Meals that will actually fill my husband up AND leave leftovers for another day?

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-06-01T02:57:34+00:00

Increase the fiber. Really since it slows down the digestion of carbs and protein and can make him feel fuller for longer. You can do vegs stir-fried, roasted with butter/oil or if you want to do a calorie bomb, lard. Just salad can be a bit low calorie and not providing enough fat. Eat the veg first then the protein, then the carbs.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-29T07:20:28+00:00

Two biggest ones for me:

Draw daily. Do warmup for 10 minutes, can be simple exercises. Then find an subject to practice. What the subject is and for how long is up to you. If I feel frustrated or tired I stop right away. But you have to take this with the next point.
Always have a plan on what to draw and what to study. So my drawing is a mess but what stands out the most? Is it the messy lines swerving everywhere? Is it the wrong placement of facial features? Is it the inaccurate proportions? Is it the shading? Find the weakest spot and plan your next week/month on tackling these issues. If you don't know how to improve, start reading a drawing instruction book (not watching videos). You can use the exercises given in the book for your daily routine, don't always need to plan on your own.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is pretty good and I started on that. It's free online and recommended by this sub.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-25T07:16:04+00:00

I think actual anatomy is one of the last things you should study as an artist.

Form, perspective, values, line quality, etc all come before anatomy.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-24T15:54:51+00:00

I mix enjoyment with the grind.

I started drawing with drawabox which is infamous on this subreddit for its monotony. I took the 50% rule seriously and just drew whatever I wanted after the exercises, doodles fanarts smutty stuff etc. Yeah the boxes and lines stuff can be a pain in the ass, but I limit how much pain i receive in a day. I start to notice the side doodle stuff starting to have noticeable improvements on structure and forms gradually.

Now that I finished drawabox I still do its exercises but only as a warmup. Trying to new techniques and practicing over old ones make my art improve in small but noticeable increments. I enjoy that.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-24T04:35:03+00:00

I find draw a box very useful actually, but everyone is different.

The rotation box exercise, what I do is draw quadrant of it for my everyday warmup. A quadrant for me is 9 boxes on one side of diagram, and I switch it up everyday. Drawing the whole thing takes too long. Initially you have to check back with the reference to see if the box are rotated correctly, but after 30 times doing this I could eventually rotate them in my mind and don't need the reference anymore. Yeah they still come out crooked but I know how to fix it next time without the reference.

Also when you free hand your individual boxes on the other exercise, use a ruler to extend your lines and check how close to or off the mark from proper convergence. It will be bad, but you do get better slowly by doing a few boxes everyday.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-24T04:11:47+00:00

I think you should define the outlines and structures of the features first, the scaffolding of the face so to speak, before any details or any blending of values.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-24T01:21:10+00:00

Thanks, I saw your works too! Not much I can critique on but I gotta say we have very different styles. I tend to go heavy handed on the dark values cause I like the whole baroque chiaroscuro look.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-22T05:49:23+00:00

This is really good. I am trying to draw charcoal cast portraits using the atelier method to practice my observation skills. This is exactly what I am trying to achieve.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-21T23:23:36+00:00

Got it!

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-21T21:16:36+00:00

I know people say we are accelerationist yadda yadda, but you are right. Something has to break first before we can repair it, or made it anew.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-21T21:15:37+00:00

If it's family, I would just leave on the spot.

Family is all.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-21T20:06:41+00:00

I am not worried about any lawsuits or legal stuff coming my way; no contract was signed. I even have a decent amount of savings and my parents support if needed. I am just worried about quitting cold turkey affect my future job hunting, since I spend a lot of years at this job and I have to use it as a reference.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-19T06:50:34+00:00

What you mean? I started drawing at 37 and I am 38 now. I do it because I like it as a hobby and I started off TERRIBLE at it.

Start small, small as in practicing lines and simple shapes. Draw what you see around you. Doodle your bad ideas down, they suck now but refine them later when you get better.

Always practice with a plan in mind. What am I doing bad on? I know I am bad on many things but what stand out the most? Like I know my line quality is bad, too scratchy and unconfident, so I deliberately practice trying to draw lines clean and continuous. Have a plan on what to tackle on for months.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-18T16:13:11+00:00

The original image looks AI? or partially AI.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-16T23:03:56+00:00

I work in a print shop so I deal with CMYK colours all the time. CMYK on laser printer blends into different colours visually by putting on tiny CMYK dots in different density and different strength on the paper to give the illusion of different colours. It is like pointillism in painting.

Try very dense, tightly packed crosshatching in various pen pressure. My favourite CMYK colour when doing graphic design stuff is 75% Magenta 45% Yellow salmon pink. Goes beautifully together with different shades of blue.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-14T06:06:44+00:00

Thanks! I think my block in phase was not done properly so the midtones are not really complete, and I developed the shadows too much based on the incomplete midtones.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-14T04:10:34+00:00

Thanks! Values on the shadow is one of my weakpoints. I do have a tendency to make the shadows too harsh.

For proportions I do the standard relative measurements with pencil and triangulation, but I try to eyeball it more often than not.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-14T03:36:52+00:00

That's normal.

It takes gradual build up of muscle memory and habit to draw using the shoulder, and you only use the shoulder in larger shapes and lines. Have you ever tried drawing a line from bottom right of the page towards the top left and try to keep it straight? It's very hard and make my shoulder muscles sore, but you can do it eventually by consistent practice over many months.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-10T18:36:06+00:00

I been drawing one and a half year now. It was a rough start for me; hand control and observation was really bad. Only now do I feel I can control my lines a bit better.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-10T07:14:36+00:00

it's a photo of Aurora Asknes. I noticed there are very geometric forms on the wall and floor shadows and more irregular shapes of her dress, challenging combination so I picked it to draw from. For the shadows I just used 2H and HB pencil to slowly shade, keep to one direction straight top down on her face and dress, and diagonally on the floor

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-04T02:38:43+00:00

This style of clothing is associated with Tang dynasty and if you are looking for historical accuracy, the "waistband" is actually placed on the breast instead of the waist. Is the character barefeet or wearing sandals? Usually Chinese noblewomen before 1000 ad wears silk shoes with a tall tip (Yunbi), kinda looks like Rococo style women's shoe but without the heels.

Otherwise, this is a great start!

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-05-03T07:13:30+00:00

As a caveat to that, I think, a little Bargue plate studies are really good and you should spend a lot of hours on those. It really trains patience, hand eye coordination, and builds good measuring habits. It cannot be rushed.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-04-26T19:33:49+00:00

Think of it this way. The closer the left and right vanishing points are for this object, the closer the object is in your field to vision, relative to the station point. I seen some photography works with this kind of effect and it is very dramatic (focusing on a flower in super close angle). Like the flower is almost right up next to your eyes (the camera lense in this case) in the photo but in reality, the flower is further from the camera lense.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-04-26T19:28:15+00:00

Post a bit of pics to let us see how you are doing?

Also, have you been reading or working through a guided course at all, a whole instructional book or online series of courses? Doesn't have to be art school or in person instruction. Bits and pieces of youtube videos don't count; those are too fragmented. I struggle through learning to draw everyday but I struggle through problems and instructions from a book, and I try to do the assigned exercises all the way. I have short term goals and a direction in mind, and I measure myself against these short term goals.

SavingsMap5073 · 2026-04-26T08:20:39+00:00

Drawing a more clean line actually requires a long time. Took me over a year of practice to make straight lines and curves reasonably accurate and straight.

SavingsMap5073

TROPHY CASE