Hannah James

As someone who's been dabbling in art for years, I get the overwhelm with all those options out there... For beginners on a tight budget like yours and prioritize sets with a good color variety that covers primaries and some extras for blending - think reds, blues, yellows, and earth tones to start. Avoid anything too fancy or professional-level since those can be intimidating and pricier. Check the consistency; you want paints that don't dry super fast on the palette but hold up when applied. Reviews often mention if they crack or fade, so pay attention to that. Works great if you can find ones with resealable tubes. And yeah, mixing your own colors is key, so a set that encourages that without needing tons of add-ons is ideal. Keep it simple, practice on cheap paper first, and you'll figure out what suits you best pretty quick.

Because nobody tells you the truth: open mics are mostly people waiting for their own turn, and lessons cost more than your mic will. You'll think every eye is on you, but you're background noise for drinks and fries — which is actually liberating if you let it be. The nerves won't vanish, so stack the deck: choose a song under your ceiling, transpose down two semitones, practice at 60–70% volume with a karaoke track so you don't tick off neighbors, and do 10 jumping jacks before each run to mimic stage adrenaline. When you go, don't give a speech about being nervous or "first time"; walk up, breathe once, start immediately, and keep the tempo lazy. If the monitor is harsh, ask the host for less in the wedge or sing slightly off-axis; sounding comfortable beats sounding loud.