haneul baek!

Physical description:

1. Name: Haneul Baek
2. Age: 21
3. Sex: male (he/him pronouns)
4. Ethnicity: Korean
5. Description of features and mannerisms: Haneul is an attractive and solemn young man. Everything about him is very well-kempt and intentional. His body type is slim. He has short black hair with a side part, his hair passing his ears a little to frame his face. He also has two lip rings on each side of his bottom lip. He rarely smiles, and he almost always wears all-white. When he draws, he wears a white lab coat buttoned up to the collarbone. He’s very quiet.

Personal/professional history:

6. Edcuation: Currently enrolled in a prestigious art school as an Oil painting major, despite the fact that he’s already quite the well-off artist
7. Occupation: Professional freelance & gallery artist
8. Description of parents: Haneul’s parents are very loving people who root for their son no matter what. They are both very passionate about their sons endeavors and are always searching for new ways to support him. They knew that from a young age, their son was a prodigious artist, and always did their best to supply him with what he needed. Haneul’s mother is a caretaker in a rest home, and his father is a businessman. They’re all very close, and Haneul holds praise from his family closer to his heart than anyone else’s praise.
9. Description of upbringing/childhood: Haneul had a very average education. He went to a private all-boys school for high school, and got very high marks in his art classes. He didn’t care much for other subjects. He was also a member of the fine art club, whose passionate art teacher afforded him many opportunities outside of school to exhibit his works. Haneul never really understood what about his art was so great, but with help from his art teacher, he began to rake in many awards and ribbons from various contests and exhibitions. This brought him a small sense of pride, and made his parents really happy, so he continued to work hard. Eventually, these contests began to grant him money, his originals began to sell for thousands, people clamored for interviews from the 16-year-old prodigy, “rivaling Michelangelo”… and Haneul realized he might be a little famous.
   
   As he grew older, these opportunities never stopped – in fact, they just kept flooding in. He put off going to college because of an intense flow of commissions, and spent three years doing almost nothing except painting. After these three years, he was pretty much sick of art, and found painting intensely boring. He had had times of wanting to quit and feelings of boredom throughout those years, but he had finally reached his breaking point. He moved out of his parent’s house and enrolled in art university, hoping to learn something new to break out of his bored streak and maybe improve, or have an excuse to do something different.
10. Main relationships: Haneul doesn’t have many friends because he doesn’t feel like he can relate to a lot of the people around him. Since enrolling in college as an adult, some of his classmates treated him differently, seeing as he was already a celebrity artist. But he did make a friend, Zen Melton, when they were paired together for a portrait exercise. Since then, they do their homework together. Though Haneul is mostly expressionless, he looks forward to the time he spends with Zen, and considers them his first real friend. He’s interested in her bizarre work ethic and strange, intense approach to art, seeing as art has always come effortlessly to him. He also likes the way that she doesn’t treat him like a celebrity.
    Haneul also has an agent named Marty who manages a permanent gallery of Haneul’s works. Occasionally, Haneul sends him new pieces to display. Marty has known Haneul since he was 17 and still calls him kiddo, which Haneul thinks is funny. He also considers Marty to be a friend.
11. Type/intensity of religion, if any: None, he doesn’t really care about religion personally, it’s not the type of thoughts he cares to ponder.  

Personality:

12. Basic personality traits (thoughtful, angry, goofy, etc.): Haneul is an impossible book to read. It’s almost always impossible to tell what he’s thinking on the outside, and that’s just how he’s always been. Once he opens up a little bit, though, like he did with Zen, you realize he’s a bit of a dork. He’s eccentric under the surface, but feels like he has to restrain himself and paint the kind of things that people will appreciate, rather than what he likes. He’s strict, professional, and responsible with himself – after all, when tons of people tell you that you’re blessed with great talent, you don’t want to disappoint them. He has amazing self control. He’s the type to wake up at 6AM and go to bed at 9, and can be very regimented.
13. Shortcomings/weaknesses: Haneul’s biggest weakness is that he has no sense of identity outside of his prodigious art skills, which is partly what fueled his move out of his parent’s house & enrollment in school. He doesn’t really know what kind of person he is outside of art, and when he thinks back on his life, he realizes that he spent a lot of time drawing and working hard when maybe, he should have been living and having fun and being irresponsible more. He wants to push himself to act more outside of his comfort zone, but part of him is really scared to experience new things. He feels more comfortable when he’s just standing still, doing what he’s always done and what people expect of him.
14. Strengths/special abilities: He’s an extremely hard worker and fast learner. Tasks and assignments that may seem difficult or daunting to others are tasks that Haneul can casually lose himself in and finish within a matter of hours. He’s also someone who handles pressure very gracefully (at least, so far; he has yet to break or fly off the handle from all these responsibilities…!)

What makes this character tick?

15. Driving motivation(s) or goals: Ultimately, Haneul wants to find a good balance between doing what people expect of him, and doing something that is fulfilling for him on the inside. He wants to push himself to become better but he also wants art to be something that he finds fun again, instead of just something that he does every day, same as brushing his teeth or taking a shower. He wants to feel so passionate about something that he can’t wait to share it with the world, as opposed to feeling like his celebrity status is just something that pays the bills and is a slight annoyance in his life.

Interrogate your character:

16. Dirty secret: He’d never admit it to anyone out of embarrassment, but when he moved out of his parents house, the first night he was there he called his mom in the middle of the night crying because he missed her so much. He realized just how much the constant presence of his parents in his life was a comfort to him, and was very sad for a few weeks after moving.
17. First love: He’s never been romantically interested in anyone yet (high possibility of him being on the aromantic spectrum).
18. Favorite music and/or art: He’s surprisingly fond of listening to opera. He loves deep tracks and instrumental tracks too, a lot of good ambiance to empty his mind and draw to. In terms of TV, he actually likes keeping up with what Netflix shows are popular, and texts Zen about them. It’s a good way for him to force himself to relax for a while, though he doesn’t subscribe to a binge-mentality.
19. Incident that created a scar, either physical or mental: The opening of his gallery was an extremely stressful event for him because he had to meet lots of people, be very polite and conversational, and it was all socially exhausting for him. Haneul is the type of person who becomes exhausted and stressed when heaped with too much praise, which he realizes is a privilege, but it still drains his social meter quickly. He decided that he doesn’t want to do “official public appearances” very often because they become overwhelming quickly. He sees himself as a very plain and unimportant person outside of his skill for art, so he doesn’t quite understand why people get so excited to see him near his works.
20. Describe a turning point in character’s life: Shortly after moving away from home, Haneul decided to get his signature lip piercings in one piercing session. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision he had after eating dinner in a restaurant and walking home. He just stepped right into a parlor and got it done without any forethought. He decided consciously this would be the beginning of his phase to find his own individuality, the start of a years-too-late “rebellious phase”. He decided he wanted to be more spontaneous and take risks, and do things that he might regret. He likes his piercings a lot, and would like to get more soon.