starving artist, no really
polycounter lvl 17
If you know who Daarken is or not .
This story of how he started out and what kind of mess he had to go through.
It is worth the read, i am not complaining any longer.
http://daarken.com/blog/2012/06/06/starving-artist-no-really/
This story of how he started out and what kind of mess he had to go through.
It is worth the read, i am not complaining any longer.
http://daarken.com/blog/2012/06/06/starving-artist-no-really/
Replies
The name Daarken is kind of familiar. Did he used to post here back in the day?
No one wants to be a burden on their parents, but equally so: No good parent wants to see their children starve or risk their life.
I'm guessing the artist in question wanted to go to extreme lengths to be independent.
Short lesson would be: Stay at parents and go to polycount U. Don't be a burden by helping out in home as much as you can, move out the instant you are financially able to.
Man, I didn't have to spend a dime on food as an animation student by day dishwasher by night. I wast eating steaks, smoked salmon, gourmet stuff for months! I kid you not. This place I worked at they usually have uneaten and unserved leftovers. Because the cook ahead of time and at a high volume. After games or concerts, head management just dispose those and discourages people from taking them. But the dishwashers, we just smuggle them out from the kitchens in soiled linen bags (we wrap them in foil, of course).
Horrible job. But it paid the rent and took care of the food. I you dream of being a chef, and only know the glamourous stuff they show on tv, try dishwashing at a busy place first and experience how brutal it could be.
I went to Teesside where, in 4 years of study, there were countless campus stabbings, muggings and beatings, one student jumping off the tallest building on campus, countless muggings of most of my social circle (including 3 of my housemates being mugged, one more than once), our first house had a machete mark and blood splatters from where the previous tenant was chased down the street by someone who'd stolen a machete out of someone's house and had his finger chopped off as he was trying to close the door. We had our second house busted in by international police, who spent most of the day turning our house upside down. We also had a rat infestation due to our neighbours filling their small yard with trash, and not taking it out to be collected. Rats got into their house, then got into the space between the ceiling and floor, which our two houses shared.
We don't tend to have ramen in the UK (I'm not entirely sure what it is), but I had to live off've instant noodle packets and, if I was lucky, tuna and pasta for every meal, for weeks at a time.
Ramen = instant noodles.
Also, tuna is expensive.
The speech marks are definitely intentional.
Tinned tuna comes in two types. Tuna chunks, which is your "expensive" primo luxury stuff, and tuna flakes, which is the cheap, awful fish's asshole kind of stuff. And notice I said I was lucky to have that.
EDIT:
Haha. Beat me to it :P
I existed mostly of two-bean chili (and still do when the monies are tight):
1 tin each: tomatoes, sweetcorn, kidney beans, baked beans
1 large onion
1 tube tomatoe puree
1 tub gravy granules.
Given that the onion and gravy granules you'll only use about 1/4 off, that'd cook up about six portions for about £2 a pop. Pretty economic (we sometimes cut the onion or sweetcorn out to save pennies).
and then i got myself a job.
2 quid! Moneybags, over here! ;P
If I remember correctly, the instant noodles from ASDA were about 17p a packet.
I'd sometimes go nuts and have two at a time.
That is a lovely story. Inspiring.
I remember a guy from Staffs who just had a draw full of ASDA 17p noodles. I think he lived purely on noodles, cereal and jacket potatoes.
Been living in my overdraft for the last 2 years which isn't all too bad.
For food on a budjet in the UK - (Liverpool)
Pasta and rice are the best base food, any brands own will do.
Farmfoods sell dirt cheap frozen veg, 3 large bags for £2. Add the £1 "meat" or choose to get soy sauce and oxo's/spice's and your good to go. That's £5 for a good weeks worth of meals.
Milk is £2 for 10pints, sliced cheese is £2 for a large bag. Egg's £1.50 for 16. They'll run over for about 2/3 weeks.
Bread is 2 for £1 and its the good bread.
Seriously if your in the UK get to a farmfoods... saved my life~
Also if your an artist, 1m x 1m canvas's are £6 at home & bargain instead of the £70+ price tag ;') They've got a good range of paints, paint brushes and different canvas sizes. Seriously £1 for a 120ml tube of any acrylic colour, i nearly died of happiness.
