I know an art teacher who had to quit because of it, she can barely hold a pen. I’d have more sympathy for her but she’s a terrible person and I’m glad no more children have to deal with her.
This was one of my biggest takeaways when I was taught by an older art professor in college. You have to put in significantly less work to draw with your shoulder, as the leverage causes your hand to travel much further. The downside is that more precise details are difficult, the upside is that you can draw gesturally much easier and with less hand cramping. If you get good at it, your line work will also improve, since you can draw much longer strokes
@@melodyperson6684 You are inherently going to move your wrist here and there while you draw, but getting into the habit of using your shoulder gives you better and smoother line control in general. It's also worth learning because by the time I was like eighteen I was beginning to notice wrist pains from drawing all the time and once I got myself in to the habit of not using only my wrist it stopped lol.
To be fair you'd have typically had massive amounts of staff for each part of the process. From colour artists to sketch artists and a whole host of people for each segment of frame lining. It's just that today there's more emphasis on making something as cheaply and quickly as possible and hiring only the necessary staff - thus fewer artists on a project and much more work allocated to each than they typically used to. Where an artist used to have 1 job, now you have to do the work of 5-10 jobs just to still be paid for that 1 job despite the extra workload. Back then if your artist suffered a hand injury it would impact the whole production and thus more care was given not to cause the injury in the first place while these days you're replaceable af and you'd just be fired and hire someone else.
I imagine some part of it has to do with their education. Artists in the past were far more often classically trained and so a lot of emphasis would've been placed on technique, whereas a lot of modern artists are self-taught and often dont understand the importance of posture and shoulder movement. Probably not the primary reason but that's what my guess would be
There's plenty of stretches you can do to prevent carpal tunnel! Looking up art stretches, knitting stretches, or gaming stretches will all yield similar results, and they work wonders :)
We need more resources for animators, you can get a lot of guides online for arm stretches and even hip posture for those who sit down for long amounts of time. Hip flexor techniques can really help with your posture, and doing muscle building exercise is important, all animators should have a big butt.
I didn’t know about those wrist braces. I’m an amateur animator and have never gotten carpal tunnel from drawing before, but I _have_ gotten it from playing the piano and I just kept practicing every day for the next few weeks because I didn’t realize it was a serious issue.
I got double tendonitis in highschool from doing both art and percussion. Thankfully the pain chilled out after a few years, but that was only with serious wrist care and liberal use of wrist braces. Now all I have is the wrists acting up every now and then. Still crazy to think my art career could've been totally over when I was still just a teen. Take care of your wrists, back, and neck, kids.
Taking heed. My noted: Ambidextrous. Ergonomics. Better posture. Hold digital stylus like a paintbrush, move from shoulder. Do hand yoga. Stay water hydrated. Avoid carbonated sugar liquids. Stand Up occasionally to relieve blood flow down lower back and legs.
I'd add use a pen tablet instead of a pen screen (much better ergonomics) and work out the muscles involved in drawing (back, shoulder arms and hands).
Surely it has to do with how you're arm is position, no? I draw and animate during most of my freetime, graphics tablet flat on the table and my arm forming a right angle and I have never had wrist pain from it. I understand with the tablets with the screen you can't exactly do that, but I have made do just fine with my non-screen Wacom.
Take long breaks, work maybe 2.5 hours maximum at a time , when you break make sure it's not something that involves your hands, even watching a long movie or going outside for a bit helps
Actually, I work almost exclusively through my shoulders and elbows, for the broadest gesture drawings, while I reserve the wrists for the most smallest and insignificant details, but I don’t ever feel any pains in my wrists yet.
