Eun Bi Chang
Eun Bi Chang
Artist & Animated Filmmaker
Meet independent film producer and artist Eun Bi Chang. She has produced two animated short films, Paper City (2020) and Oren’s Way (2023), and is currently attached to an unannounced 3D project. For her day job, she is an art manager at a San Francisco-based mobile game company, Pocket Games. With WeXL, Eun Bi has created and led the WIN Workshop: Your Hero’s Journey. She is also a volunteer mentor for our Boundless Youth: Self-discovery Filmmaking program.
Photos from Eun Bi Chang
“I was born in Seoul, South Korea. I specifically remember art school after school because a lot of the drawings that we used to do [were] just observational. And so we would just have to draw exactly what we see. And I wanted to be more creative. I wanted to put my own touch to it. And I felt like, when I was younger, Western art ‘seemed’ more freeing and open to interpretation, whereas it was very rigid in Korea. And also, there was this perception that artists don't make enough money. And so you shouldn't be one, and so I think even though I loved everything [about Korea] — like I still love food there [and] I have all my friends there — I just felt no regret in choosing to live somewhere else.”
Animated artwork by Eun Bi Chang
“I always was interested in drawing and art, especially animation. And I knew that's what I wanted to do when I was like nine or ten. I think TOY STORY came out, and Pixar was pretty well known. And I made my goal to work at Pixar one day. And so I knew I wanted to come to the States [at] some point in my life.”
Photos from Eun Bi Chang
“I moved away to New Zealand when I was 12. All because, back when I was in Korea, we had to go to school every Saturday as well, and I hated that. And I heard from my uncle, who was living in New Zealand at the time, like, ‘You don't have to go to school on Saturday if you're living in New Zealand.’”
“But when you're young, you don't know what moving away from your home and your family entails. And so I think now, when I look back, I spent My life more outside of Korea than inside of Korea. And in a way, by working on [these] traditional paintings, I'm trying to stay connected to my culture, [and] understand [its] history and essence.”
Minwha artwork by Eun Bi Chang
“When it comes to the Korean art that I make, I get inspired. When I first discovered the medium, it's called Minhwa, and it means people's art. It used to be [an] art form for royalties and nobles. But then regular people wanted to have those arts decorated in their own bedroom and living room, and so they did copies. And that's how it became more well-known and widely spread. Minhwa represents the hope for abundance for your family fertility, any kind of wishes or luck that you want to capture in your life.”
“The positivity of that art form really enticed me. And then also the medium, it's kind of similar to watercolor, but it's not as fluid. It's more dense. And paper is also very traditional. It's called Hanji. Because I work so much on [the] computer, having something tangible was nice too.”
Photos from Eun Bi Chang
“When I see my fellow filmmakers make something so personal to them, like the stories that they want to produce, it's about their community and how they want to create a space to talk about problems that they might have in that community. It just makes me want to also go back to my root[s] and continue doing the art that represents my people.”
Watch Eun Bi’s full interview here:
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