Meet Soo Park | Mixed media animator and sculptor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Soo Park and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Soo, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Two core values drive my creative process: the unbound energy of childhood and the fusion of the physical and digital.
I celebrate children’s play, the fearless exploration of absurd imaginary things. I cherish these childhood memories and strive to infuse my art with that same playful spirit, capturing a world brimming with wonder and a touch of mischief. My artistic playground transforms childhood memories into mischievous creatures through animation and sculpture, unearthing the purest emotions and evoking a nostalgic utopia.

Furthermore, my work thrives at the intersection of the physical and digital. I create 3D animations infused with traditional techniques like metal fabrication, stop-motion, and paper puppetry. I believe there’s an non-negotiable small detail in analog processes that digital tools can’t replicate. Especially in this age of rapidly advancing AI, I’m drawn to the tactile aspects, like the fiery sparks of welding, fingerprints left in clay, and the texture of mistakenly torn paper .

In my recent animations “Weldy’s Crêperie” and “Digging Dog’s Mystery,” I used a metal welding gun as a drawing tool, literally “drawing” with sparks and molten metal. The unexpected marks created by this process, combined with digital animation, resulted in a new and visually striking experience. Also I love how this powerful and masculine tool can create the most childlike doodles, reversing its professional use for playful creations.

Beyond animation, my sculptures also embrace this fusion of analog and digital. For example, in my sculpture “DOG HOUSE FIRE HOUSE DOG,” a dog house balancing on top a bronze-casted dog. Instead of fully using 3D printer, I used a 3D doodler (a 3D pen) to create the wooden texture on the surface of the dog house. This allowed me to intuitively and directly “draw” the wood texture in a way that machines cannot replicate. Although it took over 80 hours of laborious work of literal sweat, blood and tear, this handmade details are something I couldn’t compromise on. Though it’s a fullish endeavor, it’s these analog process on top of the digital is very essence of my work.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Currently based in Brooklyn, I work as a freelance mix-media animator, blending stop-motion, 3D animation, and live-action to create immersive visuals. Most recently, I participated as a mix-media visual creative for Lexie Liu’s concert tour visuals crafting stop motion and 2D animation sequences that played across massive screens in front of over 20,000 people in Nanjing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Seeing my animations come to life on such a scale interwoven with talented artist Lexie, music, lights, and an electrified crowd, was surreal.

Before that, I’ve worked with other korean music artists like Yunb, Verbal Jint, and Dbo under the label Sadgas and released 2 album covers and teaser 3D animations.
Design wise, I worked as a graphic designer for the magazine ‘Mental” powered by Culture Therapy, collaborated with friends Juliyen, Jon, Arthur, Eric, and Billy. It’s An Interactive Zine Illuminating the Healing Power of Art and Creativity, interviewed artists like Pink Essay’s David Eardley, Alvilda Faber Striim, and Emwell. In October, we successfully held a magazine launching pop-up in LA, which allowed us to connect with various artists and host workshops.

Looking ahead, with my friend Juliyen, ‘m currently developing a unique app that combines Duolingo and a to-do app with interactive stop-motion. In late March, I’m also preparing a jewelry pop-up and exhibition in lower east side Manhattan with artists like Aaron, Amos, Soeun, Jannette, and Lindsay. Aiming to grow my sculptural jewelry brand bigger.

My biggest goal for 2025 is to continue collaborating with musicians, blending live action and animation. I envision a band playing drums in whimsical sculptural suits, green-screened into an entirely different animated world. I’d love to combine this with animation layered over, inspired by early 2000s movies and music videos like The Taste of Tea, Hikaru Utada or Morning Musume. My immediate goal while in New York is to collaborate with as many talented artists as possible. + I’m working hard to expand my reach to Japan next year 2026, in addition to New York. What does the future hold? I’m excited to find out!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite spot in New York is, without a doubt, the climbing gym Vital. Some of my happiest moments are spent sitting at the big communal table, working on my laptop, then sneaking in a quiet solo climbing session before closing.

Whenever I run out of creative ideas, I take the slide down and somehow, they start flowing again. If you’re with a friend, I highly recommend holding hands while tightrope walking (it’s way harder than it looks). The outdoor sauna on the second floor is the perfect way to end a session, and a hot shower afterward feels like a complete reset.

To top it off, after climbing at the LES location, I head to Chinatown for dinner. And if I’m in Greenpoint, it’s either a slice from Salsa Pizza or a meal at Birds of a Feather. The perfect way to wrap up the day.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shoutout to my first company, Krafton, known for the game PUBG: Battlegrounds. More than just a workplace, it was where I learned an invaluable lesson: art doesn’t always have to be difficult and abstract, what truly matters is conveying a compelling message and emotion.

Before joining PUBG, I was a sophomore in college, caught in an ongoing internal debate between fine art and commercial art. I spent hours questioning what “good art” really meant. I had convinced myself that fine art had to be mysterious and difficult to understand, so I blindly imitated that aesthetic, deep down worrying that my work seemed too childish or not serious enough.
Then, I joined PUBG and was completely immersed in the world of commercial video game production. At 22, I put my studies on hold and worked full-time in the Creative Center team, led by Josh Shin. I learned how to utilize my fine art background in video editing, motion graphics, 3D animation, and graphic design. Since we were an in-house production team, most projects were handled individually from start to finish, from storyboarding, look development, filming, editing, visual effects, even basic sound design. The team was full of young, multi-talented artists who freely shared their skills and knowledge. We weren’t just working side by side, we were constantly teaching and learning from each other. Through this experience, I became a true generalist thanks to team members like Hong, Changkyu, Nakyung, Wonkyun, and Kyungha.
One of the most fascinating aspects of our work was how we used game engines in realtime workflow. We would go inside the engine, set up lights, environments, and cameras, and even direct actors to play the characters live based on a storyboard, just like other cinematic production.
A particularly surreal projects I worked on was the early development of Krafton’s virtual human ANA. I contributed to her character design and music video, but what most people don’t know is that I also became her literally. Through motion capture, facial acting, and voice work, I helped bring ANA to life in some of her earliest streaming content. It was a bizarre but fascinating experience, one that blurred the lines between game and reality.
As I became more immersed in the work, I began to understand that there was no hierarchy in art, commercial and fine art weren’t opposites; they were just different ways of expressing something meaningful. Art is diverse, and there’s an audience for everything. All I needed to do was create what truly resonated with me.
Once I became honest with myself, my passion for animation grew stronger. So after two and a half years, I returned to school and refocused on animation, particularly childlike and playful styles. Drawing from my background in sculpture, I spent my final two years experimenting with welding animation techniques, clay stop-motion, and paper puppetry. Through this exploration, I developed my own unique animation methods and found immense satisfaction in the creative process.
Looking back, my experience at Krafton wasn’t just about learning technical skills, it was about discovering a new perspective on art. I stopped trying to fit into a predefined category and instead focused on making new mix-media visual with clear message and emotion!

Website: https://donkeysoopark.cargo.site/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donkeysoo

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donkeysoopark/