There are plenty of stretches artists, knitters, and gamers alike use to prevent carpal tunnel. You can find those stretches easily via search engine. I've also seen a helpful graphic from someone in the Splatoon community for even more warm-ups one can do before gaming, but I'm sure they can work for drawing as well. If you can find it then it'll be all the better for you.:)
Never draw from the wrist. Always draw from the shoulder. In college our professors taught us to lock our wrists, and only move our elbows and shoulders for this exact reason.
as someone who deals with wrist pain once in a while, what i learned to help with wrist pain is: -Take short breaks every 20-30 minutes for eyes and body, take longer breaks every couple hours. -Stretch/ workout and move your body. be careful with your wrists though. once recovered, regain wrist strength with some wrist specific exercises, dont go too hard though!! -Keep good posture! your back would get sore or be worse at moving your shoulder, which makes you use your wrist more. -Massage your back, chest, and arms once in a while. You could find a really painful knot and taking care of that could help improve things. it's odd but it helped me tons. -If you did hurt your wrist, don't immediately put ice on it. in my experience it could make it worse and make it linger far longer for some reason. wait to see if the pain lingers to night that same day or the next day then ice it. if not, just take a break and don't use that wrist for at least 30 minutes. -Do not stress about wrist pain but don't ignore it either. everything will be ok and you can conquer it but don't push through it and make it worse either. -Drink water and rest well! again don't draw all day, its not healthy and its just counter productive. rest is as important as drawing
I learned tradtional animation from, John Pomeroy and he taught me something very useful. It takes a bit to get used to but he showed how to use my shoulder to draw instead of my wrist. Not only do I not get this wrist strain issue, my curves (especially larger ones) and flow are more accurate and smooth as well. I'm not sure if he's posted anywhere on the internet on how to do this but I've been animator for 4 years and I've never had this problem with his technique.
You can get carpel tunnel just as easy from having your hands constantly tensed on a keyboard (pc gamers and digital artists get it just as often as traditional artists, if not more frequently in both hands rather than just the dominant hand from combining brushstrokes and hotkeys)
Lmao. I had to stop playing keyboard rhythm games because it destroys my wrists. Mouse and keyboard is not at all more ergonomic. In some ways it's a lot worse. I can draw all day every day for several weeks and be fine, but a couple hours playing rhythm games can leave me with horrible pain in my wrist all throughout the next day. The only thing I think preventing 3d stuff doing the same to me is that I don't have to rapidly hit keys in succession. But point is it can be just as damaging.
Some studios have ergonomics people that can check out your setup and make suggestions and adjustments. Small changes such as desk height, chair height, and keyboard placement can make big changes. And don't get in wacky positions for your tablet etc. Get up often, even for a couple of minutes, to let your body adjust and reset.
can relate to this, in my case, my finger start to hurt when i hold pen, and i got carpal tunnel as well when that happened, i felt an uncomfortable Fear, because it took me 8+ years of investing in myself to be Great at my craft, and i won't be able to use my hand again, i can't make money with my skill anymore yeah, in the end, i changed career, it was a very tough time, and i only exclusively use mouse and keyboard. let my hand heal for 5+ years, now, there was no pain, everything is healed, and now i always use wrist and finger aid so that i won't hurt myself again so, Good hand Posture, and be aware about aid for painting, because most of you will be here for a long haul, Protect your hand 8+ hours of holding pen everyday is brutal for your hand
I just realized something why doesn’t animators just copy the first drawing of the character and copy it inside of the software by pressing a copy and paste thing in the software and then on the next frame just change some of the details slightly and repeat until your character completely moves it is less complicated and doesn’t really hurt your hand that much another way of doing it is take breaks from now and then and work on the animation process later so your hand can have a break for once but that’s my advice :)
I have been wearing a brace for a few years now due to tendonitis.. one time during college finals a year ago, my wrist was conked out for a good week or two and I needed to regain my strength by going to physical therapy or the campus gym.. i always get my work done on time, but sometimes i work a little too much😅
For those curious to a solution, exercises are great but the absolute best thing you can do is learn how to draw from the shoulder and not your wrist. it sucks, it's hard, but it's the best way to avoid carpal tunnel. You can't start doing it *after* developing carpal tunnel because just holding the pen will cause pain at that point.
