My two are:
Making sourdough. I personally always heard like this weird almost mysticism around making it. But I bought a $7 starter from a bakery store, and using just stuff in my kitchen and cheap bread flour I’ve been eating fresh sourdough every day and been super happy with it. Some loafs aren’t super consistent because I don’t have like temperature controlled box or anything. But they’ve all been tasty.
Drawing. I’m by no means an artist, but I always felt like people who were good at drawing were like on a different level. But I buckled down and every day for a month I tried drawing my favorite anime character following an online guide. So just 30 minutes every day. The first one was so bad I almost gave up, but I was in love with the last one and made me realize that like… yeah it really is just practice. Years and years of it to be good at drawing things consistently, quickly, and a variety of things. But I had fun and got something I enjoyed much faster than I expected. So if you want to learn to draw, I would recommend just trying to draw something you really like following a guide and just try it once a day until you are happy with the result.
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Any specific drawing advice? I’ve always wanted to draw and to paint and have had such difficulty getting off the ground
I mean I’m not great in any way, but the way I did that I found very satisfying was find a tutorial where the end product is something you like and will take under an hour, or heck 10 minutes, idc.
Then follow it. The first time it’ll probably come out garbage. That’s okay! Think about which parts you did wrong.
Then the next day, follow the tutorial again. Then the next day, again. Each day try things differently to get closer to what the tutorial wants you to do.
After about a month I was super happy with what I drew and realized that if you just draw, you’ll get better.
This is great advice btw. I know amateurs and pros who swear by the “paint/draw one small piece every day” approach.
Oh happy to hear that it’s valid advice! I got it from a speaker at a video game making thing I went to years ago that stuck with me.
Talking about it I suddenly have the urge to do it again xD It was very satisfying to compare last weeks drawing to this weeks, and the first drawing in the book to the last one. I can only imagine how satisfying it would be if I stuck with it for a year XD
This is why I joined a track-a-week music challenge this year! I’ve been dabbling for 5 years and still have no idea what I’m doing musically (no theory or anything) but I figured cranking out a finished song every week throughout 2024 would force me to get better and it’s really working!
I mean, I’m still cranking out garbage, but now it’s higher quality garbage and I can make decisions faster, let go of ideas that aren’t working without a second thought, and learn from other people taking the challenge.
As far as art goes, I’ve been drawing live caricatures for 15 years and I’m WAY better than even a few years ago. Definitely stick with it. Be too stubborn to give up. Keep doing the thing. Skill will develop the more you persevere.
I love this advice. I found someone on YouTube and poorly copied them on a MTG card (just altering it). It was fantastic, and I really am looking forward to the next one already
Just do it every day, and i a couple of months you’ll get an itch if you are not doing it :-)
Great for listening in on boring meetings too if you have to.
I appreciate it! I actually painted a little today, while I probably should’ve been working. It was delightful
If you’re wanting to take on a larger course and you’re interested in drawing realistic human figure then i suggest Riven Pheonix’s Invention of Man.
Each video is 15-25min. I do 1-2 daily. I watch animes for motivation.
It uses formulas for drawing the body(in too much detail) and slowly moves away from them. Probably overkill for anime figures or whatever but proportion and consistency are what i struggle with so a structured highly detail oriented cours is what works for me.
It’s hyper-detailed(many will say too detailed) but also i would otherwise know where to put things like the rib cage, shoulder blades or pelvis bones, random muscles in a dynamic pose. This are the little details that i see in shows that motivate me.
It costs $45 but the first several are on yt.
The most important part is starting. The second is not quitting at the first failure.
Consistency is the most important aspect for learning to draw (and any other skill, really)
Don’t bother with spending lots of money early on. Buy some printer paper (cheap&plentiful), pencils, eraser and cheap hydrographic fineliner pens.
Draw something you want, something you’d like to do, then train a bit, or vice-versa. When starting, use references. Most kids start by drawing characters from shows they enjoy, you can do that, too. Have a reference close by so you’re constantly eyeing it and put it to paper.
Draw for fun first. If you still have some energy afterwards, do some exercises to better your line consistency, straight lines, perspective, etc. It’s important to have drawing as an activity that makes you feel good first before you start “taking it seriously”, training before doing the fun part.
I just wanna say that your comment (and the few others here) got me to whip out my mini paints for the first time in a while and paint a MTG card. I’m stoked with how it came out, even though it’s not “good” and I think I might invest in a few colors/a pallet (using cardboard now)
Sword fighting. I joined an armored combat gym and just went consistently. They provide the equipment, at least til you get to the point you want your own armor and weapon. Good fun, good exercise.
