31 Oct 2012

The Elektrics


Let's admit that besides Pinterest, Tumblr is also an incredibly inspiring place. Some creative minds even choose Tumblr to release their work exclusively. It's such a nice feeling (also a bit jealous) to discover that there are so many amazing artists on this platform. The Elektrics is one of them, at least in my humble opinion. I can't tell you much about this one because he or she seems to be a person of few words. Maybe this artist wants these drawings talks for him or her. I DO love every single thing on this Tumblr. Really! Especially those black and white illustrations!

elektrics.tumblr.com
http://elektrics.tumblr.com
http://elektrics.tumblr.com
http://elektrics.tumblr.com

Wonder how I "stumbled upon" this artist? The reason is this song.

http://elektrics.tumblr.com
Lovely hand lettering too!

All images by The Elektrics







15 Oct 2012

Happy birthday to me!

So yesterday I turned 19.

When I entered middle school, I thought about accomplishing many big things. Now I'm in my last year as a teenager and there're still many things unfinished. That to-do-before-I-die list of mine is longer and longer every year. Guess I need to step out of my comfort zone more often.

Although I don't quite celebrate my birthdays, it's nice to receive birthday messages from friends and family :). Thank you so much everyone! That means a lot <3
Hand lettering practice #3 - Messy Messy Bun
And here's to a brand new week! Happy Monday everybody!
xoxo
Jane

1 Oct 2012

Laurie Rollitt

Just stumbled upon this amazing artist and thought I should share with you guys. Laurie Rollitt is a freelance illustrator, artist and designer currently based in London. This cycling club illustration below with its simple yet impressive style made me fall in love right away! His other works are great, too!
Illustration by Laurie Rollitt
Illustration by Laurie Rollitt
Illustration by Laurie Rollitt
Illustration by Laurie Rollitt
All images by Laurie Rollitt




24 Sept 2012

Life lately


Hello everybody!

Lately I've been a bit busy with study at university. This year is gonna be tough! (by the way, I'm a sophomore). But I've managed to treat myself a little before going back to school. It was such a good reason to go shopping (oops!). Because I'd suddenly realized that I've been wearing black shoes all the time, I decided to add some pops of cheerful colour in my daily outfits aka a pair of pastel red shoes (they look pastel right?) and a lovely peach bag (maybe I'll show you later). I also had toppoki for the first time! I love spicy food but this was a bit too much for me. But it tastes really good! Have you ever eaten toppoki? Tell me! The photo with blue windows was from the school at which I've been studying French in the evening. French sounds sexy. No one can deny it. But learning it is another matter. When I have enough confidence in my study, maybe I'll blog in French(!). Fingers crossed.

I hope everyone's having a great Monday!

xoxo
Jane

4 Sept 2012

Day Will Come

Have you ever taken an "internet break"? Because this is what I do in my "break": keeping up with hand lettering practice ;). The more I think about it, the more I appreciate Amada's idea of this pin board (check it out! There're tons of wonderful works!). It basically gives me a healthy kick to draw and to be creative with other stuffs too. Brilliant!
Sometimes our fingers graze the sky but we can't hold on - "Day Will Come" by Keane | MESSY MESSY BUN
I love the image these lyrics create in my mind. I've always wanted to do something about it ever since I heard the song for the first time (no I didn't attend the concert. I listened to the live recording on Youtube instead because it hadn't been released then). The full lyrics should be "We dream hard. We shoot high. Sometimes our fingers graze the sky but we can't hold on."

Also, I'm going back to university this Friday (by the way it means I'll be a sophomore yay!). It has been a long summer for me and I've truly enjoyed it though sometimes I wish I could just come back to school already. Hopefully there'll be more interesting things to talk about at university.

Have a nice day
xoxo
Jane

3 Sept 2012

A birthday note


I think I should share this birthday card with you guys :). As you can tell, I love Keane's music and the band members very much (I believe a lot of you guys are very familiar with their all-time favourite song Somewhere Only We Know, right?). They've worked hard and made amazing music which really touches my heart and soul. They're also four nice men with great personalities. I've learnt a lot from them.

Today is Jesse Quin's birthday and I made the above card to submit to a birthday video for him by fans all around the world. He's the bass player, but he also provides backing vocals and other stuffs. Jesse is Keane's newest member who's played bass for the band since 2007 and become an official member in early 2011. Though he's a bassist, he writes songs and sings too. If anyone would like to hear this man's voice, don't look for Keane catalogue. Instead, search for an alt-country band named Mt. Desolation which is Tim (the main Keane songwriter and pianist)'s side project with Jesse. I highly recommend songs such as "Platform 7", "State Of Our Affairs", or "Annie Ford". 

30 Aug 2012

A colourful elephant


I'm always attracted to brightly coloured illustrations and this is one of them. Those patterns are so cute, aren't they?

27 Aug 2012

Hand lettering love

So I doodled a little the day before yesterday. At about 1 a.m I think...

My first love was neat and clean typography with heavy fonts. Then I fell in love with handwriting style. And now I want to practice my hand lettering. I was inspired by this post by Amanda (she's really lovely!). She's also created a board for everyone to post their own hand lettering practice, which is a brilliant idea! I've just bought some fine liners for practice as well.

