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scrollingmaps · 5 years ago

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Painter of the Night

Title: Painter of the Night

Creator: Byeonduck

Site: Lezhin

Summary: Na-Kyum is a young painter with an exceptional talent: creating erotic images of men. Though he has published a few collections under a pseudonym, he has decided to quit painting. Then Seungho, a young nobleman, barges into his life. A hell-raiser notorious for his insatiable lust, Seungho forces Na-kum to become his private painter. However, the nights that await Na-kyum are beyond anything he could have imagined...

Personal Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Review below - Spoiler alerts:

‘Painter of the Night’ originally caught my eye due to its artwork - which proved to be beautiful. There’s use of both line art and some computer programs, but I always appreciated how the creator seemed to actually create their background for the most part (as far as I could tell with the line art). Their characters are beautiful and the coloring is just as brilliant.

I loved the historical theme and the translations that were made to English. They read well in a way that you can feel this story takes place in a past era and lack any error.

The overall plot has a lot of potential, which seems to be diluted by a lot of pointless sex scenes which are more non-con than anything. Na-kyum began as a character that seemed to have something going for him (I mean, he was a drunkard painter, but I expected something to come) and I was excited to watch how his character would develop throughout the rest of the manhwa. What I didn’t expect was that his character would end up being stripped of dialogue that didn’t really fall outside of the “Unnhs!” and “Ahhs”! of sex.

Despite that, I somehow still find Seungho weirdly endearing due to his impatient and threatening personality, along with the fact he seems to have the most depth of any character (somehow). He leaves a reader on edge, making them wonder just how far he will go when he gets wound up and angry. There were times I didn’t know what he might do to any character he’d ever interacted with (cough kill them? cough). Nakyum and Jiwha do seem to be the only characters, that Sengho truly interacts with, besides the moments he’s interacted with Nakyum’s past teacher, Sir Inhun.

Which brings me to my least favorite character of the Manhwa. Sir Inhun is clearly using Na-kyum to gain political power, while Na-kyun “pines” over Sir Inhun and is madly in love with him. He does everything that he can in his own awful circumstance to be sure Sir Inhun can reach his political goals, only to be discarded to the side (unknowingly... so far). Sir Inhun seems to be slightly aware of Na-kyum’s situation, but doesn’t reach out to help as he continues to search for self-preservation and success.

Overall, the story has got me hooked enough to continue reading it religiously. But the fact that Na-kyum has become nothing more than a submissive piece of a human being for Seungho - who still treats him awfully (when I think we’re at a point where we should be enjoying their relationship?), gets me feeling frustrated. I’d love to see some sort of development in this relationship that has Na-kyum speaking more and Seungho softening up.

I’ve rated this 3.5 stars out of 5. The art is great and the story has potential. I’ll keep giving it that chance.

#painter of the night #seungho #seungho x nakyum #nakyum #baek nakyum #yoon seungho #bl #bl manga #bl manhwa #bl manhua

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scrollingmaps · 5 years ago

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