The fragility of anatomy.
The other day after playing some video games, I found my thumb sore - not surprising, as I usually attack the controller with undue force. I’m one of those people who makes button-mashing a kind of assault, and who’s prone to swerve and jerk whilst playing, as though my excessive physical action will cause the character on-screen to move that much faster or more accurately, dammit. Heaven help us all when I get my hands on a Wii; everyone better leave the room, taking with them all furniture and breakable objects. Actually, the best environment for me to use a Wii in would be a padded cell, because with my tendency to thrash and flail about, I’d likely render destruction to myself as well as my surroundings.
But anyway - the point is, I hold utensils much too tightly, especially when I get immersed in what I’m doing. I clutch my pencil in a deathgrip, and after long sessions of drawing, I have to slowly unlock my fingers, which have stiffened into a claw. I was just thinking how incredibly fortunate I am to have not developed carpal tunnel syndrome yet... and then yesterday, I started noticing a really weird and uncomfortable sensation in my dominant hand.
It’s mostly located in my little finger and ring finger, running from them all the way up my forearm, to about the elbow. It’s probably the extensors, or something. I’m not sure how to describe what it’s like - it feels as though I’ve got an itch inside the muscles of my hand and arm. While it does fade after a while, it doesn’t entirely go away, even when I’ve not been drawing for a while. I think it might not be entirely related to drawing, actually; it kinda feels like too much time spent at the computer, as mousing seems to really aggravate this.
I realize I need to be more conscious of how I handle my body. It’s terrifying to think that I might do irreparable damage to myself, especially my hands which I rely on for (my admitted feeble hope of ) a living. But I know I’ve been really careless, and have been for far too long. It doesn’t help that I tend to work long periods without getting up to stretch, and my posture while I’m working is very bad. I sometimes find myself contorted in kind of vulture-esque cringe, as though I’m trying to out-hunch Gollum. (This is particularly bad when I’m inking real-media comics: I crouch over the page with my nose mere inches away from the paper.) The housing-provided desk and chair are pretty awful, which makes it worse. My posture even away from a desk is fairly disgraceful, but here I slump even more.
The problem is, it’s really hard to be aware of oneself; habit makes it unconscious, and work makes it forgettable. It’s only later - when pain sizzles up my back while I lie in bed, or my fingers shiver and twitch when I try to hold them out straight - do I realize I might be doing extremely horrible things to myself. Button-mashing is one thing, but chronic, intense bodily abuse is another matter all together. I realize I’ve gotten used to the dull burn in my shoulders and the ache in my spine, and that’s kinda scary.
So this is partially a PSA to fellow artists and desk-jockeys, and partially a query as to what precautions and practices you follow. I’m trying to mouse with my non-dominant hand (which is really awkward because my other hand is nearly useless), and I’m trying to remember to adjust my position and watch my posture... but it’s remarkably difficult. What do you do?
In other news, I finished the linework for two new pages, and started on the third. I'll put those up when I finish them. But now that I've drawn all that, I can tell that the double-spread really isn't working so much. Blah.
And here's a drawing I did after that:
I realize that the only time Kurt has hair remotely like this is in the terribly disappointing X-Men Evolution cartoon, but whatever.
Nightcrawler showed up in my dream last night (although he didn't look anything like that), and so I wanted to draw him.
But anyway - the point is, I hold utensils much too tightly, especially when I get immersed in what I’m doing. I clutch my pencil in a deathgrip, and after long sessions of drawing, I have to slowly unlock my fingers, which have stiffened into a claw. I was just thinking how incredibly fortunate I am to have not developed carpal tunnel syndrome yet... and then yesterday, I started noticing a really weird and uncomfortable sensation in my dominant hand.
It’s mostly located in my little finger and ring finger, running from them all the way up my forearm, to about the elbow. It’s probably the extensors, or something. I’m not sure how to describe what it’s like - it feels as though I’ve got an itch inside the muscles of my hand and arm. While it does fade after a while, it doesn’t entirely go away, even when I’ve not been drawing for a while. I think it might not be entirely related to drawing, actually; it kinda feels like too much time spent at the computer, as mousing seems to really aggravate this.
I realize I need to be more conscious of how I handle my body. It’s terrifying to think that I might do irreparable damage to myself, especially my hands which I rely on for (my admitted feeble hope of ) a living. But I know I’ve been really careless, and have been for far too long. It doesn’t help that I tend to work long periods without getting up to stretch, and my posture while I’m working is very bad. I sometimes find myself contorted in kind of vulture-esque cringe, as though I’m trying to out-hunch Gollum. (This is particularly bad when I’m inking real-media comics: I crouch over the page with my nose mere inches away from the paper.) The housing-provided desk and chair are pretty awful, which makes it worse. My posture even away from a desk is fairly disgraceful, but here I slump even more.
The problem is, it’s really hard to be aware of oneself; habit makes it unconscious, and work makes it forgettable. It’s only later - when pain sizzles up my back while I lie in bed, or my fingers shiver and twitch when I try to hold them out straight - do I realize I might be doing extremely horrible things to myself. Button-mashing is one thing, but chronic, intense bodily abuse is another matter all together. I realize I’ve gotten used to the dull burn in my shoulders and the ache in my spine, and that’s kinda scary.
So this is partially a PSA to fellow artists and desk-jockeys, and partially a query as to what precautions and practices you follow. I’m trying to mouse with my non-dominant hand (which is really awkward because my other hand is nearly useless), and I’m trying to remember to adjust my position and watch my posture... but it’s remarkably difficult. What do you do?
In other news, I finished the linework for two new pages, and started on the third. I'll put those up when I finish them. But now that I've drawn all that, I can tell that the double-spread really isn't working so much. Blah.
And here's a drawing I did after that:
I realize that the only time Kurt has hair remotely like this is in the terribly disappointing X-Men Evolution cartoon, but whatever.
Nightcrawler showed up in my dream last night (although he didn't look anything like that), and so I wanted to draw him.