What kind of sword fighting?
Dicks
Armored MMA! Cage fights in authentic armor, with historically accurate weapons. I’ve yet to get in armor, just soft kit sparring and pell work with the real weapons.
Sounds fun!
It’s a good time. Finally giving me reason to get off my ass hahah
Interesting! I looked into it a little (I’ve never heard of this) and didn’t find decent videos of an armored cage match. I wanna see how one goes. Do you have any links?
Here ya go! This was from an exhibition show back in July.
Wow thanks! The vastness of shit people get up to just make me smile sometimes. I’m genuinely ecstatic this exists.
Yeah that was my reaction hahah. It’s getting more and more popular, the gyms are popping up in most areas. Maybe one day we’ll fight :D
Cooking. A lot of really delicious foods have extremely simple recipes and as an amateur you have time on your side. You don’t have to rush anything for most recipes. A lot of times I measure and cut everything before I even turn on the stove and this makes cooking super easy. Sure it takes a while to cook when you are just starting out but you can just go at your own pace. I really feel like anyone can cook almost anything. You don’t even need fancy tools. I got started with a $12 wok and a wooden spatula. These days there’s a huge amount of resources to teach you how to make just about everything. It’s also really rewarding since you get to eat what you make and you get to make things you want to eat. Needless to say it’s also a very important skill.
Gathering, cutting, measuring all the ingredients before cooking is actually a very well regarded French method called mis en place so you’re basically already classically trained 😜
Cooking is much easier than it looks. Recipes are just suggestions and after looking at enough of them the commonalities to play around with it
Except baking. Unless you exactly know what each ingredient does.
Never baking. That is different from cooking
Woodworking! Yes, you can obviously spend lots of money on equipment, but you’d be surprised by how nice furniture you can build with just a track saw and a trim router.
Only thing that sucks about woodworking is unless you have a house of your own, it’s very difficult because of how much dust and noise is produced. Woodworking in an apartment is very frustrating.
Also even if you have the tools lumber is not cheap.
My stupid ass thought I could maybe get into wood carving on a small scale… Checked the price of wood and noooope.
I get that. In my city there are at least 2 makerspaces and 1 communal workshop where you can use all their tools at any time, for a monthly membership fee. I would totally use that option if I didn’t have my own house. Not sure how common that is around the world though.
I agree with sourdough, I didn’t even buy a starter just made one from unbleached white flour and water, it been going strong or more than 15 years now. Other home fermentation projects too, many don’t really involve any special equipment. But the secret people don’t realize about sourdough is its EASIER to work with, than commercial yeast. Less fussy, less sticky, more robust, just slower. And slower is easier.
Gardening there was some cost involved for me but I have been consistently shocked because I used to kill plants but the food garden is doing great. Not idyllic, sometimes bugs eat all of something, or birds do, or this year my dogs are the late season watermelon (bitches!) but in general it doesn’t take a lot of knowledge, I look for sturdy heat tolerant hybrids or plants native to hot wet places, and have gotten fennel, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, okra, collard greens, mustard greens, jalapenos, different lettuces, a few other veggies and the watermelon all this food for not much cost beyond what we are already paying to have a house with a backyard.
Cycling
I started biking to work after we moved closer and next thing I know I’m into mountain biking and have built 2 bikes
Weaving. I though I’d have to get a huge-ass loom and all that, until I found a guide for making a small cardboard thingy with notches for the warp threads to get started, and later got one of those small kids’ looms.
Photography. Always stayed away because people told me it would be expensive (it definitely can be) but you can have a ton of fun with a 20-year-old camera off eBay and lenses from garage sales.
Kayaking was easy. Get one you can afford on FB Marketplace and go. Cheap paddles are just fine to start and are $3 thrift life vests, maybe forever. Next thing you know, you’re scanning Google Maps for water and new adventures.
“Easy” being relative… 3d printing. Especially with modern printers. Leather working is easier than i thought although i won’t say I’m awesome at it. Probably the easiest thing i’ve learned is homebrewing. 90% is cleaning. Outside of that if you can boil water you can brew. Extract kits make it super easy. From there you can go all grain or stick ti extracts. Or if you want super easy, go mead. Honey, water, yeast. That’s it.
