Another Hand update
Added 2024-04-24 11:01:22 +0000 UTCIt's been a while since the last one and there's been some progress. Still waiting on some doctors visits before I have a full diagnosis and a plan, but I know a lil bit more now.
Looks like I am dealing with two or three separate problems:
1.General fatigue from overwork. Exercises, stretches and icing it help and it's getting better.
2.Some sort of mysterious wrist pain... May just be an extension of problem #1? Exercise seems to help a bit. Getting an ultrasound to check it out in may. The x-rays came out clean so it's not a bone issue.
3.The big problem: It seems that the RCL in my thumb may be partially torn. Gonna need another ultrasound to check it out to know for sure and the extent of the damage. It may require surgery to fix. We'll see. Luckily that ligament seems to be useful for almost anything besides drawing. Drawing is about the only thing I can do with my right thumb without it hurting. Funny that.
All of the above may be wrong. The diagnosis process is slow, because I have to wait on hand specialists to have openings. It's a bit frustrating, but what can you do. At least I can draw in the meantime.
I asked my ortho about working and he said that none of what's wrong with my hand is gonna get worse from using it to draw so I can do it as long as I don't go too hard. I've already had almost a month of resting my hand and there's only so much you can do that before it becomes detrimental.
For the last three weeks I've been practicing a different pen grip that doesn't stress my hand as much and I've been very mindful of proper ergonomics while I draw etc.. I can draw quite a lot before my hand starts feeling weird as long as I don't try to do anything too precise.
Which means I am absolutely unable to ink right now. Any time I try to draw a precise line I can feel it taking a lot out of my "hand stamina" budget. I think that inking 1300+ pages of comics over the last 10 years with a fucked up death grip on my pen may have been the cause of my recent problems haha.
For now, I'll focus on taking it easy and working on the Hunter series, while waiting on the final diagnosis. After that I'll have to figure out how to finish Alfie without my hand falling off.
Right now I don't think I'll ever go back to inking. Feels scary to do, and I really, really like the flat lineless style. I may just stick to that to be safe? We'll see
None of what is happening with my hand is actually that bad. It's all fixable. I should be back to fully functional in a couple of months if everything goes well.
Comments
Do what you’ve gotta do and take your time. Your art is incredible wether you are inking or not.
neet-oh
2024-04-30 09:51:42 +0000 UTCI am glad that a lot of it seems to be overwork and fatigue, and that rest, ice, and exercise are helping. I hope nothing is so seriously wrong that you'll need surgery. As far as Alfie, we're willing to wait. That said, why not use your new "no-inking" style on the last bits of Alfie? Maybe it's cos I'm not an artist, but I don't notice any difference in quality in your Monster Hunter series. It's a slightly different style, sure; but it's just as good as your previous stuff. And you've experimented with different styles of art while doing Alfie before. I think it would work out well. But again; your health is more important. So none of us will mind a hiatus, I'm sure. Just get better and we'll be there when you resume. We're not going anywhere.
Michael Butchin
2024-04-28 23:48:49 +0000 UTCBest wishes and hopes. If you ever do want to go back to an inked-line style, have you thought of getting an assistant? There's bound to be people who specialize in inking just as there are people who do flatting. You could hold a contest. And no, I'm not angling for a job. I doubt I would be good enough.
Grendel's Stepmother
2024-04-25 23:01:42 +0000 UTCI have to ask as a fellow artist: Have you loosened your death grip and tried doing precise lines with a looser grip on the pencil/stylus? and it felt any better in terms of your "hand stamina"? get better soon and don't feel bad about slowing down while you're recovering. We'll still be here because of the work you've done :) Also, you're new slim lady image is gorgeous! I doubt anyone will mind having the rest of Alfie in that kind of style, but of course the final choice is yours.
Sarqful
2024-04-25 19:31:26 +0000 UTCAll the best to your recovery, take all the time you need :)
Ceer0
2024-04-25 05:14:33 +0000 UTCAll the best for your recovery! Take it in your tempo (even though I understand that there might be other things forcing you not to).
Paul
2024-04-24 22:06:07 +0000 UTCGood to hear that you're making some progress on diagnosing it, these things can be a huge (literal) pain to do that for. I hope you continue to recover well, and no pressure re: doing any work with it!
Matt
2024-04-24 17:31:15 +0000 UTCOne common problem is that there are multiple trigger points from fingertip to elbow. Any one, or combination, of these will severely impact the joints if rested on for too long in the application of any task. Changing you drawing environment, or using a different drawing surface can identify the habit or position that maybe impacting the issue. The cure for this is usually acoustical impact therapy; curiously, this is used widely to solve erectile disfunction. Since your drawing has the same effect, clearly this must be the solution ... Hope this helps.
