Kolorful Palette: Healed [Healer]
by Fanderay
Over the last year I’ve left so many dramas unfinished that it feels a bit surreal to enjoy one all the way through to its conclusion, and then feel that bittersweet emptiness when the credits finally roll. Perhaps Healer wasn’t perfect, but it was always consistent and hit me in all the right spots. It did a lot of things right, but what made it really stand out was that it did so little wrong. Birth secrets and tortured pasts without incessant moping or repetitive flashbacks? A compelling love story without a love triangle or circumstances absurdly tearing the leads apart? I’d like some more of that please.
I watched the last four episodes in one sitting (I prefer to binge when it comes to dramas) and I initially planned on drawing a scene from the finale, but I couldn’t resist the cuteness of this shot. It might be hard to tell, but it’s from Episode 18 when Young-shin joins Jung-hoo inside the Elder’s house after he’s drugged with incense. I love that they’ve just gotten through this incredibly stressful situation and are sitting on the floor in a strange place with possible medical attention required, but instead they’re all about snuggle-time. It’s not even dramatic we-just-started-dating-and-can’t-help-ourselves snuggling. It’s just them being comfortable with each other and naturally doing what seems appropriate to them in that moment. They may have attempted to be normal for a while, but they will always have their quirks, and that’s a big part of why they’re perfect for each other. Crazy situations come their way and it doesn’t even faze them.
I think a big part of why I love the whole no love triangle thing is that it speeds things up and we get to see more of the real relationship and how these two people actually work as a couple after they’re officially together. In most dramas it’s more about the journey to the beginning of the true relationship, but we don’t get to see much beyond that. Because Young-shin and Jung-hoo are rock solid from early on we get to see how they support each other and how they interact once they’re already comfortable with one another. This scene really showcased that, and I love the way they switch so naturally between more sentimental moments and playfulness. Their whole relationship progression is so much better than a dozen wrist grabs and some push/pull that goes on for ages.
Of course none of it would work if Park Min-young and Ji Chang-wook weren’t so great together. This is by far the most comfortable I’ve seen Park Min-young in an onscreen relationship, and I’m curious to see how she performs in her next role to see if she’s just maturing as an actress or if Healer was just the perfect part for her (or perhaps Ji Chang-wook was the perfect man?). I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to find out they’re dating IRL. For those who didn’t watch until the end of the credits, look how cute they are!
Ji Chang-wook was no slouch in his role either, and he managed to pull off an extremely multi-faceted character with ease. Bong-soo’s dorkiness and Healer’s derisive looks at deserving thugs never ceased to put a grin on my face, and the merging of Jung-hoo’s personas happened so seamlessly I never even noticed it happening. Such diversity within a character is another thing I’d love to see more of (assuming it’s pulled off equally well and doesn’t feel forced).
The actual drawing of this scene turned out to be a bit of a nightmare unfortunately. Usually drawing on the computer is full of perks and tools to make life oh-so-much easier. But then technical problems happen and I want to throw my computer out the window. I won’t go into the details since they won’t make much sense unless you use Corel Painter (and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on the planet who uses it) but basically I spent 5 hours troubleshooting the problem, only to discover that I had somehow changed a layer setting that was irreversible. For the record, it’s pretty much the only thing in the entire piece of software that’s irreversible, and it was only possible because I was using digital watercolor this week. The end result was that I could no longer use digital watercolor and had to finish with other media (I added a paper texture to make it all combine a little better, and I think it worked?).
I’m pretty sure the whole thing happened because I have a sticky key somewhere that contributed to a magical hotkey combination I don’t know about (but pretty much every action has hotkeys in these programs, no matter how ridiculous). I noticed later that the software was acting a bit possessed and changing tools without me pressing anything, so hopefully this doesn’t happen again. It shouldn’t since this could have been avoided if I had just been using iterative saves like an intelligent person instead of just saving over the same file constantly, but I haven’t needed to use a previous save in well over a year and it drives me a bit bonkers having 20 versions of the same file, so I got lazy. Sometimes I swear that technology is sentient and just waits for us to drop our guard. I’d better backup all my photos and important documents before catastrophic hard drive failure strikes!
Thankfully I always write my posts after I finish the drawing, and talking about Healer is an excellent way to feel better. I’m even starting to feel positive about all the useful things I learned while troubleshooting! I’m not feeling quite so positive about the previews for Blood but I suppose not every drama can be squee-worthy. Thanks for the ride Healer! I think I needed you.
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Tags: Healer, Kolorful Palette
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51 twentyonebuds
February 14, 2015 at 2:05 PM
Haha I use Corel painter! But I'm still learning all the technical stuff that goes with it >.< Thanks for sticking it out and producing something so beautiful!! You captured their moony I'm-so-in-love-with-you expressions perfectly! missing healer..but it's really gonna hit come Monday ㅠㅠ
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52 Ada_Aja!