I’m an artist and a dog groomer and by the end of my week I have a brace on my right wrist 😔 I’ve tried to practice moving my arm, instead of just my wrist It’s difficult but for larger projects it does help I guess? Compression gloves and tiger balm helps a little too. I’ve seen hand heat packs, but I have not seen any legitimately good hand / glove ice pack sort of thing. I wake up and my right hand and wrist are both numb but also on fire at the same time somehow and it’s really a terrible time. If anyone can recommend any sort of wearable ice pack sort of thing please let me know
Look up stretching exercises for drummers! They use their wrists a LOT, so they have developed healthy stretches. Also sketch on big formats regularly. Whatever the English equivalents of DIN A3 and DIN A2 are, draw in those formats every now and then, especially when you do studies. Drawing from your elbow and shoulder more takes stress off your wrist. If you are pursuing a career in digital art, long term you might seriously want to consider investing in a f*ck off huge screen tablet so you can let your wrists chill a bit and work more with your entire arm. It's healthier and actually tends to have more cohesively good results, especially when it comes to neat shapes and clean linework.
That's writers cramp for you. I experienced it when i did some drawing for my self. It was tiring for my so I stopped drawing. I can't do art if it gets fatiguing. If cyborg tech was advanced, I would happily get a cybernetic hand that can allow me to enjoy drawing.
..buy a VERTiCAL ERGONOMiC MOUSE! if I knew it sooner, it would've saved my wrist. It's healed but is not the same anymore. now I gotta do push-up with my fists closed otherwise I can't.
@@hurbywurby23488 do it the sooner you can. you can get a good one for about $30-$40. a vertical one was what my doctor advised me + some wrist bandages.
I have wrist pains and i use a wrist brace since i was 14 and i did inktober... am 18 now and usually i don't have a lot of pain and don't really feel it but i think genetically i am at a higher risk cus my mom has carpal tunnel and my sibiling has wrist pains and is hyper flexible so that really sucks (I'm a digital artist and an animation student)
As a waitress, I am carrying a lot of weight on my trays and it also hurts in the same place where it hurts when you write is it the same pain because I’ve been trying to put a name for that pain but I have no idea what it is
If you want to try and help this wrist pain, get something like a dokiwear glove. They’re a company that makes gloves with built in wrist support and are pretty good quality. I have one myself and they’ve helped me a lot over the past two or three years
First of all, I'm no animator. Just a digital artist. I draw one piece wothout having to make it move. But I would recommend this practice: In a day you have 12 to 13 hours of work. Within those twelve hours, divide it by 3. 4 hours for day 4 hours for noon 4 hours for night. Work for 2 hours and 30 minutes within those 4 hours, each. Let the one hour and thirty minutes be your rest time. 1 hour for hand rest. 30 for meals and personal stuff. Then you sleep in the end of the day. Wake up early to exercise your hands and body too . Thats a must. Note that, the situations will be different if you are an individual or a family person. However, adjusting to it will really help balance your art, your lifestyle, and your personal time. This is just my opinion BTW.
I used to draw daily but had to stop just after high school because of de quervain's. Unfortunately I'm predisposed to wrist problems. Learning stretches helps big time!
basically use your shoulder rather than wrist. shoulder have more muscle and able to move for more time without it hurting and you can also work out to make your shoulder stronger. you have to force it tho 1-2 month of it will make you get used to it
Luckily if you’re the type that stops to think about your next move every so often then you shouldn’t develop this condition thanks to the frequent micro breaks which would be saving your hands! It’s possibly also one of the biggest reasons why many former Disney animation legends can still animate and draw with no pain in their 60s or older! :)
This is important information, but isnt exactly helpful when no one seems to have the answer for WHAT you should do. The only thing ive seen is "draw from the shoulder" which like what does that even mean?!
You should take breaks while drawing anyway so use those minutes to rest and do some wrists stretches, you can find them online. And your drawing setup can mess you up too, both your back and your wrist so try to not sit like a shrimp :]
No solutions offered by this video, but as someone who had what my doctors described as "the worst sprain" they've seen, had it watched for a month for fractures (that whole time my thumb was completely numb and unfeeling too), and now has carpal tunnel. The best thing you can do is get a brace for work/daytime, and a night sleeve to compress and immobilize during sleep. Wear it even if you've just got a little pain, one wrong movement leaves my wrist and hand throbbing for a full day. Ice in 20 minute intervals and look up stretches you can do for increased wrist strength and mobility (if you can, heat the area with a heating pack for a few minutes before). I'm not an artist, I'm a line cook, and that sprained wrist is my dominant hand so you can guess probably guess how bad my wrist feels after some shits doing prep and knife work. These have helped, along with other more pricey machines that they used during my OT that you can buy for home use. But all of these tips come directly from my rehab experience, and I hope they can help even one person out there.
