Drawing is no fun like this.

Most of you probably already know that I’m having problems with my wrist.
It almost feels like my arm is slowly turning into a gnarled piece of wood.

WP_20140314_004b

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome + Tendinitis = Ow.

ย Here’s what I’ve been doing so far:

  • I slowed down my comic making in order to let my wrist recover.
  • I didn’t work on IFF at all, because that comic makes my hand curl up into a ball of pain just from thinking about it. :c
  • I got a wrist brace.
  • I’m taking some Vitamin Bs as a helpful reader suggested.
  • I try using my left hand for more menial tasks.

All of this helped somewhat, but it seems that as soon as I do anything, the pain returns.

A few weeks ago I started exercising again, did some weightlifting and the pain was back in full force.
I didn’t even use heavy weights or anything, so why is this happening?

Turns out I have a thing called Hypermobility.
Hyper flexible joints can have different causes, but one of them is “A Type 1 collagen or other connective tissue defect”.
In other words: My ligaments, muscles, tendons etc. are softer than normal and thus more prone to damage.
This means heavy physical activity is bad, but so are lot’s of small repetitive motions… You know… like drawing.
I’m not going to stop drawing though! I’d rather kill myself.

I really haven’t been doing well recently, because it’s getting more and more clear to me that this probably isn’t something that’s going to get better. I’ll just have to learn to deal with it somehow.

Thinking about things:

  1. Taking a real break.
    I’ve been taking breaks on and off for some time now, but even when I am not drawing comics, I couldn’t really avoid using my hand for other work.
    Gotta avoid using that hand somehow, if I take another break.
  2. A more ergonomic workspace.
    You can see my current workspace here.
    Being hunched over that tablet all the time is probably not the best for me.
    I’m still debating on saving up for a Cintiq or something similar, but cheaper. However, a part of me feels like I might not like it because it could actually be too big for my taste.
  3. Be less of a perfectionist.
    The thing with digital art is that it makes it possible to be a perfectionist.
    Unlimited undos, erasing doesn’t damage your paper, ability to zoom in, etc. I’ve spent much longer on each individual page since I switched to digital.
    Being a perfectionist seems like a bad idea if you’re not perfect. I wouldn’t even consider myself a good artist, but spending hours just refining stuff masks some of my shortcomings at the expense of my wrist.
    I might have to lower my standards a bit to a more realistic level, especially considering my condition. I do want to finish this comic, as well as some others, within my lifetime. ๐Ÿ˜

That’s all I can think of right now, if you have any suggestions, leave a comment.

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