February 14, 2015 at 4:25 PM
Thank you Fanderay for this wonderful Kolorful Palette. Thanks for capturing that look of love I can see in SJH as he intensely eyed CYS... or was it JCW intensely eyeing and loving PMY? hehehe.... I can only wish what you said will come true and make this a loveteam IRL. :)
Thank you for giving us a dose of healer. Its been almost a week since the series ended but we're still not finished gushing and appreciating healer and fantasizing about our lead actors...Hoping and wishing that something romantic in real life will come out of this show. :)
Happy Valentine's Day DB and Healer community!
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53 Aigoooo
February 14, 2015 at 5:50 PM
Great work as always! Please do one for Heart to Heart. Any of the many many YS/HD scenes would be great since every time those two are together, the chemistry is electric.
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54 mitta
February 14, 2015 at 6:15 PM
Fanderay, thank you for a wonderful summary. You summed it up beautifully for all of us Healer fans. Perfect artwork on Valentine's day for our perfect couple!
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55 growingbeautifully
February 14, 2015 at 6:41 PM
Fanderay!!! Lovely work as always and you are so right in what you've chosen and said in review! If there's one thing we want to remember about our OTP, it is not only that they were in a romance but that their relationship is quirky, fortunate in the coincidence of how they were brought together, strangely comfortable and comforting even in uncomfortable situations (like this hanging out in Elder's house of all places) and yet grounded in real concerns ("Can I live like a normal person?").
Thank you too for, dare I say, taking our wishes and requests to heart and giving us another Healer piece of Art. :D I remember how we begged you for another one in your last Healer review. I wish you many happy hours on CorelDraw and other drawing apps and a happy computer to go with it LOL! Thank you for blessing us with your talents. God bless you and yours as well!!!
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56 dramabliss
February 14, 2015 at 7:11 PM
Beautiful, awesome, gorgeous, wow and all other positive superlatives - to describe this painting.
Thank you so much, Fanderay! Have downloaded your paintings for Healer. Will be using them as desktop screensavers.
Can empathize with your technology blues. I do some videos and related material (I wish I could paint like you) and really, glitches do happen and I waste so many hours just trouble shooting.
I recall one time I was doing a slide presentation, and for some reason the file suddenly disappeared! What was left was the alias which of course was not use. And this happened 2 hours before my presentation.
I picked up the tip from you -- yes, I'll keep iterative versions instead of constantly saving the same file. Thanks.
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dramabliss
February 14, 2015 at 7:12 PM
Oops...which of course was of no use...
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57 Xotalix
February 14, 2015 at 7:39 PM
I miss Healer so much!!!!! what am I going to do??????
I'm watching three other Kdramas and I'm already bored with all three.
Damn you Healer now I want all dramas to be like you...
Sorry I needed to get that out of my system.
Thank you Fanderay your art is always so beautiful and your comments very insightful and in line with my own thoughts.
I also commented on how much I enjoyed the no love triangle in this story and how beautiful it was to watch the romance develop in such a natural and realistic way that I could almost believe that those two were truly in love.
Now I feel like I was just dumped by my one true love and I will never love again ... *crawls in a corner and continues to cry while watching all the beautiful moments*
I'm still in the denial stage of grieving, once I move to the anger stage I will send angry emails to the Healer's writer to write Healer 2 soon... fortunately for her I can't write Korean and don't know her email .... :(
I wish you are all doing better than I am ... good luck!
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58 t13ndoank
February 15, 2015 at 12:33 AM
Thank you Fanderay for the FIFTH drawing! This drama deserves attention and affection like no other! Hahhaha…
So, the issue is that Healer is not the PERFECT drama yet everybody adores it so much. For me, Healer is the most PERFECT drama because..
1. For so long we’ve been let down by dog crap that other writers called “plot”. For so long we’ve seen a lot of unnecessary clichés being overused and dragged for God-knows-how-many episodes. The disappointment was very strong that in certain way, it makes us.. cynical. The moment Healer had an indication of angst, we automatically said “I know it! I know you’ll go down there!” Then surprises came not once or twice, because Song Ji Na proved us wrong. She didn’t drag unnecessary issue and made each problem solved right away. Things settled and life moved on [to bigger issue].
2. It gives us one of the healthiest, if not the HEALTHIEST, love relationship between the OTP. For so long, we’ve been disappointed, let down, by having OTPs that couldn’t solve simple issues and kept distrusting each other. Seo Jung Hoo and Chae Young Shin worked on trust issue by talking, worked on blackmail and other darker stuff by sharing and supporting each other. That’s what you call an OTP with healthy relationship.