Take short breaks when needed. Try to get a little exercise in daily. Pencil holders can help a little. Get enough rest at night. Small changes have made a huge difference in my experience.
Just 4 months ago it effectively ended Piemations. Creator of many great parodies including Meet the Team and 5AM at Freddy’s, as well as Suction Cup Man and Sheif Hayseed. Now Hayseed is over because the pain got too bad
I started getting pains in my hands every time I was drawing and I had to stop for a month. I'm doing a bit better but I make sure to not over do it and take breaks.
Okay so what I have to say is a little hard to believe, but I'll share anyway: So I went to school for art my wrist would flare up from time to time. Not only that but I had bad knees that ached and I got myself a nasty back injury in 2017 that took me off working for about 7 months. It was pretty bad. About a year ago I found out something that sucks. Y'see, I'm a dairy fiend. All my favorite things have milk and cheese in them, or if not then at least one or the other. I'm not lactose intolerant either... however... as it turns out something in the dairy proteins really does a number on my joints. The most insidious thing about it is that the pain reduction was very subtle at first. Simply cutting the diary out for a day was not enough to make any noticeable dent in the aches. I had to cut it out completely, and slowly I got better. Like better over 3 months. And the pain would start to come back a few hours after if I had a cheat meal. There might be people who can do dairy just fine, but I'd say that it might be worth looking into personal diet and to start trying to eliminate things to see if one thing or the other is causing an untoward reaction. It is shocking just how much of a difference just getting rid of the dairy did for me.
The amount of people who hold a pen or pencil incorrectly, even when writing, is unacceptablely high. What it boils down to is the old way of drawing on lightboxes back when animation was still done on paper 1 page at a time is a skill that has all but been lost.
I’m not an animator, but I struggled with carpal tunnel syndrome for most of my life. (Heads up, long story!) Ever since I was a kid, my hands would go super numb when doing things. Playing video games, holding a phone, writing, cooking etc. Later I got really into playing guitar, but playing through songs was tough because my hands would go numb and couldn’t feel the strings anymore. I never knew it was carpal tunnel until years later. The last straw was when I was trying to write down an order at work and my hand was cramping while writing. I went to my doctor and explained the numb feeling I had all my life, and she immediately sent me to a rehabilitation center to test my carpal tunnel’s. According to that test my numbers were bad. No doubt I needed surgery. After trying a few failed alternatives with my surgeon, we planned a day for surgery. The most frustrating part was hearing from all sorts of people that it was a waste of time and money, that I was too young to have any severe problems like that, or that it was just all in my head. To them, if my hands were just NUMB but not IN PAIN, then I was overreacting. That numbness hindered my work and went on for several minutes. Before my surgery, it got so bad I’d be waking up with my hands up to my forearms feeling like they were on fire! It absolutely was a problem! My mom took me to the surgery. She told me after I woke up that the surgeon said I was in the top 5 worst cases he had seen at that facility. I was 27, but I had the decayed carpal tunnels of (specifically) a 90 year old woman that had untreated carpal tunnel syndrome for decades. Both carpal tunnels had such little oxygen that they were purple. They believe I was likely born with bad carpal tunnels, which is why I struggled with it all my life. Three years later I’m still doing great! That surgery for me was an absolute life saver! I’ll never forget the feeling of oxygen flowing through my arms after surgery. Easily the best thing I’ve ever done for myself!
Many animators were forced into retirement as early as their 40s or 50s because of this condition progressing to a stage where they could barely use their hands without experiencing the worst pain possible.
Wait so the pain is mainly from holding something while drawing? If so, the solution should be to find a way to draw with your finger tips rather than always using a stick of plastic or wood or whatever. The same is with typing To long, andusing a hand controllers or joysticks
Better have it laying flat down imo, it's harder to draw at an angle BUT having it angled makes the (if you have a tablet with it) screen easier to see. I'd reccomend having it in the middle, so about 23 degrees
Bro offered NO SOLUTIONS
there ain’t any
@@jestawell there is: use shoulder motions instead of wrist motions and place yourself where your back is comfortably upright.
