°—『 고쿠 / GOKU / ごくう』•
an illustrator with a large shōnen jump collection and an even larger appetite
proud to be jae's rebound hoe
°— 『 BLANK PAGE 』 •
°— 『 INFORMATION 』 • :
+ alias goku / 고쿠 / ごくう
+ birth april 16, 1994
+ origin ansan, south korea
+ family older brother, grandfather (deceased)
°— 『 LIFESTYLE 』 • :
+ occupation freelance illustrator
+ setting lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment
+ pets a rat — deku, a jindo dog — sadaharu
+ religion non-denominational Christian
°— 『 PERSONALITY 』 • :
+ positive friendly, playful, protective, honest, loyal
+ neutral blunt, naive, oblivious, carefree, mischievous
+ negative quick-tempered, lazy, immature, childish
+ extra aries, isfp, year of the dog, neutral good
°— 『 MISCELLANEOUS 』 • :
+ interests anime, nintendo, ghibli, yuru-kyara
+ hobbies eating, drawing, reading manga, singing
+ languages korean & japanese (fluent), english (basic)
+ projects sketchbook, stickers, series
°— 『 COLORINGS 』 •
°— 『 BACKGROUND 』 • :
+ she was born in ansan, south korea and put up for adoption not long after her birth; she was then transferred to a center in japan
+ she was adopted into a japanese family consisting of those she would come to know as her grandpa and her older brother, none of whom are blood-related
+ she grew up in japan side-by-side with her brother away from the city and away from many people; their favorite activities were watching anime and recreating the fight scenes
+ as a child she was energetic and shameless; since they lived away from people she lacked proper social interactions and experience but learned what she could from her grandpa
+ her grandpa passed away before she became a teenager; due to this unfortunate circumstance her and her older brother were left under each other's care
+ with only her brother to interact with at a fairly young age she wasn't able to mature emotionally, causing her to be rather ignorant and insensitive as well as naive and carefree
+ she has always loved drawing her favorite anime characters and used drawing to distract herself and cope with her grandpa's death
+ her brother enrolled them both in school and insisted on them still going to church; she did poorly academically and rarely ever paid attention in school
+ it was her brother's idea to move to korea once he graduated from high school; little did she know it was to help her connect with her homeland and culture
+ she pursued illustration as a freelance artist and gained a small, dedicated following online leading to her growing success now
+ she's still unaware of her adoption; she thinks she's blood-related to her brother and grandpa and that her birth name is actually "goku"
°— 『 DETAILS 』 • :
+ it was her brother's idea to call her "goku," after his favorite anime character, the protagonist of dragon ball
+ basically a lot of her personality comes from what she's seen of goku as a kid, though she has grown out of some of it due to being faced with reality now that she's older
+ she regularly attends church and enjoys singing in the choir; like her grandpa she is a proud Christian
+ aside from anime, she loves studio ghibli movies and enjoys going out for a night of karaoke; she's also a fan of japanese mascots or "yuru-kyara"
+ she has a tendency to randomly vanish from those around her for short periods of time or longer, it's safe to assume that she's probably visiting her grandpa in japan
still under construction!
°— 『 BRAINSTORM 』 •
PEN PAL the one goku first showed her original illustrations to (besides her brother). they exchanged letters in high school as a class assignment and tried their best keeping in touch ever since. clearly, the older they get the harder this becomes. they've always talked about meeting in person, so can they finally make it happen?
SUPPORTER the one goku appreciates. someone who has shown the most interest in goku's illustrations, consistently purchasing them and giving her the motivation to keep drawing. she'd like to reach out to this person to thank them personally with the hope of befriending them, but will they be okay with that?
ART MUSE the one goku is a fan of. an idol or well-known personality goku finds herself always watching and constantly sketching. she knows the chance of ever meeting them is slim to none, but if it were to happen, would she be willing to share her works-in-progress?
BIOLOGICAL the one goku is nervous to reach out to. after learning the truth about her family and her "adoption," goku searches for this person: her biological older sibling. once she thinks she's found them, what happens next?
still under construction!
