The only girl I've ever loved, was born with roses in her eyes

I figure I should stop picking at this piece. But I have been working on my portfolio so this is the newest edition! 

Here is the initial sketch I did

Doodle Page

First Cintiq Self Portrait

Made some edits, see a difference??

Portrait Sketch Dump

Sketch Dump

I am back from backpacking and am ashamed at myself for not blogging throughout it. Was too busy experiencing life away from the screen and such. But here is a sketch dump, enjoy.

And I am enrolled in Schoolism's "Designing with Light and Color" class with the epic Nathan Fowkes. The first assignment was to do color study thumbnails of concept work I admire. Screenshots from: The Grand Budapest Hotel, AI, Ponyo, Frozen, Toy Story 3, Only Lovers Left Alive (hnnggg Tom HIddleston), Her, and various works from awesome concept artists. 

Travellen Chronicles: Koh Tao and Phagnan

After Hua Hin we went took a overnight cargo boat from Chumphon to Koh Tao. It was only my brother and I with a bunch of cargo workers. Despite it all, I slept like a brick and in six hours we landed in the beautiful Koh Tao at 6am.

Chumphon 

Cargo Ship

Hello Koh Tao

This island is super touristy as it is a resort town but it has its charm and is easy to get lost in. Every night on the beach there are fire dancers and performers as well as on the beach bungalows to relax in. Right when we got to our hostel, we booked a snorkeling tour for the same day, had breakfast, changed, and got picked up to go snorkeling.

The first stop I literally almost died. A couple of factors:

1) Crazy waves and wind
2) No life jacket
3) I can't swim too well

So after having my life flash before my eyes and every breath I take being a mouth full of sea water as well as being slapped in the face by waves, one of the tour guides came to my rescue and I was back on board. My brother puked because of motion sickness, and the other four girls didn't go snorkeling after that first stop. BUT after seeing how the waters were so much calmer in the 2nd stop I jumped on in...with a life jacket of course and it was crazy amazing. The last stop of our tour was Koh NangYuan. There is a 100 bht entry fee and you are not allowed to bring any plastic onto the island. Seems very effective since the whole place was free of trash but filled with tourists. We climbed up to the viewpoint and got a sweet view, I am definitely coming back here to get PADI certified in June. We got back to our hostel at around mid afternoon so I took a nap and then went to a Hatha Yoga class across the street. It was whatever, nothing challenging, the flow was choppy and the instructor kind of sucked. Oh well,

Touristy stuff in Koh Tao

The next day we took a four hour ferry ride to Koh Phangnan and met up with our friend, Harry, at Baan Tai Backpackers Hostel. Very cool hostel with a nice vibe, right across the street from the beach. That night a bunch of us went to The Black Moon Festival which we were wary about at first since it costed about 600 bht for a ticket but I had a lot of fun, mainly because of the company of a certain German boy. The party used to be on the beach but this time it moved to a new location, up in the mountains. There was one dance floor with only Psy Trance playing all night as well as small vendors fire shows, and an area of fire pits overlooking the island. Met a lot of fellow travelers and had great conversations all night down at the pits. It was a cycle of talking, getting a drink, and going pee. We left around 4am, negotiated a 100 bht/person motorbike taxi back to our hostel and walked across the street to watch the sunrise on the beach :) Then I passed out at 6am and checked out at noon to make our way back north where my brother leaves for India and me to Chiang Mai.

Tourists on the ferry

Travellen Chronicles: The Beginning

What I will be living out of for the next 4.5 months. 

I am finally here in Thailand at the start of my 4.5 month backpacking trip through South East Asia with no definite plan. A few days ago I was boarding my plane at LAX watching the Los Angeles city lights slowly disappear as the plane took off. I had middle seat on two of my flights and had layovers in Japan and Singapore before getting to Bangkok but I made it!

After getting off the plane, I took the City Line train into the city where I switched to the BTS Skytrain three times to get to my hostel where I would meet my brother. I really like the metro system in Bangkok, it reminds me of Taipei, very efficient and clean. My brother has been travelling for 2 months and we are going to spend about a week together before he flies off to India and Nepal and I move on to the north. We spent the day eating delicious street food and walking around seeing the city, I saw some protest sites but I never felt unsafe as the US media wanted me to.

My first coconut! I forsee at least 100 more.

We went to MPK which is a huggeeee department mall that has everything where my brother got a mount for his GoPro and I got a SIM for my iphone. Then literally minutes after I got my iphone working, I dropped it and cracked the screen, WELCOME TO THAILAND, ELLEN. Oh well, I also don't forsee myself topping up my sim because wifi is everywhere. For the rest of the evening we took a ferry down to check out a night market, to our dismay it was a posh touristy one but it was still fun. We had curry for dinner and some shaved ice for dessert, afterwards we got massages. 9 Dollars for a 1 hour thai massage? Fuck yes. 

The next day we made our way to The National Palace. It was blazing hot and here in Thailand, a strict dress code is enforced for temples. So that means sleeves and legs need to be covered at least to mid calf. I was sweating balls but the Palace was HUGE and absolutely gorgeous, we also had a hilarious tour guide that was all jokes as well as informed us about Thailand's history, royal family, and customs.

The longest painting in the world. Depicting the history of Thailand. 

We were near Khao San Road, a road known for its nightlife, so we taxi'd over there and met up with our friend. We set up base at Silk Bar for a few hours on the balcony seat where we ate, ordered a beer tower, and people watched as the sun went down as the road became party town. This street is ridiculous, its filled with travelers and everyone is fucked up. Nitrus Oxide (laughing gas) was being sold on the streets as well as scorpions on skewers. We went to a club at night and it was just filled with fist pumping and bro-tanks that got old fast (aka was too sober). If I wanted to spend money on alcohol, I would rather do it in a location where I wouldn't feel like I'd be ear-raped. It was still a good time but I was knackered from the day so we called it a night and went back around 1am. 

Khao San Road during the day

Silk Bar

Tower o'beer

Harry!

Khao San Road ridiculousness 

Can't have a post without some sketches! 

Airport people

More airport peoples

Thai guy charging his phone 

At Silk Bar overlooking Khao San Road.