Do you love hand lettering? Which type of pens do you often use?

20 Jun 2012

Love/Hate

Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate (photo by Messy Messy Bun)

Hello everybody!

I've been back from final exams, which were frightening :O! So the first thing I made after the exam was this spontaneous photo though it was quite irrelevant :P. About the quote, it was from Design Milk's pin board (which is brilliant I tell you). I think the sentence has explained itself completely, so, people, let's be kind. There's no reason to hate something so much.

Hope that everyone's gonna have a nice day wherever you are :) (it's 3 am. here)
xoxo
Mita

30 May 2012

Sovereign Light Café


IT'S HERE! The new video for Keane's next single Sovereign Light Café

When I first listened to this song (the early version), I fell in love with it right away. The tune, the melody, the lyrics...all of them are so beautiful. Seriously, these guys don't get a bad song. And I honestly think that this song is among the best songs Tim's ever written. Very nostalgic and emotive. 

"Well you've got nothing to hide
You can't change who you really are
You can get a big house and a faster car
You can run away boy but you won't go far"

P.S: sorry for lack of updates. I've been busy with exams now. I'll be back very soon :).

xoxo,
Mita

21 May 2012

But I was born the way I am...

It must have been AGES since I posted something on this blog :P.

You can notice that, on your right, there's a little badge (is it really a badge? Or a button? I just don't know what to call it) with a little text "Keane Vietnam". There you go! That's my new fan page for the love of my life - Keane! If you're a Keane fan or just a music lover who enjoys their music, please support us by pressing "Like" on this Facebook fan page. We're bilingual so you can chat in English. Don't worry! Vietnamese fans are very friendly! Welcome!

I've been busy with homework and stuffs so I don't have much time here :'(. Sorry! But I finally found some time to create a new poster (yay me!). It's just some simple text but I hope you like it. And since this post is dedicated to Keane, do you know which song are these lyrics from?

The original size for this poster is A2 (42cm x 59.4cm) but you can print in A3 or smaller. I've created 4 versions for printing, which are Neon River, Lilac, Chartreuse, and Old Green (you can guess where I've got the names from).

If you like these printables, feel free share them and link back to this site! I would really appreciate that :)

Photobucket
Photobucket 
Download (it's totally free!)

7 May 2012

Strangeland out today!

Photobucket
Yes. No more waiting. Keane's latest album Strangeland is finally HERE!!! I'm in a crazy mode right now!

I've been expected this album since last year when I became a fan right after I listened to their all-time hit "Somewhere Only We Know" on Grey's Anatomy. That was the first time I've ever heard about them. I've never been a fan of any singer or band before, but when I listened to their first album Hopes and Fears, it just clicked! Now I'm proud to be a fan of Keane! Hello strangers! Anyone out there?

It is almost 1 year for me but for other Keane fans, it's 4 years! Now the album is here and it's absolutely amazing!!! My favourite track must be Sovereign Light Cafe. This song is so good. They should choose it to be their next single. Other songs are brilliant, too. You should also listen to The Starting Line and Watch How You Go. These days it's really hard to find an album in which you can listen and be amazed from the first track to the last. Strangeland is such a beautiful album with thoughtful lyrics and enchanting vocals. I'm so happy that I've fallen in love with their music.

Today is also the International Strangeland Day! Help promoting the love for Keane on Facebook and Twitter (under the hashtag #Strangeland) by sharing this video.

Happy Strangeland Day everybody!

xoxo
Mita :)

28 Apr 2012

Qureen Day (a.k.a crafty day)

This is part 2 of the Qureen Day our class has taken part in last Sunday. We were asked to make some  outfits which are environmentally friendly. If it hadn't been for this day, you'd have never known how creative students were! It was so amazing! From paper to flowers, all of them can be combined and made into a beautiful outfit. Who says fashion is all about those luxurious materials?
This is the first one. I really love the flower :). Lovely colours, too! This was made from newspaper.
Ribbon fever!!! So colourful! And the bag is made from straws.
Ah, the Tangled couple. See the pan?
Tribal feeling :). This girl looks scared. Straws, plastic cups, and paper.
This IS the KILLER DRESS! Tissue paper and crepe paper. Perfect for a wedding! The designer is so talented :)
And this is our class' dress. Newspaper all the way. And origami roses :)
 Back to the nature. Only leaves and flowers. And bare feet :)
These dresses are beyond! Vegetables and rose petals. Cute colours. I love the peach (or orange) dress. It is so beautiful! By the way, the little bouquet she's holding is red chillies.
I love how they can transform a plastic bag into the upper part of this dress. Others are tissue paper. So creative!
This class uses a mix of material here. There are leaves, a lot of plastic bags, flowers, and some wrapping paper. The model has such a bright smile on her face. She's really photogenic :)
Bare feet! There's an "E" in the middle. It's for "Earth"

And that's all. We had so much fun last Sunday. And being able to know so many creative people out there was such a nice experience, too. Till next Qureen Day!
Happy weekend everybody! In Vietnam we're having a holiday until Tuesday (wow!). Time to have a real rest :D
xoxo
Mita.