°— 『 REFERENCE 』 •
°— 『 NOTES 』 • :
+ oc krp account, mirrored lit
casual "illit" interactions are easier for me to reply to but i'm open to literate interactions too (they'll just be slower)
+ mun / muse 19+
no interactions with anyone under the age of 18 please
+ scattered activity at times
i get overwhelmed easily and tend to retreat after being too social so please understand if i take awhile to reply
+ pre-established relationships are more than welcome
i hate awkward first intros as much as the next person
i'm willing to discuss and/or adjust any plots in order to better suit a muse and their influence, if interested!
please at least read her profile and summary beforehand
°— 『 DISCLAIMER 』 • :
in no way is this account affiliated with sm entertainment's red velvet or the actual kang seulgi or akira toriyama's dragon ball series and characters
none of the illustrations used are mine nor do i claim any ownership; itsuka is the respective illustrator used as an "artclaim," all illustrations are their creative property, i'm just a big fan and feel their art fits my muse
°— 『 OUTLINES 』 •
SCROLL TO NOW
...
if it were up to the woman that gave birth to her, she wouldn't be around today. thankfully, the woman's mother talked her out of it and she was born in ansan, south korea. it wasn't long until she was given up and eventually transferred to a center in japan at a very young age.
in japan, an old man known to help the center became fond of the young girl as did his grandson. seeing how well she got along with the older boy, the old man felt it in his heart to bring her home. it was the older boy, who she soon came to know as her older brother, who came up with the idea to call her "goku" after his favorite anime character. the old man, who she soon came to know as her grandpa, took up the boy's suggestion, and from there the young girl from south korea became known as goku.
as time went by, naturally goku became just as big a fan of anime as her brother, her favorites being dragon ball (obviously), naruto, one piece, and later gintama. they'd wait eagerly each week for new episodes and tried their best to mirror the characters and replicate the fight scenes. due to this constant exposure to goku the character, goku the girl adopted parts of his personality.
throughout her childhood, goku was quite energetic and shameless. her and her brother were partners-in-crime. they played together, sneaked treats together, play-fought together, and it even got to the point where goku would dress and cut her hair like her older brother. they lived away from the city and many people, so more than just an older brother, he was her best (and her only) friend.
unfortunately, before she became a teenager, her grandpa died, leaving her and her older brother to look after each other. leaving her one less person to interact and share love with. this lack of social experience growing up left her rather ignorant in many things and granted little development in emotional maturity, leaving her somewhat pure-hearted, carefree, and naive. it seems she did, however, inherit her grandpa's caring personality, despite his death happening when she was still rather young.
due to this unfortunate and unforeseen circumstance, the two were left to fend for themselves. without their grandpa, the only family they had was each other. her brother refused to let her know the truth about the center and her adoption, so going back there was out of the question. they stayed in the countryside and did all they thought would make grandpa proud. her brother, being older with more experience and knowledge, had them attend church every week and put them both in school.
prior to their grandpa's death, the two were home-schooled and learned together. she was nervous, to say the least, of being in a separate classroom from her brother but it was inevitable because of their age difference. to cope with the loss of her grandfather and to comfort her anxieties and fears, goku took to the things she loved most: drawing and anime. her love for drawing came from seeing the different character designs throughout different anime series, as many of her childhood notebooks were filled with poorly-drawn goku's, naruto's, luffy's and other characters. when she was in class, she inherently spent majority of her time not paying attention, but was instead distracting herself with whatever happened to goku, naruto, or luffy that week.
when she was supposed to be reading a textbook, there'd be a copy of shōnen jump hidden within the pages. when she was supposed to be writing notes, she'd be drawing sketches of the characters or the fight scenes as best as she could. when she wasn't doing either of those things, she was probably eating or sleeping. sure, it definitely wasn't good for her academics that the only things she'd do in class was draw, read manga, eat, and sleep, but on the bright side, it was only a matter of time before her drawing skills improved. which they did, drastically.
