Enakei is a Korean fashion brand, beginning in 2006 when artist Suran Park began hosting her designs and illustrations online. They quickly became popular amongst girls and young women particularly through social media through use as avatars and in web graphics. This popularity eventually evolved into Suran Park’s designs being featured on clothing and stationary under the brand Enakei. There are two traditional, original Enakei styles:
1. Enakei: Stylized cartoon busts & portraits of young women wearing pop fashion designed between 2006-2011. Different pieces are watermarked differently and some not at all.
2. Jennie Enakei: Simplistic, dreamy portraits of young women using airbrush to create an airy, romantic look & feel. Drawn over images of Korean models. Very popular on stationary and apparel. @jennie-enakei is an inactive Tumblr blog from 2011 whose archive has a great selection of Jennie Enakei pieces! (Product images from archived enakei.kr website)
However, these pieces and their art styles have also been identified as Enakei:
Which makes me wonder, does the art have to be made by Suran Park or can other similar art (such as Mellow J’s LovelyGirl series) be considered Enakei? Could it mean that these images & their styles, which you’ll more than likely recognize if you’ve been in the web graphics scene for a while, could also be categorized under the name Enakei?:
If you have any links, sites, sources or memories (products you had in the past, dress-up games you’ve played, graphics you’ve made, etc.) that might help me identify these, let me know or discuss in the replies… ^^ Personally, I’m very, very happy to have finally been able to put a name to these particular pieces and styles of art because I’ve seen them around for years with no way to describe them && I’ve received many questions about them over time and I’ve never been able to give a proper answer or nod in the right direction for anybody who wants to look for more!!
gummygunk
yousharknotpass
blakekathryn
prguitarman
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
