such as Naver Webtoon.

Webtoon Entertainment has its own system called "Super Like," which allows readers to personally support artists, providing a stable foundation for amateur artists to continue their creative activities.

In fact, Alice Oseman, the creator of the popular work "Heartstopper" on the North American amateur platform Canvas, currently receives financial support from about 18,000 readers through the U.S. creator support service Patreon.

Besides sponsorship, artists can generate income through paid previews of their works, intellectual property (IP) utilization such as adaptation into videos, advertisements, and more. In particular, secondary creations that expand IP are a major source of income for artists. From 2013 to the first quarter of this year, more than 900 web novels and webtoon IPs have been connected to secondary creations. Among these, about 100 have been adapted into videos, and over 70 have been made into games.