MAYPAPER, Kunah
MAYPAPER Kunah 01
이 매거진은 한국어를 읽지 못하는 저의 아들과 친구들을 위해 발행하는 영어버전의 매거진입니다.
This magazine is an English version publication created for my son and my friends who cannot read Korean.
한국어 버전의 글 : https://brunch.co.kr/@maypaperkunah/1
"Designing pictures and colouring them with words."
This is the concept of the art I am pursuing.
I am an illustrator and book designer currently living in Sydney, Australia.
I deeply love fairy tales that beautifully express the relationship between human innocence and nature.
I want to create stories that the world needs through children's fairy tales and adult fables that encapsulate the meaning of humans and nature.
Stories I Would Like to Publish on BrunchStory:
1. I aim to introduce my daily life, which is like a fairy tale in harmony with the nature of Australia, through my illustrations. I want to convey stories about life, education, and people in Australia, demonstrating that life itself is truly art.
2. I seek to express in writing how my life, nature, and fairy tales intertwine, and to explore the philosophy of human nature inherent in fairy tales and fables.
3. I plan to capture the journey of becoming a children’s picture book writer in essays through my process of creating illustrations and writing, aiming to share empathy and bring hope to those who dream of becoming children’s book writers like me.
4. I intend to publish a series of fairy tales and fables that encapsulate humans and nature, using my unique style of writing and illustration.
01. My Dream Came From a Fairy Tale
I stopped by the cafe early in the morning to wake up, and the moment I lightly touched the cup of Flat White to my lips, I heard a giggle coming from the table next to me. A 3-year-old girl, laughing and shuffling in her seat, grabbed my attention! But what really caught my gaze was the flap book at the child’s fingertips!
My heart was racing.
Without even realising it, I was also shuffling in my seat.
I immediately felt like approaching the child.
“What should I do?
I want to read it too!
I want to see the book too!
I wish I could sit next to the girl instead of her mum, would it be okay?
Little girl! I might be a stranger and a Korean woman.
But can I sit next to you and read the book with you?
Can we open the flaps together?”
I’m a mother of a 17-year-old and a 9-year-old, so I shouldn’t get this excited about children’s books. So, actually, no one knows why I am like this because I am hiding myself. This is because it's embarrassing, because it's a strange secret that only I want to know, and because I'm afraid of what others will think.
Still, I want to shout out here that I absolutely adore fairy tales. Why? I haven’t got a clue, either.” Even if I gave thousands of reasons, they wouldn’t be enough. So, even though it sounds cheeky, the only correct answers are “I just like them” or “I just want to do that”.
I have a big family. In addition to my children, there is the Tooth Fairy, the Cavity Demon King, the Thieving Mole, the Butt Detective, the Magic Pencil, the Waiting Rabbit, and the Dingo... The main characters in countless fairy tales are all my family. I'm at an age where my face turns red and my voice trembles when I talk to strangers, but when I'm home alone, I become a chatterbox with these funny kids all day long. I don’t even give them a chance to talk. I just get excited by myself and keep chattering away.
“Thieving Mole! Can you bring back the recipe you stole? My daughter wants to eat cream pasta.”
“Magic Pencil! Can you draw another one of me? There are so many things I want to do now.”
“Tooth Fairy! Thank you for taking my son's tooth. My son said he received $10.”
“Hey Rabbit! Could you stay with my son for a moment? I’ll be there soon.”
Oh, right! Among all these family members, the only one I talk to a lot is Snoopy, who has been my friend for ten years and is on my desk. He followed me all the way to Australia. When I'm drawing or writing or in a daze, I always end up making eye contact with that guy. At that moment, he consoles me by saying “It’s hard, isn’t it?” It's time to get some energy from Snoopy again. We have a chat.
“I’m reading “Thoreau’s Journal” (Note 1) right now, what book are you reading?”
“Snoopy! What were you thinking about while you were looking at the sky today? I’m still so amazed by the December sky in Australia.”
"Oh! You chose the same title as me, “Things I Learned Too Late”! Shall we write together? ”
"Thank you. But I know, I really like myself too.”
I am a children’s book writer who is happy even with my own quirkiness! I realise again how much I love fairy tales as I chat with Snoopy so enthusiastically that I lose track of time. Here, I would like to clearly state two reasons why I, as an adult, am fascinated by fairy tales.
First, because of innocence!
I don't want to lose my innocence. I also have a strong desire to protect everything pure. Trees, flowers, the sky, children, dolls, even laundry drying softly in the sun are good, and so is a mirror that shows my reflection clearly.
To me, ‘purity’ means being just as it should be.
As a children's story writer, I must be like a child. In order to always be creating, the initial movement must be unleashed with divine positivity. I want to live my whole life with fairy tales that continue to lead me in this direction of purity.
Again, I want to ask the kid who was obsessed with flap books: “Why do you like that flap book?” The flap book held in the child's hand represents the child's dream. I wonder if that little girl discovered her own dream in her flapbook. Not everyone likes fairy tales, but fairy tales contain everyone's dreams.
Second, because fairy tales are the realization of my dreams!
I also discovered my new dream in a children's book.
It was in the British author's children's book “The Snowman” (Note 5) that I read to my children! And I wrote my resolution in my diary: “I should become a children’s book writer! I need to go to the U.K. and learn how to draw illustrations (British-style)!!!!” I pressed down hard with a ballpoint pen and added several exclamation marks. I hid it away safely so that it could not escape from me.
When I took out the diary again in November 2023, I was dazed for a long time.
“Is this reality? Is it a dream?
Is this a dream? Is it reality?”
Although it wasn't England, I was sitting in the Australian nature, which was more dreamlike than the dream at that time! I was surrounded by flowers I had never seen before, and the greenery of nature everywhere gave me constant inspiration.
I already felt like I had learned illustration from nature. All I had to do was capture the clear, pure, and dazzling nature just as it was, in my pictures.
Now my dream is no longer on my bucket list.
I am already walking on my own dream path that I found in a fairy tale.
The dream has become reality.
Reality has become a fairy tale.
Fairy tales have become my daily life.
I am dreaming again.
I want to capture and give to everyone
the true purity of nature,
the purity of a child with an innocent soul,
and the unique purity I found within myself,
through my writing and drawings,
which I will put my heart and soul into.
Because every dream found in a fairy tale becomes reality...
Note 1: Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings.
