Welcome to the official creative home of author and illustrator Shiny Leung!
I grew up in the UK but have called Hong Kong home for the past 20 years. I love creating playful art that celebrates Asian heritage—with the occasional cat sneaking in uninvited.
MY ILLUSTRATIONS
From storybook spreads to personal passion projects.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Pencil sketches, redraws and the bits that never made it to the final page.
Character Development
Having fun developing sea creature school buddies.
Vinny—Expression Sketches
Supporting Cast—Fish Sketches
Baby Shark—Expression Sketches
Sketch to Final
Rough staging first, then the finished panel—here's how a few scenes came together.
Classroom—Welcoming Baby Shark
Classroom—Seafloor Geology
Living Room—After Training
MY LATEST BOOK
Read about ordinary people whose courage and persistence helped shape our world!
Heroes from the East
A collection of true stories celebrating the quiet bravery of everyday heroes, brought to life with warmth, humour, and heart.
"My kids loved the book! My daughter read the entire book in one sitting last night! I really like the format, short enough for if kids can't stay focused. It's got lots of info and funny graphics!"
— American Chinese mom, San Gabriel Valley
MY LATEST BOOK
Heroes from the East
Icons of Chinese Heritage—Volume 1
Growing up in the UK during the 1980s and '90s, I rarely saw faces like my own in the books I read, and I struggled to find role models who looked like me on TV and in the movies too. I wrote Heroes from the East for the child I used to be, and for every child today searching for their own reflection in history.
This book profiles eight remarkable East Asian figures from modern history. Each chapter is brought to life with vibrant, fun color illustrations and interesting facts. At the end of every chapter, I also ask questions that allow readers to pause and reflect on the lasting impact these heroes' actions have had on our lives today.
Meet the Heroes
Eight remarkable people from history you probably never learned about in school.
Bruce Lee
Charles K. Kao
Ching Ling Foo
Empress Dowager Cixi
I.M. Pei
Michelle Yeoh
Tu Youyou
Wan Hu
BEHIND THE BOOK
Pencil marks, colour tests and everything in between.
REVIEWS
What readers are saying
"A brilliant teaching tool! Really thrilled that I came across this book as an overseas Chinese and a primary school teacher, it's informative and full of interesting facts."
— Primary school teacher, UK
"I found this book really interesting. It taught me about new people, and the pictures are great."
— Aged 12, student
"Sometimes books for children can be too much about accomplishment, excluding the realities of being human. Having that little touch—showing somebody is real, not just successful at their job—is very refreshing for kids, or at least for the parents of those kids."
— American Chinese parent
STOCKISTS
Get that perfect gift for anyone who loves stories that go beyond the history books.
"What a great book with great illustrations and stories of unsung heroes. Looking forward for more stories from this author!"
— American Chinese parent
- Amazon 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇨🇦🇦🇺🇩🇪 and more — Colour paperback ↗ · Black & white paperback ↗
- Bookazine 🇭🇰 Available in-store across Hong Kong. View on Bookazine ↗
- Any bookshop 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺🇨🇦🇦🇺 Ask your local bookshop to order ISBN 978-988-71606-3-2 via Ingram.
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
Activity sheets to go along with the book—perfect for classrooms, libraries and rainy afternoons.
FOR SCHOOLS
Bring Heroes from the East into your classroom.
Back at my old primary school
I visit schools and libraries to share the real stories behind the book — growing up between two cultures, and the eight East Asian figures who inspired it. Every visit includes a live drawing demo, and the book's built-in activity sheets make it easy to tie straight into your lesson plans. Ages 8–12.
Classroom Reading
- Read-through of one chapter
- Live drawing demo
- Hands-on activity sheet session
- Student Q&A
Author Assembly
- My story of growing up between two cultures
- How the book came together
- Live drawing demo
- Open Q&A
ABOUT ME
The long way round to illustrating.
"I used to wolf down my dinner on Saturday evenings, just to rush upstairs and catch the latest episode of Happy Days."
"The world deserves to know about extraordinary East Asian heroes—and the fluffy, bossy feline who actually runs the studio."
"It all began with sweet and sour pork and a number 18 —
with a bag of prawn crackers thrown in."
Woks, VHS Tapes, and Napkins
My parents came to the UK and set up home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire during the late 60s and 70s. I was one of the proper Chinese restaurant kids of the 80s and 90s.
Some kids grew up waiting for Saturday morning cartoons. I grew up waiting for the weekly delivery of TVB drama tapes—which always came with a bag of bean sprouts.
Somewhere between peeling defrosting prawns in the middle of winter and folding napkins into fans, I started doodling on napkins and never really stopped.
A one-way ticket to Hong Kong
That doodling eventually led me to study graphic design in Blackpool, then a masters in interactive digital media at Ravensbourne in Kent. After a few years working in educational publishing in Oxford, I packed up and moved to Hong Kong in 2005.
What started as an adventure, in time became my home.
Over the next twenty years I built a career as a graphic designer and later a UX designer, working across education, finance, retail and everything in between. Somewhere along the way, I also got married and got a cat. In that order, mostly.
It wasn't until I left the corporate world that I finally made the leap back to what those napkin doodles had always been pointing towards—illustrating and writing stories. Heroes from the East is my first book. It also won't be the last.
GET IN TOUCH
Want to work together?
I'm open to school visits and commissions. Feel free to get in touch.