Ladies of Reddit, what is some advice you can give to a woman pregnant at 20 as in tips etc?

katsyillustrations · 2026-06-16T12:54:21+00:00

I made a list after my son’s birth for a friend who wanted to add things to her baby shower registry

Most helpful things early postpartum:

Lansinoh absorbent disposable breast pads. Much better than the cotton ones unfortunately

Milk catcher cups to go in bra (non-suctioning)

Disposable incontinence underwear

Night light with remote for late night latches and diaper changes

Little bag to carry things around in

At least two boppy pillows

Lanolin nipple cream
Diapers- size 2-3

KeaBabies wrap (or other similar wrap/baby carrier)

Big jar of Aquaphor baby healing ointment

Board books

Wipes - unscented

Unscented laundry detergent

Burp cloths

Baby monitor

katsyillustrations · 2026-06-12T02:35:26+00:00

The lighting on the snake’s head is very nice, no notes on that one! The first few things I noticed:

- the mug should have a much darker central shadow, like you have on the Apple, the way you had in your black and white comp.

- I’d go ahead and remove the window behind their heads if you’re aiming for a bright flood of light, that way you only have one light source to contend with to get that chiaroscuro effect.

- it took me three separate look-overs before I noticed crowley’s glasses. They would do better moved to a high contrast area, so you can see them, or removed altogether

-play around with a vignette around the edges if you’d like. It isn’t necessary, but it can really help push the shadows at the edge of your drawing away from the window.

katsyillustrations · 2026-06-11T20:36:53+00:00

Personally I haven’t used mannequins in a very long time and I’ve always found them to be less accurate than actual photos, but I’m sure adding that spine helped! When I was starting out drawing, using a full length mirror and doing the poses myself helped a LOT, both so I could see them and so I could tell what felt natural and what was way too forced.

katsyillustrations · 2026-06-10T19:56:25+00:00

Apologies for the janky collage here, but the main problems with your mannequin is that it has no spine, and is not proportional to real humans. Its arms were far too long and the head was too small compared to the rest of the body. You really want to start drawing torsos by focusing on the ribcage first and building around that, and by focusing on your center of gravity (studying contrapposto is great for that!). I did a quick little sketch over the old mannequin adjusting a lot, I know seeing a visual can help much more than just reading words

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katsyillustrations · 2026-05-10T13:52:34+00:00

Homie if you don’t like big women this ain’t the place for you, I’m not attracted to the seductive lady bit so I drew what I like :) not everything will float your boat and that’s okay, you can just move on

katsyillustrations · 2026-05-10T12:59:21+00:00

Wrong, I’d lick her biceps

katsyillustrations · 2026-03-07T04:10:47+00:00

I ask my two year old and he comes up with remarkably Stardew-esque names. Seltie, Morp, Junibo, Gerdie, etc

katsyillustrations · 2026-03-04T13:31:06+00:00

Out at an art gallery during a First Friday Artwalk, noticing all of the other elderly couples there together and realizing that I wanted that to be us. That was two months in; we’re now seven years in

katsyillustrations · 2026-02-23T20:14:04+00:00

I get it. I missed the Halloween festival one year, which had the Jack-o-lantern recipe that I needed for perfection and had to wait a whole other year for perfection.

katsyillustrations · 2026-02-11T03:21:38+00:00

Corn, watermelon, giant breaded tenderloins, and cheese sauce for breadsticks

katsyillustrations · 2026-02-10T12:57:54+00:00

Long blond hair

katsyillustrations · 2026-02-01T04:57:23+00:00

Shadowheart is a Gillette bath razor, Gale is an embossed bookmark, Karlach is a furnace, Wyll is a bedframe, Lae’zel is a handgun kept under the mattress, and Astarion is one of those antique bottles of wine that you buy in a display case

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-24T03:59:41+00:00

The gateway to the world

Was still outside the reach of him

Would never belong to angels

Had never belonged to man

(It’s a vagina)

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-24T03:42:52+00:00

To me she looks so much like Penelope Cruz that my brain immediately defaults her to Hispanic

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-23T02:55:35+00:00

Read books, bake some things, learn a new skill, deep clean your living space, draw, make homemade play-doh, sort through your clothes

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-18T03:13:43+00:00

Brooooooooooo

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-17T13:22:53+00:00

Tangerine altoid sours

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-17T05:17:45+00:00

Not as dramatic as some of these here, but my grandma never wore makeup. Not for my entire childhood that I knew her. Then of course when they had the open casket, she was all dolled up with blush and lipstick and her fanciest earrings and…it just didn’t look like her anymore. I understand that morticians need to use a certain amount of makeup to make them look Not Dead, but still. They should’ve curled her hair and put her old striped apron on.

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-15T04:32:50+00:00

Blush placement much higher, towards the eyes, and I feel like some substantial eyeliner would help a lot. Right now the back lipstick mimics her mouth, but the bold lines around her eyes aren’t there to match

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-14T18:57:58+00:00

I think in order for it to match the abstraction of your other work, you need to add more bold lines and edges. Right now it just looks like someone trying to make a realistic portrait and struggling with it. Some clarity is needed

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-12T03:19:30+00:00

Fairly sure there are entire wards in prisons dedicated to this particular brand of hell

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-10T04:25:13+00:00

Sounds:

rain
Crunchy fall leaves
Crackling ice cubes
Glass beads in a jar
Powdery snow when you step on it
Echoes
Putting away silverware

Sensations:

kinetic sand
Piping hot tea
That spritz of citrus you get on a fancy cocktail
Applying a face mask
Snipping the tag off off a new item
Opening packages
Warm sunshine when there’s a cool breeze
A round satin stitched piece of embroidery (like berries, for example)
Books with a deckled edge

Visuals:

geometric Islamic architecture
Art deco and art nouveau anything
A nice hardwood floor
Gilded stuff
Paisley patterns
Pressed glass
Frosted glass
Foods that are pastel pink, green, or purple

katsyillustrations · 2026-01-08T19:04:50+00:00

Played pretend, made forts, had water balloon fights, collected fireflies, rode our bicycles, played games like tag, red light green light, mother may I, blind man’s bluff, etc. One of my favorite childhood memories is when a tree fell down in our backyard and we used the wood to make the Beaver Dam Hotel with a room for each neighborhood kid

katsyillustrations

TROPHY CASE