her knack of getting in trouble with her teachers earned goku the title of "troublemaker" in her class. it wasn't all too bad, though. thanks to her consistently improving drawing talent, her classmates were actually impressed by her drawings of the characters they'd seen on tv and they enjoyed the scenes that would occur when goku got on most of the teachers' bad sides, again and again. it made school a little less boring and much more entertaining. it wasn't long before goku was seen as more of the "class clown" and no longer the "troublemaker."
this newfound, somewhat positive attention from her classmates helped goku adjust to the school environment. even if it took a year or two. she finally had friends other than her older brother and she developed a fondness for making those around her laugh or smile, whether it be by drawing pictures of her classmates' favorite characters or covering the classrooms' boards with funny images.
attending church was a different story. her love for singing came from participating in worship and choir. goku was unexpectedly attentive and well-behaved every week. she felt the need to be since she had heard so many of the stories they told in church already from her grandpa. it made her feel closer to him and if she were to be honest, Jesus could easily beat goku in a fight (but he was too loving for that). she wanted to grow up to be like both.
skip forward a few years, goku was now in high school. her brother was getting ready to graduate and she still had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. they still lived in their grandpa's old home, she still did mediocre academically in school, and the only things that did change over the years were her body (thank you, puberty) and her drawing style. she had started to lose the stiff, angular lines that were used to illustrate many characters (especially for their hair — you know who i mean) and picked up a softer, almost cuter technique. it could very well be because this was around the time she experienced her first crush but we won't get into that right now.
it was her brother's idea for them to move to south korea once he graduated. he told her it was because, according to him, the universities were better there and they had a better focus on his major. really, he wanted to take her back to her homeland. he felt it would help her if she got to experience her culture firsthand, though he knew it was only a matter of time before he would have to tell her the truth about her upbringing. but, in the meantime, to the oblivious goku, the idea of exploring and experiencing a new land made her quite nervous and quite excited.
of course leaving grandpa's house in japan wasn't easy to do, but to the two siblings it just felt right. it was a big step to take and accepting the fact that her brother would soon be a full-fledged adult, goku refused to fall behind. that's not what grandpa would've wanted. she was ready.
in south korea, her brother attended seoul national university while she finished her last couple of years in high school. although the two were very alike and shared the same interests, their academics and focuses contrasted completely. goku's older brother was a top student, he never settled for anything less than an "A," whereas goku was constantly caught in class catching "Z's." this only worsened when goku was confronted with a language barrier. if it weren't for her brother tutoring her, she probably would've never got accepted into art school.
despite her brother's expectations and countless hours of lecturing, art school didn't last very long for goku. she was self-taught with no real experience, her "portfolio" was full of "cartoon characters" (according to her professors), and quite frankly everyone around her was extremely pretentious. honestly, she didn't care about the "significance" or "suffering" behind paint splatters on a giant canvas. she just wanted to draw for the sake and enjoyment of drawing. she couldn't go around pretending to care about unnecessarily expensive "masterpieces" that had no impact on her visually. so she dropped out.
her older brother was disappointed, but not surprised. it was clear how unhappy she was, staying up hours into the night just to finish still-lives that nobody, not even goku, cared to look at. she took the action with a grain of salt. she knew fine art wasn't for her, but she also knew sketching her favorite anime characters wasn't going to get her anywhere either. it was time she drew for herself.
it started with self-portraits. when she was younger, when she was happier, when she wasn't. she was finally feeling connected to her creations again, a feeling she completely forgot in her two years of art school. after self-portraits then came illustrations of her older brother. it was no surprise that he'd eventually become her muse.
from there her subjects only grew. she was fascinated by those around her. her family, her friends, past classmates, people she'd remember catching glimpses of back at grandpa's, people she had vague visions of in her dreams, people she simply thought up, and so on. more than just sketches or illustrations, these drawings started to tell stories, envision scenes, and convey emotions to her.
