Hongjacga

Hongjacga (; born in Seoul), is a South Korean webtoon artist. Hong began his career as a cartoonist in 2006 with the serialization of the webtoon Dorothy Band. In addition to comics, he works as an illustrator for various advertisements and books. His serialized works include Cat Funeral, Hwa-ja, It’s Not Possible, Aneima, and Dr. Brain. He also worked on Lucasfilm's first official webtoon, Star Wars: The Story Before The Force Awakens. His works have been adapted into film, drama and musical.

Early life and education Born Hong Seong-hyeok in Seoul in 1980, he majored in daegeum at the National Gugak Middle School and High School in Gangnam, Seoul.

Career After graduating from high school in 2002, he was recruited as animator for film My Beautiful Girl, Mari.

In 2016, Hong created Dr. Brain. It amassed over 20 million views on Daum Webtoon and Kakao Page. The series centers on Se-won, a gifted brain scientist who, after a family tragedy, performs "brain syncs" with the deceased to access their memories and uncover the truth behind the mysterious accident.

Director Kim Jee-woon expressed interest in adapting the webtoon shortly after its completion. In May 2019, he officially began the development on the series with YG Studioplex, initially under the working title Mr. Robin. The project gained momentum, and by March 2021, actor Lee Sun-kyun was confirmed to star. This also marked a significant milestone as Apple acquired the series for its streaming service, Apple TV+, making it their inaugural Korean-language production. The six-episode series debuted on November 4, 2021, aligning with the Apple TV+ launch in South Korea, and concluded on December 9, 2021, with weekly episode releases.

Showbox announced in June 2021 plans to produce a drama based on Hongjacga's popular Naver webtoon, Delusion. By September of that year, director Han Jae-rim was already working on the series. It is a mystery horror period drama set in 1935 Gyeongseong and 1800s Shanghai, revolving around a mysterious vampire. The estimated production cost is said to be ₩45 billion. On May 23, 2025, Disney+ confirmed it would release Portraits of Delusion as an original series in 2026.

Work

As animator +Film adapted from Hongjacka's webtoonYearTitleDirector Notes EnglishKorean 2002 My Beautiful Girl, Mari Lee Sung-gang

As webtoon artist + Serial webtoons Year Title Notes English Korean 2006 Dorothy Band 2009 The Cat Funeral 2011 Hwaja 2012 What's not possible is not possible 2013 Anemia 2016 Dr. Brain The Necromancer FLOWAR 2021 Dr. Brain Season 2 2024 Cold Blood

Screen and stage adaptations Film

Web series

Musical

Accolades As an animator, Hong contributed to an animated film that was awarded the Grand Prix (Best Feature Film) at the 26th Annecy International Animation Film Festival.