Portrait Sketch Dump

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. 

Coffee Shop Sketching, Dad, and Hands

10 seconds eash with FAT marker

Iphone addiction spans across all generations!

Weekend Sketching

Overcast days are the best to paint because the lighting doesn't really change. 

Hanging out at The Lab in Costa Mesa. What I like about painting on location is the interactions I get with passer-by's because I guess they don't see someone with a paint set everyday painting. I have realized that it was mostly older people who actually stopped by to talk to me, the younger ones were too cool for school and just tried to sneak glances haha. 

My favorite- creep sketching at coffee shops. I need to get better at speed and memory because people tend to move, if you didn't know that. 

Instagram Fridays: LAX to ORD

Sketched this during a 3 hour plane ride from Los Angeles to Chicago. I have always loved urban sketching, its when I am most in my element. All I used to sketch were people, so now I am trying my hand at complete scenes and to be mindful of the composition.

I bought The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing On Location Around The World (which is an amazing book that shows you how other urban sketchers see the world as well as their tips and techniques) and took a really good tip from one of the artists: to sketch close to far, it worked very well for me. I really wanted to sit out in downtown Chicago and sketch the beautiful skyline and the quaint houses but I was with a group of four girls and were constantly running around.

I will now go and dream of this deep dish Chicago style pizza that ruined all pizzas for me. Damn you Pequods!!

Creep Sketching Saturday

My love for sketching strangers, aka creep sketching, has been my favorite past time for years now. It allows me to be super observant about everything, to notice the tiny details that makes a person an individual. However when the person notices you drawing them, the drawing is over, so I have to make it quick since I'm not the most inconspicuous person. 

The first three were done in one of my favorite coffee shops, its weird being here mid-aftertoon since I'm always just here in the mornings before work. When the shop was winding down, or when I have ran out of victims, I drove myself to Barnes and Nobles to look for fresh ones and was there for an hour or so. Markers are still a learning process for me but I need to start adding value to my sketches. Next will be watercolors! Eep. 

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known"

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known" -Carl Sagan

Sketched this with two Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gell ink pens. I love these pens. I don't know why but I always feel my sketches look better whenever I draw in these. It might be because whenever I sketch in pen, I am forced to be a lot more confidant in my lines so I am a lot more mindful of things.

Anyway, I've always been inspired by the vastness of our universe and how insignificant our problems are in contrast to the big scope of things. Life goes on, and the most you can do is keep on bettering yourself while still retaining childlike wonder about the world. No use in stress and anger because in the end we are just one tiny speck on this "pale blue dot."