A lot of people may have taken up a new hobby or worked to develop a new skill during quarantine. Me — not so much, but there is no shortage of resources online for those who wish to. There are tons of cool hobbies and skills to develop.

My stepmother can do leatherworking, play the violin, is good at archery and has an increasingly large garden. My father got his motorcycle license a bit ago. My mother recently started learning to play the piano. As for me, I’ve been slacking.

Joshua Soneda, sophomore chemistry major, has worked on several projects. He said since quarantine he has painted, made armor, knitted, done some woodworking and a bunch of other crafts.

“Metalworking was not easy,” Soneda said.

He said he found a YouTube video and vaguely followed the directions using sheet metal after buying tools from The Home Depot. He said he was originally going for a basic knight costume for Halloween but thought it was boring and stylized it.

Thus, Soneda’s Saber costume from the “Fate” series became reality.

He said he had never knitted before and isn’t sure why he picked it up. He made two scarves but said he has since stopped knitting.

For woodworking, Soneda said he once made a shield and then he made a shelf a few years back that he still uses. Additionally, he has a sword that accompanies the rest of his Saber costume.

Painting, however, was the first thing Soneda said he picked up during quarantine. He said that he generally just picks something he wants to do, gets the materials and somehow it works. Soneda said he often uses YouTube videos or other free online resources to help him.

Hallie Cromwell, sophomore genetics and cell biology major, has been making comics since she was young. She wrote in an email that she is currently working on a superhero comic inspired by a poster she and some of her closes friends made depicting themselves as superheroes.

Cromwell wrote that she has been gathering information from YouTube as well as looking at existing comics on places like Webtoon for help formatting panels and dialogue.

A lot of existing works may be used as detailed examples of what works or what doesn’t. Cromwell wrote that adult comics seem to have a more novel-like or episodic quality to them, unlike comics intended for children.

The most difficult part of making a comic is plotting out the story, Cromwell wrote. As she is not doing a simple four-panel size comic, she has to plot out everything just as she would if it were a television series. What happens in an issue, how it connects to other issues and how it begins and ends are just the surface of what needs to be considered.

Cromwell wrote that the most enjoyable part is making the character. For me, when I write stories or work on non-player characters for Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, I feel the same way.

“You start with a vague outline, just something to fill in part of the plot or keep it going and then you design them, make them a backstory, give them certain characteristics, build on their relations and then roll the dice to see if they live or die,” Cromwell wrote. “Overall, a wild rollercoaster I love to ride again and again.”

For anyone who wants to start a new hobby or develop a new skill, Cromwell wrote that her advice is to do it semi-regularly — enough to get into it and improve but not so often you get sick of it or see it as a chore.