Derek Kirk Kim is a Korean-American writer, director, and artist. He is the recipient of the Eisner (2004), the Harvey (2004), and the Ignatz Award (2003) for his debut graphic novel Same Difference and Other Stories. (The contents of which were originally serialized on his website, formerly known as Lowbright, and Small Stories). This collection of short stories was first published with the help of a 2002 Xeric Award. In television, he is best known for his work as a director on the Disney animated television series Amphibia. He was also the lead character designer of Adventure Time (Cartoon Network) and a story artist for Green Eggs and Ham (Netflix). He is also the writer of TUNE and the writer and director of the spin-off webseries, Mythomania. Kim has also worked on numerous animated shorts, including "Sympathy for Slenderman," a Webby Award nominee in 2014. Early life Kim was born in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea. He came to the United States when he was eight. He considers himself fortunate to have received formal training in the visual arts and in the craft of writing. He now lives in Los Angeles, California. Career Kim had begun serializing Healing Hands, his follow-up to Same Difference, on his website Lowbright, until he decided to abort the project on July 16, 2006. Healing Hands was to be published as a print graphic novel by First Second Books. Same Difference and Other Stories has been translated in French and is published in France and distributed in that country and Belgium, Switzerland and Canada by the publisher 6 pieds sous terre. It has also been translated into Korean, Spanish, German, and Italian. He appeared in Adventures Into Digital Comics, a 2006 documentary on the comics industry. Kim followed this with numerous anthology contributions and collaborations. He illustrated a story in the original Fables graphic novel 1001 Nights of Snowfall and worked for Nickelodeon magazine. He also contributed the short story, "Maiden and the River Spirit" to the first volume of the Flight series. In 2007, Kim wrote a YA graphic novel for DC Comic's Minx imprint called "Good As Lily," illustrated by Jesse Hamm. In April 2009, he illustrated "The Eternal Smile: Three Stories" — a collaboration with Gene Luen Yang — which garnered Kim his second Eisner Award, this time for "Best Short Story." He also wrote a comic called TUNE, illustrated by Les McClaine