Dale
2024-04-24 17:15:08 +0000 UTCI had a very similar experience from overworking a couple of years ago and maybe my experience might be helpful. I was learning and working 8 hours a day sketching and painting and began to experience a nebulous pain in my wrist and thumb. Pushing through was fine for a couple of weeks until it exploded into full cramps. I had pushed myself too hard and there was some acute injury. Some strain in the tiny muscles of my hand. Likely tension had been building up for so long. A combination of stressors led to them breaking through and lashing out hard. I went to all sorts of doctors, specialists and naturopaths and all of them had different hypotheses on what it was and how it would be fixed. None of them worked. And it went on and on. I was diagnosed with an RSI. Drawing is so important to me. Art is so important to me. The idea that I couldn’t draw, that I had injured myself was too much to bear and I became deeply depressed. The pane waxed and waned. Sometimes it became much better but I would always find a way to overdo it and it would come back full force. Recently a book called: The Way Out by Alan Gordon helped me understand that whether or not I was physically injured any longer was unlikely, that my perspective and aspirations with drawing, the emotion I felt towards it all, was going to be the barrier for true recovery. It posits that chronic pain is our fear turning the volume of the pain up. This happens more so when the source of the pain is important to us. In other words, the more violating and scary the issue, the more likely it is to become chronic pain. There is likely an issue of some sort going on with you. Maybe your muscles are stressed. Your fascia tight. Maybe your posture and ergonomics have imparted poor habits on you. But know that if you are injured, the pain will be temporary. Our bodies are incredible at healing themselves. Baby yourself appropriately but not to the point that you are preventing healing. Healing requires progress. Don’t fall prey to the dark forces in your mind and you’ll come out of this just fine. You’ve got this. Other books The Mindbody Perscription by John Sarno When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate
Made In The Rain
2024-04-24 15:35:38 +0000 UTCPlease don't force yourself to work. Seriously, we'll understand; prioritize your health! I'd recommend playing it safe and hold off on drawing and take it really easily until you have a full diagnosis.
Thril
2024-04-24 15:02:28 +0000 UTCFirstly, good luck with things. Hope you don’t need the surgery, good that the X-rays were clear. (Edit to add the rest… stupid touchscreen typing…) I built-up some of the classic wrist & grip problems over years of not caring much about ergonomics whilst working on computers. In the end simply getting better desk layout, and making myself take breaks did me more good than most of the technical fixes (vertical mice and ergo keyboards nothing much for me, but I’ve seen them work for other people). The other change I made was using larger mice, and bulking out the handlebar grips on my bike, my badminton racket handle, and various other things so I wasn’t ’death gripping’ so many things so much, just being able to hold lots of things without clenching my fingers so much seemed to relax a lot of the muscles up the lower arm over time. I’ve also known people who have had success using various of the modelling thermosetting putty materials to shape their own support grips for pen or stylus. Things like that might help. Hope I’m not just teaching you to suck eggs. Thanks for the art, and hoping there is much more to come without you crippling yourself.
Tim Kirk
2024-04-24 13:54:44 +0000 UTCTake care of yourself first. Your work is worth the wait. Glad that there isn’t a lot of pain involved. Take care of yourself
Scott
2024-04-24 13:45:05 +0000 UTCMaybe you could hire an inker, if you don’t want to change up at this point. There’s bound to be people who will do that for a couple months’ worth of payments and maybe a li’l credit.
Apocynum
2024-04-24 12:41:22 +0000 UTCLike Oscar Wilde said: the problem is not getting old, but what we did when we were young. Take this time to relax, reflect and recover. You have an amazing talent, but you won't be able to give fruition to this talent if you are depleted. Trust that all's gonna be alright!
Kyo Mibo
2024-04-24 12:00:01 +0000 UTCI wish you luck in your recovery. Also, thank goodness for modern medicine.
Tannerbot
2024-04-24 11:56:27 +0000 UTCTake it easy, dude. Hopefully you get things resolved.
phosphor112
2024-04-24 11:37:53 +0000 UTCWish you a successful recovery. Rest as long as you need!
GrassyKnoll
2024-04-24 11:28:44 +0000 UTCLike everyone else is saying, a bit of rest now to prevent a complete collapse is totally worth it. But I had a thought about "precision". With a digital workflow, is it not possible to zoom way way in, at which point a single thin stroke, like an inkline, could become a much more forgiving band of colour?
Christopher Vollick
2024-04-24 11:28:43 +0000 UTCListen if you can take it slow, take it fucking slow.
Sharwyn
2024-04-24 11:23:25 +0000 UTCHope you get well soon. I can say that for me, your art has always been incredible, but what hooked me from the start was the characters and the story. So, if you need to stop inking or change the style of the art, it's fine by me. Please go easy on your hand, your health is the most important thing. We can do everything else with good health. Be well
frank sands
2024-04-24 11:21:41 +0000 UTCRight now that's what I am leaning towards. I don't like the idea of changing Alfie's visual stale in the middle of the last chapter BUT it would be the easiest way to finish it. We'll see.
InCase
2024-04-24 11:20:05 +0000 UTCGlad your recovery seems positive - you've got the right mindset and that counts for a lot. We're all cheering you on as you go though this :)
Cass
2024-04-24 11:18:28 +0000 UTCI hope for the best. Also if in the future you can't do ink and current painting process you use for your Hunter project isn't stressful for your hand I don't see why you couldn't use it for Alfie. It isn't a huge difference and you art style is still easily recognizable. but your recovery takes priority (that goes without saying).
25shadow25
2024-04-24 11:11:31 +0000 UTCHope you're able to get a good resolution and recovery!
TheAoHna
2024-04-24 11:11:21 +0000 UTC