Got a intern-ship coming up, I'm hoping they'll be covering my travel food for the day expenses which should be pretty sound
At the most basic of basic, you'll need rice, can of butter beans, bouillon cube or powder (I like vegetable stock the best, but beef, chicken or even fish will work), and cumin. Cumin isn't super cheap but it'll last you a fair while. The rest can be bought cheaply, particularly if you buy en masse and stretches really well. A frypan full will feed you for 3 reasonable sized meals. Or you can just do what I typically did and eat it all in one go and then lie on the floor struggling to move.
You make up a liquid stock and set it to boil, put another pan on lowish heat, toast the spices, throw the dry rice in the pan, empty the can of beans in, wait for the rice to soak of the bean juice, then add the stock bit by bit, waiting each time for it to soak into the rice.
Super easy, super cheap and if you get some extra money, you can add all sorts of things to make it more interesting. Onion, Garlic and loads of black pepper are things you'll want unless you're really skint. The version I still make for myself from time to time uses proper liquid vegetable stock instead of crappy bouillon cubes as well as cherry tomatoes and baby spinach.
His art:
http://daarken.com/warhammer.html
Tutorials and stuff:
http://enliighten.com/blog/category/tutorials/
I did dish washing in Central London in restaurant, yes it was very brutal at certain times, at moments it was calm but then it was all out blazing storm of things to wash, it sucked to be a kitchen porter. But at least you had staff menu so they prepared meal for you and lunch was 2 or 3 hours, enough time to rest.
indeed im pretty surprised not a lot of people know his name around here
Oh come on Sir Zues Konrad; Your house from Google earth looks like a mansion of some English Treasure Hunter. -.-
If thats what being poor is in Germany. I am moving there. :shifty:
ramen and rice guy. That's all you lived on haha
here you pretty much have to make the decision to starve. There is always some minimum amount of money/support you will get, if you get kicked out of the job you don't lose your health insurance etc. but in the us this is called socialism and is therefore a very very bad thing :poly142:
haha not even real rice..those damn microwavable rice..omgg so bad
Hail, Brotha! :thumbup:
If for some unlucky reason I can't make a living as an artist or use computers, I only have these skills to offer the job marketplace: dishwashing, janitor, warehouse (ideally at a mass pizza assembly line!).
Get a second job
*Woe is me.
don't go to school
worked for me:thumbup:
Here's a comparison of some things I googled, just now:
The ratios of a healthy diet should be about 300 gram carbs, 150 protein and 75 fat. Actually slightly less fat but this is easier to remember, a ratio of 4:2:1.
I (180cm, 85kg) need about 2500 calories per day.
Whatever you do, don't buy SPAM. It's mostly fat and it's -very- salty. One can is more salt than you need for a day, but is only about 750 calories or so.
I beg to differ on that. The reason carbs are promoted so highly is because they're cheap and (in the case of corn) they have a terrific lobby and government support. You absolutely have to have protein to live and you have to have fat to live, but you can do away with carbohydrates entirely and live just fine (as a few cultures used to do: inuit, masai, etc.) http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/how-many-carbohydrates-do-you-need.html
Not that ramen isn't a great option when living the student life. Been there, done that, really liked to go with the Maruchan Instant Lunch ones, since you don't need to find a bowl to cook 'em in!
You're caring for your skills by practicing.
You're caring for your knowledge by learning and studying
You're caring for your body and health by eating cheap food? dude, don't go that route... your body and your health should be the top priority. If that's gone it's game over and your skills and education and money won't help. You may not do sports or whatever, but at least get quality food!
But assuming you're really so cash starved that you have no: TV, mobile, internet access, don't smoke, don't drink - is it really a clever idea to study in this sort of situation?
Anyway, shift your priorities if you're not living under a bridge. That's all I'm saying. And there's healthier food options than ramen, even if you're on a budget! The alternative might taste crappy, might be more inconvenient to cook, but don't put garbage into your body - it's not gonna thank you for it. Seriously, I ate waaay too much junk when I was at college, and I really shouldn't have done that.
sucks that most people now have 2 bucks to spend, go to art school, then owe millions.
regardless no one in America HAS to starve, live in a 3rd world country and you'll see what i mean.
Yeah, you know i had my job longer than i know you...
@Starving: theres always a way of getting food for free.
my brother for example got expired food from a friend of my uncle who owned a store when he had only 2 bucks to spend a day
Damn kids:poly116:
:poly142:
Work does not seem to be an option nowadays XD