Also, every hour or so, do hand and wrist exercises!
This. Actually do some research. It does exist.
From an artist that had this pain and searched for a solution online.
@@CrunchyCr0ww This is the first I've heard of using shoulder motions 🤔 Instead I learned to use elbow motions. Shoulder sounds more difficult
I know an art teacher who had to quit because of it, she can barely hold a pen.
I’d have more sympathy for her but she’s a terrible person and I’m glad no more children have to deal with her.
Damn 😭
You see, right there is bad karma build up.
Well that escalated quickly
Man that turned into something
What she did 😭
It’s important that you should focus more on drawing from the shoulder than from the wrist
This was one of my biggest takeaways when I was taught by an older art professor in college.
You have to put in significantly less work to draw with your shoulder, as the leverage causes your hand to travel much further.
The downside is that more precise details are difficult, the upside is that you can draw gesturally much easier and with less hand cramping.
If you get good at it, your line work will also improve, since you can draw much longer strokes
Drawing with your shoulder I feel is more needed for bigger swifter movements than detail stuff
@@melodyperson6684 You are inherently going to move your wrist here and there while you draw, but getting into the habit of using your shoulder gives you better and smoother line control in general.
It's also worth learning because by the time I was like eighteen I was beginning to notice wrist pains from drawing all the time and once I got myself in to the habit of not using only my wrist it stopped lol.
Writing daily with fountain pens forced me with this habit. My drawings suck otherwise
Pivot at the elbow
Props to the people working with old cell animations with no wrist brace, that a whole new line of respect
To be fair you'd have typically had massive amounts of staff for each part of the process. From colour artists to sketch artists and a whole host of people for each segment of frame lining. It's just that today there's more emphasis on making something as cheaply and quickly as possible and hiring only the necessary staff - thus fewer artists on a project and much more work allocated to each than they typically used to.
Where an artist used to have 1 job, now you have to do the work of 5-10 jobs just to still be paid for that 1 job despite the extra workload.
Back then if your artist suffered a hand injury it would impact the whole production and thus more care was given not to cause the injury in the first place while these days you're replaceable af and you'd just be fired and hire someone else.
I imagine some part of it has to do with their education. Artists in the past were far more often classically trained and so a lot of emphasis would've been placed on technique, whereas a lot of modern artists are self-taught and often dont understand the importance of posture and shoulder movement. Probably not the primary reason but that's what my guess would be
I'm only a beginner animator, but this is great advice!
Use your shoulder a lot when drawing.✍️
WHAT SHOULD I WEAR TO AVOID THIS???!
Use ur arm, not ur fingies/hand, and it will help. Also stretch ur hand and fingies all the time. Hope this helps
There's plenty of stretches you can do to prevent carpal tunnel! Looking up art stretches, knitting stretches, or gaming stretches will all yield similar results, and they work wonders :)
@@adumbooctopus1115 THANK YOUUUUUU
@@FitMuffin thanknyouuuuuuuuuuuuu
Stretch from time to time
We need more resources for animators, you can get a lot of guides online for arm stretches and even hip posture for those who sit down for long amounts of time.
Hip flexor techniques can really help with your posture, and doing muscle building exercise is important, all animators should have a big butt.
Ayo pause! Tf you mean big butt?!
😰 Big ... b-b-butt...?
I didn’t know about those wrist braces. I’m an amateur animator and have never gotten carpal tunnel from drawing before, but I _have_ gotten it from playing the piano and I just kept practicing every day for the next few weeks because I didn’t realize it was a serious issue.
I got double tendonitis in highschool from doing both art and percussion. Thankfully the pain chilled out after a few years, but that was only with serious wrist care and liberal use of wrist braces. Now all I have is the wrists acting up every now and then. Still crazy to think my art career could've been totally over when I was still just a teen. Take care of your wrists, back, and neck, kids.
Taking heed. My noted: Ambidextrous. Ergonomics. Better posture. Hold digital stylus like a paintbrush, move from shoulder. Do hand yoga. Stay water hydrated. Avoid carbonated sugar liquids. Stand Up occasionally to relieve blood flow down lower back and legs.