3. For once, we’re given :
- a caring dad
- a male lead who respects and cares for the female companion so much (no wrist-draggin, asking her to close her eyes whenever he has to punch someone)
- an OTP who could solve their problem in a day by talking (BIG DISCOVERY coz usually other writers go with I-won’t-talk-to-you-until-one-ep-before-the-final mechanism). God knows we could have had happier days if only all writers could use their brains this way.
- An OTP that love like real, hugging like real, kissing like real, and missing each other like real. About this ChangMin shipping, I have yet to see the potential for them to move beyond reel to real, and I’d rather see them get to know longer so that it is built on real foundation and not based on Jung Hoo-Young Shin residue.
So, for me.. this is a drama that I will keep watching and rewatching and rewatching .. again..and again.
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59 anythinggoes_1213
February 15, 2015 at 1:19 AM
i wonder if i'll find another drama just as perfect and squee-worthy as HEALER. every episode was delivered perfectly. and you are right, i love it that there's no love triangle in this drama. they are just perfect for each other! i'm already missing healer.. huhu.
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60 Omomo in a Healer-induced Catatonia
February 15, 2015 at 5:31 AM
I don't check DB for like a day and come back with not just a Healer podcast, but also a wonderful painting! I guess we Healer fans are really spoiled by DB. THANK YOU SO MUCH, FANDERAY!
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61 hinnochan
February 15, 2015 at 6:37 AM
thats sooo beautiful <3<3
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62 divyrus
February 15, 2015 at 11:12 AM
I go out for a busy weekend and here I have two SQUEEWORTHY healer post?????
This is most awesome thing ever !!!!
And Fanderay, the art looks beautiful !!!! I don't know art so I am not the right judge but that pic perfectly captured their comfort and love !
And I love you for doing that !
And despite 1000s of words about Healer, you summed up in the 3 best words possible !
Healer, I NEEDED YOU !
WE ALL DID !
THANK YOU !
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63 omomo
February 15, 2015 at 3:31 PM
I don't check DB for like a day and come back with not just a Healer podcast, but also a wonderful painting! I guess we Healer fans are really spoiled by DB. THANK YOU FANDERAY!
You wouldn't happen to mind if I print out all five of your paintings and have them displayed in my room, would you? Don't worry, they'll be there for my personal collection only. :)
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divyrus
February 15, 2015 at 9:11 PM
HA omomo!
I was thinking the same :D
I need to enshirne Healer in my room in some form!
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64 namedx
February 15, 2015 at 6:53 PM
GOOD NEWS BEANIES - Reaction to Healer fan project teaser is up:
Seems like you guys enjoyed the Teaser video we made. What if I told you we sent the Teaser Video to writer-nim Song Ji Na on the airing of the last episode. And that she along with Ajhumma and a few other actors and fans saw it in the theater together before watching the finale ? Would you like to see their reactions ? Here you go then :)
http://morumoruisland.blogspot.it/2015/02/hifp-teaser-reaction.html
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65 Chandler
February 16, 2015 at 4:03 AM
Fanderay, it's been so lovely to see you giving Healer so much attention, as it truly has become something special to many of us here on dramabeans. I also love that your very last one happened to be one of my favorite scenes :) I swear, your commentaries always feel like they're stealing words from my own head:
"I love that they’ve just gotten through this incredibly stressful situation and are sitting on the floor in a strange place with possible medical attention required, but instead they’re all about snuggle-time. "
Right? Many thought it unrealistic that Young-shin and Jung-hoo would just stay in the Elder's house like that, but I loved that scene precisely because it showed their unconventionally peaceful and relaxed nature in the face of all these incomprehensible situations they've been put in. I love that they were able to just sit there, in a place that should be so dark and ominous, and completely disarm it with their refreshing energy.
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66 Mauve
February 16, 2015 at 8:11 AM
Thank you Fanderay for loving Healer as much as to share 5 drawings with us. As always great artwork. I'm not sure which I like best among your Healer drawings, this one or the rooftop kiss scene. In the drama itself, I love the rooftop scene more but in your drawings, I'd have to go with this "personal contact 2" moment. Why? Because it captures SJH and CYS looking at each other with so much love and affection. And one of the great things about these two (and of course JCW and PMY) is they can communicate so well with their eyes. You have done well to convey that here. Thanks.
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67 fery
February 16, 2015 at 9:36 AM
I love this scene. healer I can,t say goodbye yet!
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68 dyogf
August 14, 2015 at 5:48 AM
I just finished watching this series and I love the whole of it! #latereaction Ji Chang Wook is love!
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69 conster
May 8, 2017 at 9:34 PM
just browsing around dramabeans and its only now that i have noticed your work! its all amazing~
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