Virtual artists have become quite common these days, but a very unique one named Edan Maverick debuted earlier this year in June — a virtual artist based on a real-life singer named Dawn.


Developed by 3-D character developer startup Oneness Korea, Edan Maverick, or E.dan, made an official showcase of his works at the 2024 Focus Art Fair held in London from Oct. 10 to 13, with 3-D rendered videos of the artist and media artworks showcased using the artist’s brand story.


Rather than releasing music or streaming online as many virtual idols do, Edan Maverick strives to be, well, a maverick. The artist’s developer and agency Oneness Korea began by starting a collaborative art project under Edan’s first story franchise, “Black Sheep,” by opening up the artist’s brand and concept to other real-life artists and encouraging them to produce their own work using the Edan intellectual property (IP).

Edan has since teamed up with sculptors, fashion designers, craftspeople, illustrators and so on who have created their own works using Edan’s story and the Black Sheep brand identity.

“The Black Sheep idea is symbolic of someone with a color so distinct that they don’t belong to this world,” Oneness Korea founder and CEO Kim Jin-soo said. “We wanted artists from different genres to play with this idea and create an artistic world of their own, which in turn expands the artistic world of Edan. We didn’t want to do the obvious thing of creating a virtual model of a singer and then getting them to sing — we wanted to start a totally new concept.”

Kim’s idea of creating a virtual artist came from his previous experience at Locus-X, the production company behind virtual artist Rozy, one of Korea’s first virtual artists that debuted in 2020. Kim began his career in advertising in 2002 and joined Locus-X’s marketing team in 2019, the learnings from which he took and applied to build his very own advertising and virtual artist company in July last year.

“We like to say that we’re creating alternative art, not just a virtual human,” Kim said. “They’re different from just ‘another form of human.’ Treating them as replacement humans gives way to so many restraints, not just in technicality but also because people are naturally repelled by anything that challenges humankind. So, that’s why with Edan Maverick, we want to think of him as a form of art in himself — an idea that anyone can take and turn into their own art.”

Oneness Korea has been selected for the Tech Incubator Program for Startup (TIPS) Korea by the government. The company currently makes profit from producing advertising materials and then uses the proceeds to invest in virtual artist businesses, such as Edan. The company also created another virtual character this year named Toffy, based on a rabbit instead of a human, and is working toward a third project by the end of the year.

Kim sat down for an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily to explain more about the Edan Maverick project and his predictions on the future of the virtual entertainment market. Following are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity.

Q. Why did you start a virtual artist project based on a real human being and how did you come to collaborate with Dawn?

The reason I started this project is because I was, and still am, certain about the future of virtual artists, but we’re a startup without a reputation or money. So, we knew that it would be impossible to succeed with a wholly new virtual artist and we would have to use an existing IP to build a new world from it.

Dawn and I were personally acquainted from before. I had told him my idea even before establishing Oneness Korea, and he was on board from the very start. We agreed on the things that we would try and had his face 3-D modeled before he started his military duty [on Oct. 12, 2023]. He left us to work on the details, but we worked on the initial idea together.

Why did you decide on an art project, instead of releasing a new song for the virtual artist, which is most common for virtual artists these days?

We didn’t want it to be obvious. If you had heard about a virtual artist based on a real singer, the first thing you would expect would be another singer, right? What would be the fun in that? We wanted Edan Maverick to be a chance, not just for us, but a chance for the artist, Dawn, to try something that he never got to do during his work. We wanted him to accomplish the dreams that he couldn’t before, the things that would only be possible in the virtual world.

So, the ultimate idea is to turn Edan Maverick into a platform of ideas. For instance, a baker could make a new dessert based on the Black Sheep concept and a designer could create a new bag. It could be pottery, poetry, a book or whatever they want — we provide the idea and people share their ideas and develop new work within the community. And during that process, they even get to make profit.

This is not to say that we’re completely against the idea of Edan Maverick releasing a song. That could also be another part of the creative process, but we won’t choose to do it simply because it seems like the most “natural” thing to do.

What potential do you think virtual humans will have in the future? What advantages do they have over human artists?

I used to say in the past that virtual artists don’t drink, get old or do anything illegal. But now, I’ve come to question why we keep comparing them with humans in the first place. They are not a substitute for humans — they’re new forms of art, created by artists. Of course, some people might say that my commercial aspects shadow the artistic side, but commercial or not, content is creativity and art.

Even in the past, we saw characters from animations or films be made into real-life goods and communicate with the audience in various ways. We’re just taking the idea and flipping it around, where we build a character and its universe, communicate with the audience and then create new work using that very idea. They could even be nonhuman beings because, again, it’s not about replacing humans. It could be an animal, an object, a plant or anything completely new. We’re a small, newly made company, but we hope to become a leader in this field.

Where do you see the virtual human market going in the future?

The metaverse seems to have died down in recent years, but it’s a platform that will always need IP to fill the space as long as it exists. It will keep on growing and needing new forms of content, and the evolutionary process will open up new stages for virtual stars to perform on. It is within that channel that we want to place our artists and lead the industry.

I believe that the virtual human market will thrive off the K-content market, especially K-pop, K-dramas and K-films. There are voids that can be filled by virtual stars in such content genres, and it is up to the creative minds to fill the places. It could be virtual stars featuring in dramas or making entirely new programs. Whatever it is, technology is changing every aspect of our world, and it is our job to use the new tools to grow the cultural pie so that we all benefit from the fruits.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]