Stripe on 69th, finally.

I'm finally able to put up the animation to share with everyone who's interested. "Stripe on 69th" took almost 10 months to conceive and produce even though it is only 7 minute in length. Having watched it like a hundred times myself, I still like it and believe in it, even though there is plenty of room to make it better.

please do bear with the quality as the clip has to be seriously compressed in order to fit into youtube.

Stripe on 69th (animation short)

A very charming book about tea I picked up from a bookstore in Tokyo.

Little Stories of Nonsense

Indulgence

The Storybook

The Stamps

The Mess

It all started with an itchy pair of hands, then some erasers, then finally a good pen knife.

It's Small, yet "BIG"!

The shelf is quite petit, yet so poetically and emotionally charming.

Endless Happy Clutter

I keep adding things to this shelf. The more cluttered it looks, the happier I am looking at it.

My Favorite Children's Book Illustrators

Ali Mitgutsch, German illustrator. I've only just gotten "acquainted" with this artist after I chanced upon this book(published in 70's). I'll research more about him. His documentation of the everyday life in a raw and easy style was the first thing that caught my eye. I cannot resist illustrations that are full of details yet seem effortless.

Miroslav Sasek (popularly known as M Sasek), Czech illustrator, whose "This Is..." series of travel books captured not only the minds of children in the 60's, but also the hearts of many adults. His work is refine, sophisticated and filled with details and essence of every city he painted.


The postcard above, showing characters of a tv crew, are illustrations by French artist, Alain Gree. Very simple lines and equally effortless looking drawings, yet they make you fall in love instantly. The red book belongs in a Little Golden Book Classic series. I don't know if the artist, Margaret Wise Brown, is famous but I like the everyday context so I bought the book. The character on the right, Mr Callaway, from a classic stop-motion animation series "CamberwicK Green" is a figurine I picked up from Bath (UK) more 10 years ago. He's been a great companion since.

Jean-Jacques Sempe, is a famous French cartoonist who is born in the 30's. Like the other artists, he loves to record the everyday life with his drawings, except they are more satirical and witty. In other words, adults are the target of his humor, even though his famous series "Le Petit Nicholas" is children literature. Both books shown here are gifts from a very dear friend who knows I'm a fan. There was a note that came with the journal (right) : "I enjoy the feeling of it finding me, after all the effort I put in to find it." She meant to give me this journal when she first set out to look for a Sempe book for me. But after failing to track it down, she bought "A Little Bit of Paris" (left) in place of it. A year later, when she was in a bookstore in Taipei, this journal-book, the one and only copy left, called out to her from a hidden corner. Hence her poetic note.

The Dreamers and Their Heroes

Stripe on 69th - the animation that gave me the reason to meet so many nice and talented people and also the chance to visit France for the first time. It's a great effort by a very wonderful team - the Tiny Island-ers. They are the unsung heroes that helped transformed my drawings (seen here) to animated characters that could talk, fly and dream.

My friend made me this nice Victorian sponge cake which came with a sweet message that said:"... if only you could eat it with a cup of warm milk tea in a cafe on a rainy day in Tokyo. "

Rare Finds

It's a pity this metal calendar is not made

of stainless steel but it's still very cool to keep.

Friendly-looking measuring spoons

I also gave a set to my dear friend who loves to bake.

I picked up this tea book from Kurrku in Tokyo.

This plastic envelope is also from the same bookstore.

My friends gave me these. They are both from Tokyo.

These small little things inspire me in a subtle way. They don't necessarily immediately translate into something I do; they just sit in corners of my deepest thoughts and quietly nurture them. Which eventually affect the things I do and the way I do them
all photos by Mian

Spookily Cute!

This one's a lil spooky yet its tiny body in a matchbox also makes it very adorable.

What A Smurf

That day in a mall I saw a little tot that reminded me of Smurf. So I came home and dug this out from my collection.

photo by mian