If so...how?
I mean, wouldn't you notice if your hand was starting to hurt and take rest? Or do you just like, power through the pain even though you know you're about to get carpal tunnel?
Have you ever gotten injured from drawing too much?
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Response to Have you ever gotten injured from drawing too much? 2023-11-25 10:18:16 (edited 2023-11-25 10:22:32)
Honestly, no. Every now and then I might need to readjust my posture as I do tend to hunch over, but other than that I don't think there was ever a time I've injured my hands. I take frequent breaks plus I draw (and to a lesser extent, write) by pivoting my shoulder rather than my wrist or elbow which helps a lot when working with a tiny Wacom tablet, lol.
I used to grip my pen tight and my hand would ache after a while, especially if I was drawing multiple days in a row. In the end I just stopped drawing when I had the pain and loosened up my grip.
I do tend to just draw for hours and hours, so they didn't help either.
Response to Have you ever gotten injured from drawing too much? 2023-11-25 11:09:42 (edited 2023-11-25 11:13:11)
Yes, but drawing itself wasn't the root cause, it was just something that broke the camels back.
There is story I always tell and probably have already told here too in some motivational speech thread, so I make short version :
Childhood/youth injuries+overworking=inability to even move fingers slightly and at all without using strong meds. Which all caused loss of connection between "minds eye" and hands ability to doodle that. So, when it happened 1st time properly, I had to learn drawing again from stick figures.
To this day I on occasion get such pain that I cannot wipe my rear, let alone doing anything else like holding a spoon. Like during this inktober i wanted to show off, and one of my wrists just middle of a line went to "offline". - for next 2 days did everything using 1 hand. And no, it wasn't even my primarily drawing hand that got pain, but the other one pressing hotkeys on keyboard
Luckily I am both handed and I can write, draw, colour, catch objects etc using either, so when one goes on 'rest mode', I'll just use other. The ability to do everything with one hand you learn pretty quick once you are put in such situation. These days I keep both hand fingers well trained by bouncing tennis ball during breaks.
The wrist injuries are from parkour (and you really do not use any defensive gear during free run and jumping) and I regret none.
Just now, when i do not do proper breaks and pauses, I get occasional pain due that old injury. I can draw hours and hours, just need to let hands have their break, when they ask for it.
I feel sore from time to time but I never got anything I could call an injury. While continued practice is good, in my experience its actually better to step away every now and then. I find I tend to tunnel vision under sustained sessions and start to dip because of it, taking a break lets me clear my mind and return with renewed focus. I make most of my breakthroughs this way.
Response to Have you ever gotten injured from drawing too much? 2023-11-25 15:35:16 (edited 2023-11-25 15:40:39)
oh yeah, although it wasn't *solely* from drawing too much because lack of good posture and really poor form while weightlifting were definite factors as well
got carpal tunnel like, 2 years ago and it left me unable to draw consistently for more or less the whole summer, it was one of the most miserable periods of my life
its still something i kind of struggle with but stretches a physiotherapist showed me, actively reminding myself to fix my posture, and making my workspace more ergonomic have greatly reduced the pain i deal with (on bad days where i drew too much the day before my fingertips and forearm tend to hurt to the point where i wouldnt like to draw or do anything to effort intensive with them, but it was far far worse when it all started because the pain would keep me awake at night)
in addition to all the stuff about stretches and posture i want to say that its also incredibly important to exercise and build strength in your wrists and arms to avoid injury (at least according to many artists ive met). wish i could give tips on this but in all honesty ive been too scared of screwing up my wrists again to try weightlifting since.......
the thing about the pain is that.....it feels like it can just creep up on you? like you dont think youre in any serious pain until it gets to the point where one day its suddenly too much to just shrug off. at least for me personally it felt incredibly out of nowhere because one day im using one of those weightlifting machine thingies and putting out art at my usual pace before my wrist pretty much imploded on itself, so even if you feel fine dont take that as a sign that you dont need to take preventative measures
One time I spent like an entire week and doing nothing but drawing and I gave myself a really nasty case of carpal tunnel :((
For most of my life I had no idea what that even was until one day I woke up and that was completely unable to move my wrist and I freaked out cuz I thought I broke it or something, turns out I just have carpal tunnel and I made it even worse over the night because I sleep on my wrist (I'm a stomach sleeper and I tuck my arms underneath my body, so all of that weight on top of my wrist made it even worse)
Sometimes I hunch over too much and hurt the back of my neck. Whenever that happens I just lay in a position where I’m bending backwards to balance with the shrimp pose.
It’s as shrimple as that, really.
Wacky characters and groovy patterns
Had wrist issues when I used to draw with way too firm of a grip and using too much pressure, and had back issues from bad posture, but I'm a freak about ergonomics these days.
