For my Master's thesis project at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, I illustrated "In the Moonlight Mist" (not shown), a Korean tale published as a children's book. "In the Moonlight Mist" and my second book, "The Rabbit and the Dragon King," are both ancient Korean folktales, which I remember as favorites from my own childhood. I call these two books my "childhood dreams come true" because to create them, I used images I had visualized as a young child.

I believe that the most rewarding aspect of being a children's book illustrator is the freedom to imagine new worlds from a child's point of view. I love facing the challenges each book brings and exploring different approaches. In "The Best Winds," I used an abstract style of painting to convey the movement of the winds and the emotions of the story. In contrast, the kites adorning these paintings are concrete constructions of balsa wood and rice paper.

Imagine a Dragon consists of short tales from many different cultures of the world. The historical artistic styles of these cultures inspired my paintings for this project. I visit schools in Massachusetts, and my presentation is based on this book. For Fly Free!, my latest book, I sought a different artistic approach to complement the gentleness at the story's heart. As it so happened, her home was being remodeled, and in the chaos of construction, she found my inspiration: the odd bits of plywood lying around the house. This unusual choice of canvas, in combination with the warm, earthy watercolor tones, brought this tender story of compassion to life.