27 Apr 2012

Qureen day

So last Sunday our class took part in the Qureen (Queen + Green) Day of our English Department. It was amazing. We were so excited that we were the last to leave! Moreover, our class have won some great prizes, which were unexpected. All our efforts have paid off completely :). I still remember the fashion group had to stay at the campus to fold paper and paint. It was crazy!!! Anyway, we had so much fun and I really enjoyed that :). Here are some photos from those days. Enjoy!
I was in charge of painting the banner for our little food stand. We chose the hilarious name of Red-nailed Chicken :)), so I added two little chicks there. About the typeface, I found Ribbon absolutely suitable for the mood and it would go well with the design. I could only start making the banner on Saturday evening (I was so busy with other stuffs too), so I was running out of time. It is awful when you have to complete a banner (by hand!) in just an evening. But it also pushed my little creative bird to produce something really good I think. Yeah, pressure is good for you. 
See the chick?

Then I printed out those lovely letters. I've been having this big crush on pastel colours so it obviously affected my choices. But pastels are sooooo pretty, aren't they?
A little mess before another *big* mess
I finished painting at around 3 in the morning (gosh!). I didn't feel asleep at any time. I was so into this that I completely forgot the time and everything around. When you're so passionate about things you love, you can easily get lost in them and forget the definition of time. Sometimes we call that a bad workaholic. Sometimes we don't. We see that as a little adventurous bird longing for exploring and creating. We can't be blamed for that, right?
Should I re-paint this onto a canvas? It looks quite good :) (I used a fabric pattern for this photo)
And here's the final product. I'm really proud of it :). 1BPD is our class' name. It's for Translation-Interpretation (freshman)  
The table given to us was shorter than I imagined so we had to roll some paper parts inside. However, the decoration was quite good, and lovely :). We were not selling fast at the beginning, but things went smooth later. In the end, we made some profits! Our speciality was deep-fried quails' eggs wrapped in pumpkin powder. It was really tasty. Yum!
Lovely girl! You can see the banner behind her. It was raining so we had to move inside. 
And here is our lovely model. She's super cute! The idea behind this newspaper dress is a combination of roses and ombre effects. It also relates to the warming earth. Roses were everywhere. Then they disappear due to the disastrous global warming. I really loved that interpretation.
We were folding paper roses here to make a small bouquet. We'd also folded about 70 or 80 roses for the top. It was insane!
I love this photo :). It was taken while she was stepping down the stairs.
And stopped right there. Now the speech explaining the idea for this dress starts. The speaker told me he was so scared standing in front of so many people. This dress could have been impossible without him and two other guys. So we proudly give them full credits here :'>. Good job guys!
After the performance. Say cheese!
You can look into all the details here. Those roses were not so hard to fold. You can make your own rose here. They also show you how to fold more complicated but very beautiful origami roses. I picked the standard rose (the easiest!) because our classmates who helped with the folding were not quite familiar with this. The whole dress was made of newspaper and a tremendous and laboured time to paint. We know we could use coloured paper but we sticked to painting because we wanted to express the whole idea of re-purposing.
Finally she could take off that dress (I know, it was crazy!). And the top was made into a lovely bouquet!
 You were awesome, guys!!!
And to abrll of you, happy Friday!

No more disconnected

Disconnected - Official video, single from Strangeland

Keane once again gives me goosebumps. After watching the video teaser like 100(!) times, I'm still frightened by the end of the official one. Poor me and my headphones (and other headphones users out there). This video for their next single Disconnected from the album Strangeland, which will be released on May 7th, is their best one so far. I'm not very keen on their music videos and I believe many fans have shared the same idea. But this time we have to change our thoughts, apparently. The video is like a mini movie, and I love that! 

They've made many interviews and acoustic sessions since the comeback show in Bexhill. And these live performances always remind me of why I love this band so much. Tom's voice sounds exactly and even better than the studio versions with this great energy which will leave an unforgettable impression on you. I myself have never been to any of their concerts, but I hope (yes, hope) one day I can make it. That would make me complete in many ways. And don't you forget the pure genius behind Keane, Tim Rice-Oxley. He's a real talent! I love how he can be honest and write all the lyrics that relate to many people like that.  Many times I've cried while listening to "Atlantic", "Bend And Break" or, recently, the B-side "Myth". Music don't need to be about faraway things. It should be as close as the tears on your face.

It would be a joyous moment to see the band live. One day I hope :). In the meantime, I can enjoy these live performances. Youtube and Keane fans, you're my life-savers :))


Silenced By The Night - Live at Studio Brussel, Belgium

Sovereign Light Cafe - Live session for The Sun

18 Apr 2012

EarDog

I love all these animal photos, especially dogs, by Kimberly Wang, the girl behind Eardog Productions. She also shoots other kinds of photos, which are really beautiful and lively. Enjoy.

On the left is my favourite photo. What a look! These guys are so beautiful!
all images by Eardog Productions