The closest I have felt of it is that sometimes, when I press it too much, my arm hurts a little. That's because I used to keep it tighten, which I absolutely would not recommend, it is better.
Also, my middle finger has a little depression where I rest the pen. lol
The same happens with my pinky, but that's because of how I hold my phone.
Tits dude
At 11/25/23 08:15 PM, Skoops wrote: Had wrist issues when I used to draw with way too firm of a grip and using too much pressure, and had back issues from bad posture, but I'm a freak about ergonomics these days.
if 6 year old me knew that back when i was learning to write, that'd have spared me a lot of trouble. by the time i figured out this was the reason i preffered using mechanical pencils, it was too late (and the damage wasn't even physical).
I slipped and I got my pencil jabbed into my left thigh. Wasn't in deep though, I took it out and continued to walk
At 11/26/23 02:17 PM, OnixDark wrote:At 11/25/23 08:15 PM, Skoops wrote: Had wrist issues when I used to draw with way too firm of a grip and using too much pressure, and had back issues from bad posture, but I'm a freak about ergonomics these days.if 6 year old me knew that back when i was learning to write, that'd have spared me a lot of trouble. by the time i figured out this was the reason i preffered using mechanical pencils, it was too late (and the damage wasn't even physical).
I have a feeling if I went back in time to warn a younger version of myself of all the things I'd eventually fuck up, nothing would change because I was impervious to good advice.
At 11/25/23 07:07 AM, VanVeleca wrote: If so...how?
I mean, wouldn't you notice if your hand was starting to hurt and take rest? Or do you just like, power through the pain even though you know you're about to get carpal tunnel?
This is how according to Wikipedia: (I don't remember how I did, I DO remember it was 4 years ago)
potential harm from exposure to repetitive tasks, force, posture, and vibration.[54][55]
It normally doesn't hurt unless I held anything too long or do manual labor. Ironically, I'm forced to use shovels and picks a lot and so I dread it now more than ever...
I got a painful & long-lasting cramp in my neck from putting in a lot of drawing hours every day. It was a feeling I couldn't really notice until I straightened up, so it was very easy to get into a drawing groove without realizing my posture was messing with me; and even then, I figured "some stretching & exercise will fix this." I was wrong and when I pushed that habit too far, the pain lasted for months.
Now I use a drawing table so I can stand upright while drawing instead of hunching over, and it's make things waaay better for me!
At 11/26/23 07:04 PM, Skoops wrote:At 11/26/23 02:17 PM, OnixDark wrote:I have a feeling if I went back in time to warn a younger version of myself of all the things I'd eventually fuck up, nothing would change because I was impervious to good advice.At 11/25/23 08:15 PM, Skoops wrote: Had wrist issues when I used to draw with way too firm of a grip and using too much pressure, and had back issues from bad posture, but I'm a freak about ergonomics these days.if 6 year old me knew that back when i was learning to write, that'd have spared me a lot of trouble. by the time i figured out this was the reason i preffered using mechanical pencils, it was too late (and the damage wasn't even physical).
in my case it was more like, some teachers forbade me from using mechanical pencils for whatever reason and back then i didn't know the reason why i preffered using them and thus couldn't argue to get them to allow me...
but i can relate to there being things the younger self wouldn't listen to as well...
At 11/25/23 07:07 AM, VanVeleca wrote: If so...how?
I mean, wouldn't you notice if your hand was starting to hurt and take rest? Or do you just like, power through the pain even though you know you're about to get carpal tunnel?
I usually go on these 2-3 hour long drawing sprees at around 12 am. This bad habit of mine has a tendency to lead to headaches quite often but I don't really have to the motivation to draw at any other time.
I got a heartbreak for the incredibly crude and emotional art piece I crafted.
(No, I've never been injured while drawing. Guess i'm not that hardcore working)
Being 100% alive means taking a 50% of actions and having a 50% of perspective
At 11/25/23 07:07 AM, VanVeleca wrote: If so...how?
I mean, wouldn't you notice if your hand was starting to hurt and take rest? Or do you just like, power through the pain even though you know you're about to get carpal tunnel?
Yes, all that and more! What I'm about to say might be TMI so don't read if you're squeamish
but one time I spent so long drawing in my room that I got physically dehydrated, when I went to the bathroom my piss came out dark yellowish pink. I thought I got cancer or something for a bit. Thankfully it wasn't anything health threatening, but I seriously DO NOT RECOMMEND "powering through the pain" Take it easy y'all!!!
I feel like sometimes my hard hurts and i need either a little strech or a break. Yeah, it's a common thing sometimes.
Cool, wild and Groovy beat.
Like about seven times, recovered each time by not moving my hands at all for a week or two.
Now I just draw sparingly. So I don’t end up in that mess again.
