Although it emerged in Indonesia in 2010 through Ngomik.com which once had 2,700 users and 500 comic artists, webtoons (digital comics) in Indonesia are not yet very popular. It is only since 2015 when LINE Webtoon was launched that the potential for creators and the Webtoon market in Indonesia has been increasingly visible. Currently, Line Webtoon has reached 6 million readers, of which Indonesia is the largest market for digital comics. Several Indonesian digital comics have been successful and made into films, namely “Si Juki: Lika-Liku Anak Kos” (2017), “Terlalu Tampan” (2019), and “Eggnoid” (2019). In fact, one Indonesian webtoon, “Virgo and The Sparkling” will soon be adapted into a Korean drama series.
Founded in 2013, and attracting 40,000 registered users at its launch, Kwikku has become one of the leading Indonesian Gen Z social storytelling platforms today. Since joining the Falcon Pictures ecosystem in 2019, countless stories, webtoons, and even film scripts published on Kwikku have become successful, published as novels, comics, and films. This discussion is being held to find out the ins and outs of webtoons in Indonesia, and how to become a successful webtoonist.
LPP 1 | SAT, 3 DEC | 14:00 - 15:30
Sweta Kartika
Being a comic artist and an illustrator has been Sweta Kartika's aspiration since he was merely a child. Born on 14 April 1986 to an artist father in a small town in Kebumen, Central Java, his childhood plays a crucial role in cultivating imagination and discipline to sharpen his drawing skills from day to day. Subconsciously, it then brought forth a motto in the life of this enthusiast of Indonesian traditional visual arts that "there is no such thing as an instant success".
Having attended formal education for 12 years, Sweta pursued his study under Visual Communication Design Program at Bandung Institute of Technology. It was during this time when he began to deepen visual studies of traditional arts and collaborated with three other friends that share the same vision to set up Wanara Studio, where he manages the comic and illustration division. Upon completing his Bachelor degree in 2008, he went on as a comic artist and illustrator freelance while attending the Master Program of Design at the very same alma mater in 2011 and graduated two years later, prior to the publications of his action comics Nusantaranger and Wanara.
Currently, Sweta is actively advocating Indonesian creative industry as a comic artist and a non• academic educator as well, sharing techniques and procedures of creating a lively story through his self-composed Comic Sense course. Sweta is also compassionate of presenting Pencak Silat through action comics to the global market. Having been told many during his childhood, Sweta grew fond of silat warrior saga and decided to establish Padepokan Ragasukma along with his best friend, Alex Irzaqi, as a means to gather the other silat comic artists.
His masterpiece, Pusaka Dewa, which published under Padepokan Ragasukma depicts a rotten conten• tion of sacred traditional Javanese weapon. It has successfully emerged as the reformer of Indonesian silat comics and has been eventually adapted into a card game entitled Keris Tanding. In conjunction with other ten silat comic artists, Sweta aims to promote Indonesian traditions and culture to the inter• national comic industry.
Lalu Roisamri
Lalu Roisamri studied Television Journalism at Gadjah Mada University from 1995 to 1998 before pursuing Film Studies at the Jakarta Art Institute (1998-2000). He became Co-Director of the Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest), the largest in Southeast Asia, and a promoter of many new talents in Indonesian cinema in its inaugural year, 1999. He has participated in festival management residencies at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2001 and the New York Film Festival in 2006. Since 2011, Lalu has actively assisted the Indonesian government in promoting Indonesian films and filming locations in more than 25 international markets. He was the Indonesian Advisor (2016-2017) for the Asia Pacific entertainment technology company, Weying, the fastest-growing unicorn in Chinese history underwritten by Tencent, Wanda, and China Media Capital, to invest in Indonesia. He chaired the Location Promotion Division of Badan Perfilman Indonesia from 2017 to 2022, forming five regional film commissions in Indonesia. He has served as Chairman of the Perkumpulan Semesta Daya Mada (Salaka Credu) since 2020, an organization that focuses on film entrepreneurship and other fields of art, culture, and the creative economy.
