9X Dong Nai tells historical stories with talented drawings, has millions of followers

(Dan Tri) - Pham Thi Thuy Tien (born 1990) vividly retells old stories through paintings and attracts tens of millions of views on social networks.

The video about Vietnam's history was edited by Thuy Tien after receiving feedback from the public (Video: NVCC).

Pham Thi Thuy Tien is the owner of the TikTok channel Ve tu chuyen. Currently, her TikTok channel attracts one million followers and 29 million likes thanks to her drawing videos of famous people combined with historical stories and mystical anecdotes.

Drawing is passion

Sharing with Dan Tri reporter about the first time she got involved with painting, Thuy Tien said: "Since I was little, I loved drawing and could draw anywhere, anytime. In grade 4, I was selected to participate in a provincial painting competition and was lucky to win second prize. I was extremely happy to have been recognized. Through the competition, I also determined my passion and dream of what my future job would be."

However, born into a poor family in Dong Nai province, Thuy Tien's parents did not support her in pursuing painting because they thought that painting was a rather precarious profession, without stability, and not a good job for her to pursue.

Recently, Thuy Tien created a photo series called "Continue Drawing Dreams" as a message to young people: Be brave in pursuing your passion and try your best, success will "knock on your door" (Photo: NVCC).

When she was young, her parents forbade her to draw, so Tien often hid in the attic or under the bed to draw on scraps of paper. When she entered high school, she had to focus on studying to become a teacher as her parents wanted, so the girl from Dong Nai temporarily put aside her passion for painting.

After graduating from the Literature Department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University), Thuy Tien worked many jobs such as recording audiobooks, editing, writing stories... Although each job helped Tien mature and improve herself, she still did not feel happy, because that was not the passion she pursued.

Every year during Tet, Tien often goes to Ong Do Street (Ho Chi Minh City Youth Cultural House) to write letters. "I think that calligraphy paintings with only letters are boring, so I decorate them with floral motifs to make the calligraphy more vivid. At the same time, I also satisfy my passion for drawing to some extent," she confided.

Thuy Tien loves painting and traditional calligraphy (Photo: NVCC).

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in mid-2021, Thuy Tien fell into a negative psychological state with many worries. To relieve her emotions, she turned to painting and sparked the idea of creating a Tiktok channel to both draw and tell, introducing unique historical and folklore stories of Vietnam.

"At first, I was worried that historical content would not be of interest to young people, but fortunately, this topic is still well received by many people. Painting helped me experience the feeling of having a video with millions of views for the first time, putting my parents on TV for the first time, illustrating a book for the first time...", she confided.

Telling history with drawings

Thuy Tien said: "I mainly get ideas and learn knowledge through my younger brother who majors in history and stories I know from relatives. In addition, I research more through books and newspapers to diversify information."

To make the stories shared on the channel truly meaningful and accurate, Tien searches for information from official sources such as: Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu , Dai Nam Thuc Luc , Linh Nam Chich Quai ... After having an idea, she starts building the plot, checking the information found and editing accordingly.

Tien often uses watercolors to create paintings (Photo: NVCC).

As for the painting while telling the story, the girl born in 1990 often consults many documents to coordinate the colors for the characters to be beautiful and true to the historical context. "I rely on ancient statues, remaining images of the characters and learn more about the costumes of each period, the patterns, headdresses and colors," she shared.

It takes Thuy Tien about 3-4 hours to complete simple paintings and 6-8 hours to complete detailed, difficult paintings. After completing a painting, she often records and edits videos at night because there is no noise and it is easy to concentrate. Doing all the steps herself, depending on the difficulty of the painting and the characters and historical stories, Tien usually takes 1-3 days to produce a video.

Thuy Tien was careful in checking information sources, but there was a time when she made a mistake, confusing a historical detail in a video summarizing history from the Hung King era to the Nguyen Dynasty.

"I cried a lot because of the negative comments and thought that people were being too harsh. Looking back calmly, I realized that history cannot be mistaken but must be absolutely accurate.

From this lesson, I realized that if you stumble somewhere, you have to stand up there. With a positive and open attitude, daring to admit and correct mistakes, people will forgive and continue to receive videos on the channel," Tien confided.

Thuy Tien in an exchange with students (Photo: NVCC).

"I am happy because the channel's content has motivated a group of viewers to love and want to learn about the history and folklore of our country. A primary school student happily bragged that thanks to watching videos on the Ve Truyen Chuyen channel, he remembered history better and got high scores in history.

Some parents told me that at first they limited their children from watching videos on social networks because they were quite worried about the negative content. After following my channel for a while, seeing good stories about history and meaningful Vietnamese folk legends, they felt more secure letting their children watch," the girl from Dong Nai shared.

Thuy Tien drew a sign for the pinwheel seller, hoping that it would attract the attention of passersby and help him sell out quickly (Photo: NVCC).

Thuy Tien still cherishes the project of drawing pictures to give to people with difficult lives to help them have a comfortable spirit and love life more.

Thuy Tien made videos about a father who sells pinwheels, raising a child alone, or orphans in orphanages. Those videos helped them become more known, receiving attention and help from the community. According to Tien, this is the greatest spiritual value she has received since creating the Tiktok channel Ve ke chuyen .

"I always hope that today's me will be better than yesterday's to create positive value for the community.

I want to tell everyone, don't give up but invest in your dreams, passions and learn and develop from small things. Great achievements all come from small things," the girl born in 1990 confided.