For this freelance project, I illustrated a series of images inspired by the classic folktale The Carpenter and the Mountain Spirit, bringing new visual life to a timeless story.
2020 Original Illustrations
2024 Illustration Updates
During my junior year of college, I recreated the illustrations for my web design course as part of a storytelling website project. This felt like the perfect opportunity to highlight how my skills have evolved over the years while bringing a story I genuinely loved to life.
There once lived a widowed carpenter and his young daughter, dwelling near the woods at the foot of a mystical mountain.
He slipped a newly carved sandal onto his daughter’s foot.
The girl beamed, delighted by her new sandals.
She thanked her father.
He smiled and returned her thanks.
Then went back inside their home.
He returned to his carpentry, continuing his work to provide for his daughter.
As the carpenter labored, he noticed her heading out for her usual walk in the woods.
She waved goodbye.
And he waved back.
Before turning once more to his work.
The girl strolled beneath the cherry blossom trees on her way toward the woods.
As she wandered among the trees, a strange sound made her pause.
She turned toward it, her heart quickening.
The girl glimpsed a startling shape lurking in the shadows.
What emerged, however, was not something to fear, but a small, enchanting mountain spirit.
The spirit approached her gently, and the girl knelt to greet it.
It cuddled close, playful and warm, quickly earning her trust.
Moments later, the spirit turned and began to walk away, glancing back as if beckoning her to follow.
Curious and captivated, the girl followed the spirit deeper into the woods…
Time passed, and when the carpenter realized his daughter had not returned, he called out for her, his voice echoing through the trees.
Receiving no answer, he followed the familiar path she often took and began tracking her through the woods.
Meanwhile, the spirit led the girl away from the forest and farther up the mountain. With each step, her unease grew.
Suddenly, darkness swallowed the path, and the tiny spirit stopped and turned to face her.
She waited, her breath held—until the terrible truth became clear.
She had been deceived. Before her eyes, the once-adorable spirit twisted and transformed into a ferocious mountain monster.
Her scream rang out across the mountain. The carpenter heard it and rushed toward the sound, crashing through the undergrowth.
He arrived to find his daughter trapped in the creature’s grasp.
He shouted at the mountain spirit to release her, but the creature refused, claiming it had been alone for hundreds of years and that the girl now belonged to it.
Desperate and brave, the carpenter charged at the spirit, but he was struck aside with ease.
The carpenter was thrown to the ground and left unconscious.
Much later, the carpenter stirred and slowly rose to his feet, calling out for his daughter.
He searched the darkened ground, but the only trace she had left behind was a single sandal.
Grief gave way to fury. The carpenter swore that he would never allow the Mountain Spirit to keep her.
With unbreakable resolve, he began chopping down the trees that covered the mountain, believing their destruction would weaken the spirit’s divine power.
It took him more than twenty years to fell every last tree.
When the forest was gone, he did not stop. He spent the next twenty years digging into the mountain itself, carving away stone and earth.
Until, at last, the mountain vanished.
One day, as he shoveled rock and dirt—his strength fading and his hope nearly gone—
he looked up and beheld a shocking sight.
The Mountain Spirit stood before him, thin and sickly, its power all but spent. The spirit confessed that without the mountain, it had lost nearly all its magic. The carpenter had won. With that, the spirit faded into nothingness.
Light returned to the land, and through the silence, the carpenter heard a familiar voice.
He looks ahead to see his daughter standing before him, still young and radiant, preserved by the mountain spirit’s magic.
The carpenter is filled with immense joy at the sight of his child.
The daughter rushed to the carpenter and they embraced.
When the daughter saw how old and weary the carpenter had become, she asked him why he had labored for so many years. The mountain spirit, she said, had treated her kindly and cast a spell to keep her young. While she remained unchanged, he had spent his entire life in pursuit of her freedom.
The carpenter told her that he loved her, and that spirits often took what they desired without regard for the cost to others. He said that when something is precious, and when one gives their word, it is worth enduring hardship and pain to keep it.