NOW, you could say the illustrator her fans recognize as "goku" is fairly successful in her own terms. it started with simple, colored illustrations of people in everyday life. before she knew it, people actually took a liking to her originals. with a big assist from her older brother, goku was able to start selling prints of her illustrations online, enabling her work to get out into the world ("the world" being south korea and back in japan). currently, she's issued hundreds of prints, designed stickers, and is working on her own collection of short series. sure, she's not a celebrity who gets identified on the street, but the fact that her own sketches have such an impact on people that they actually enjoy and look forward to seeing her art, is a lot more than she could ever ask for or think of.
as for her personal life, goku lives alone (unless you count her pet rat deku as a roommate) in a one-bedroom apartment that sometimes doubles as an art studio. usually she works outside of home in order to avoid distractions and procrastination. she has another pet she shares with her older brother, a jindo dog by the name of sadaharu that stays with her brother most of the time. when she's not sketching she can typically be found at home watching anime (shocker), reading manga, or playing nintendo games. when she's not at home she's probably at a karaoke (singing her heart out), or she's at church, either rehearsing for sunday worship (again, singing her heart out) or attending bible study. regularly, she travels to japan to wind down and visit her grandpa.
she can usually be found with a smile on her face or laughing. her friends are extremely important to her, only second to her brother and her pets. she's not fond of conflict but she will confront it if it impacts those closest to her. although she can be very shy, she enjoys meeting people and making new friends. that being said, her shyness holds no contest to her brutally honest and blunt nature. sometimes she can't help coming off as rude because her naivety and obliviousness leave her unaware of how her words or actions can affect others, but she never means any harm by it. similarly, she has a tendency to be carefree and quite reckless, spontaneously acting before thinking things through. if pushed enough on the wrong day she can act out quite immaturely. since she's not the best at expressing herself, if it ever comes to it she's more likely to settle something physically rather than verbally. however, she's not one to hold a grudge and ends up apologizing or forgiving others easily and gets over things quickly. to her, arguments take too much time and energy. she'd much rather be content than upset. she cares too much about her friends to let petty disagreements last too long between them. this is only a sliver of how big her heart is. she's always willing to lend a hand or a listening ear or anything that anyone may need, especially her friends, just as her grandpa would do.
°— 『 PALETTES 』 •
SPRING:99 her earliest memory displays calming greens accompanied by playful blues. the perfect day that hosted a clear sky and gave a spotlight to the greenery around her as she chased after her brother outside. giggles and casual taunts coming from the older can be heard amidst the routine bustle of the countryside. the delightful scent of grandpa's cooking enveloped the two once they were inside, but, to her joy, playtime was never over.
SUMMER:01 her happiest memory consists of warm hues of reds mixed with hints of light purples and deep pinks, interrupted by sharp flickers of intense oranges and roaring yellows. she was seated by a campfire with the sunset at the beach as a backdrop, her brother and grandfather by her side, and the loudest thought in her mind being how she never wanted that summer to end. a picturesque scene of loving smiles and hearty laughs she wished to save forever.
AUTUMN:05 her darkest memory details somber greys and a haunting pale tone she'd never even think to imagine. the pale tone you only see on the skin of someone who was once alive. she wouldn't even describe it as a color but rather as the absence of a color that resembled the absence of life. she could only pray for her grandpa to be shining brightly in Heaven among the Lord, His Son, and His angels, a bittersweet thought that managed to add a dash of color to the situation, though that color was soon washed away by streams of tears.
WINTER:11 her loveliest memory highlights pure whites and dazzling yellows accented by sweet reds and crisp greens. always taken away by the image of a cityscape showcasing beautiful lights, seeing it in person during her favorite holiday season made it all the more beautiful. it was the first time her and her brother left japan, but this moment gave her the strength and courage to take on the intimidating city of seoul, south korea. nothing would stop her. she would prove her name isn't goku for nothing.
°— 『 SKETCHBOOK 』 •
°— 『 STICKERS 』 •
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SKETCHBOOK
SERIES
°— 『 SERIES 』 •
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SKETCHBOOK
STICKERS