Ham radio. The license is now just a multiple choice quiz–no morse code needed. There are apps that go through the questions in a flashcard style, and if you go through that for 30 minutes a day for a month, you’ll pass no problem.
Entry level radios have gotten cheap, too. $25 Bafangs are the butt of jokes around ham radio, and yet everyone seems to have at least one. The older models had harmonic transmission issues that violated FCC requirements, but there’s newer ones that clean it up and cost about the same.
Making desert coffee at home. I got a French press because i drink one cup of coffee a day at most and I wanted make sweeter more rich coffee.
I now can use all cream line milk or oat milk, soak my fresh ground beans (and chickary root sometimes), add sweeteners to taste.
Blame better coffee than most coffee shops (for me). No 1000 dollar machine
What’s your recipe, ratios and wait times. I use a press to do cold brew. Every time I try it for a hot cup it tastes a bit “dirty” or earthy to me, plus by the time it steeps its not as hot as I’d like.
I take my coffee cup fill it full of whole milk, microwave at 60% power for ~3 min. Fill the bottom of my press with a layer of course ground bean, sprinkle in the chickory (maybe a whole layer), another layer of bean, power the hot milk in, wait 5-10 min, press and pour.
If I’m making some for guests I just add their cups of milk as well and a little thicker layers.
Oddly cold brew has that dirty flavor to me, so I never, despite wanting to, got into it.
I never thought to do a French press with milk instead of water.
For cold brew I filter it though a pour over after pressing. 1:7.2 ratio, 18 hours.
I got tired of paying $20 for affogato out, so i bought a moca pot for like $20 online and some preground espresso. Now I can make it whenever i want and it tastes basically the same. Fully automatic espresso machines are overrated.
Sorry, I’m european.
Do you mean the little conical pot with the long handle you use to make mokka?
Or an italian bialetti ?
Because mokka and espresso are quite different.
If you mean a bialetti, I absolutely agree and I recommend to buy an original ‘bialetti’ brand, because they will last you several lifetimes. It’s worth it. I’d find it a bit weird that you call it moca pot, when it makes espresso.Turkish or Greek mokka is also awesome, but you need to know how to poor the coffee so you don’t have your mouth full of coffee grounds. I never mastered this.
I’d find it a bit weird that you use mokka to make affogato, but that might be a question of taste…Don’t let an Italian catch you calling a Bialetti coffee an espresso.
If I’m understanding though it is closer to espresso because of the higher pressure, right?
It comes out dark and flavorful enough for my affagato, that’s all i care about. 😆
I’m talking about the bialetti.
Soak grounds in milk? Then just press the milk with no water or anything? Never heard of doing this.
Yeah! I started it because I partner wanted a more latte like drink, and I like a very creamy coffee.
I will say contrary to what I expected, I had to lower my soak time because it gets bitter faster, but I still prefer it.
Foraging. Don’t eat random shit from the wild without IDing it (intelligently, not just with AI apps), but also don’t listen to the scary stories and harsh warnings. Dying by plant (or mushroom) poisoning is very rare, most bad eats will give you the trots and you’ll be fine a day later. It’s easy to find good foods without stress, and while a professional guide can help, there are SO many books that have virtually the same info. Start with local, easy foods like leafy greens, nibble small amounts and wait 24 hours, and you’ll start seeing how simple and attainable forging is.
Drumming! Buy an electronic kit, have tons of fun playing Rock Band, watch videos for technique, download a few practice books. You can at least play along with easy songs and it makes you feel badass! :D
Clone Hero is great for E-drumming (have to set it to Pro Drums because regular Drums works with old Rock Band and GH kits). I also paid for a year of Melodics and learned a lot from it.
Yeah I’ve heard about Clone Hero! Just kind of holding off for now because it’s supposed to be better than Rock Band, so I already know it’s going to be this whole “thing” for me once I get into it (trying to juggle a bunch of hobbies, as is my tendency lol).
Magic The Gathering. At first I liked the Artworks and then I liked the Game. Expsensive tho.
I dunno man, used to be pretty good back in the early days.
I tried to get back into it now, and it’s a HELL of a lot more complicated wit commanders and about 20 new card attributes with terrible descriptors.
Old magic was simple, anyone could pick it up in 20 mins. Modern magic is the product of decades of powercreep and Hasbro’s greed.
I just learned it in like a Week. It’s still fun and there are many people to play with :P
enjoy, just that it’s not simple anymore and doesn’t fit with this topic
Reading the card explains the card
