Artist with a bird's eye view

Imagination soars above the ordinary as illustrator paints a whole new world, Li Yingxue reports.

When Liu Jiaxi looks at a bunch of sparrows, in her eyes, she imagines them as a group of schoolchildren in traditional clothes on a study tour, with each having his or her own attitude and characteristics.

With wonderful imagination and exquisite drawing skills, Liu, also known as illustrator Lumingshan, turns her wildest thoughts into lively paintings.

From girls and teenagers of yesteryear, she anthropomorphizes species of birds into different human characters. The 28-year-old's paintings are so adorable that they have attracted countless fans on the internet, and people online call her "the most beautiful illustrator who draws fairies".

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also forwarded her drawings on Facebook, describing them as "cute group portraits in traditional costumes by Chinese artist, based on photos of birds".

Liu recalls that, when she heard the news of her paintings being endorsed by Wang, she was so excited that she jumped out of bed. "I have been engaged in the creation of Chinese-style illustrations for a long time, and in the future, I'll stick to my creation style and hope more people from home and abroad like my works," she says.

Liu's route to becoming a professional illustrator was not an easy one, but it was fueled by her persistence in painting. She gave up being a doctor after eight years in college to work as an illustrator.