A scene from Ye Luying's new picture book Pictures of An Ode to the Goddess of Luo.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Artists afterward have used the nymph as a source of inspiration for paintings.

And the most famous among them was painted by Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), who portrayed a ritualistic ceremony to revere the nymph.

"I believe it's an ideal subject for me," says Ye, 26, who has been teaching illustration and cartoon drawing at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, since she graduated from there. Ye says the story attracted her because it is a legend that involves a fairy beauty, a romance, and the universal loneliness of craving for something but not getting it.

Ye threw herself into the creation, going to libraries to look for all possible references, such as books on mural paintings in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu province, to learn about ancient attire, history and mythical creatures.

She also referred to a copy of Gu's masterpiece by a Song-Dynasty (960-1279) painter to learn more about his way of painting waves.

In her work, Ye combines traditional skills and modern techniques.