Got it.
Gentlemen…. take notes
I'd add use a pen tablet instead of a pen screen (much better ergonomics) and work out the muscles involved in drawing (back, shoulder arms and hands).
Surely it has to do with how you're arm is position, no? I draw and animate during most of my freetime, graphics tablet flat on the table and my arm forming a right angle and I have never had wrist pain from it. I understand with the tablets with the screen you can't exactly do that, but I have made do just fine with my non-screen Wacom.
A few of those aren't wrist braces, but drawing gloves that prevent sweat and sticking from drawing on a warm electronic screen.
Ok but...what is the correct way to do it then? Everyone knows bad things happen, but we don't know how to prevent them.
Take long breaks, work maybe 2.5 hours maximum at a time , when you break make sure it's not something that involves your hands, even watching a long movie or going outside for a bit helps
Actually, I work almost exclusively through my shoulders and elbows, for the broadest gesture drawings, while I reserve the wrists for the most smallest and insignificant details, but I don’t ever feel any pains in my wrists yet.
Ok, how do i avoid said pain?
There are plenty of stretches artists, knitters, and gamers alike use to prevent carpal tunnel. You can find those stretches easily via search engine.
I've also seen a helpful graphic from someone in the Splatoon community for even more warm-ups one can do before gaming, but I'm sure they can work for drawing as well. If you can find it then it'll be all the better for you.:)
It's good to do exercises regularly, last year I started to go to the gym often and it stopped my back pain
I had this discussion with my mentor awhile back lol I’m very thankful I’ve got a stress ball to squeeze now 😅
Would wearing a wrist brace before getting carpal tunnel help avert this or no?
That was what I was wondering!
Same for graphic designers
I don’t suffer from this because every time I’m NEAR SUFFERING, I just go:
“Nah, I’ll work on it tomorrow.”
Never draw from the wrist. Always draw from the shoulder.
In college our professors taught us to lock our wrists, and only move our elbows and shoulders for this exact reason.
as someone who deals with wrist pain once in a while, what i learned to help with wrist pain is:
-Take short breaks every 20-30 minutes for eyes and body, take longer breaks every couple hours.
-Stretch/ workout and move your body. be careful with your wrists though. once recovered, regain wrist strength with some wrist specific exercises, dont go too hard though!!
-Keep good posture! your back would get sore or be worse at moving your shoulder, which makes you use your wrist more.
-Massage your back, chest, and arms once in a while. You could find a really painful knot and taking care of that could help improve things. it's odd but it helped me tons.
-If you did hurt your wrist, don't immediately put ice on it. in my experience it could make it worse and make it linger far longer for some reason. wait to see if the pain lingers to night that same day or the next day then ice it. if not, just take a break and don't use that wrist for at least 30 minutes.
-Do not stress about wrist pain but don't ignore it either. everything will be ok and you can conquer it but don't push through it and make it worse either.
-Drink water and rest well! again don't draw all day, its not healthy and its just counter productive. rest is as important as drawing
I learned tradtional animation from, John Pomeroy and he taught me something very useful. It takes a bit to get used to but he showed how to use my shoulder to draw instead of my wrist. Not only do I not get this wrist strain issue, my curves (especially larger ones) and flow are more accurate and smooth as well.
I'm not sure if he's posted anywhere on the internet on how to do this but I've been animator for 4 years and I've never had this problem with his technique.
I used to work as storyboarder and yes.. I wear that buttttt because i was skating and fall on my hand be carefull out there children
bro gave me all the problems with no solutions. Thanks, you helped a lot, buddy
Great video! Health is so important and should not be forgotten about
Than everything
Thanks for the warning!
Not only animators but basically everyone who uses their hands for work happened to me as a cook
This is why 3D animation is more common, sliding a mouse and tapping keys doesn’t result in broken wrists
it’s not why 3d animation is more common, carpal tunnel is most commonly associated today with mouse and keyboard
You can get carpel tunnel just as easy from having your hands constantly tensed on a keyboard (pc gamers and digital artists get it just as often as traditional artists, if not more frequently in both hands rather than just the dominant hand from combining brushstrokes and hotkeys)
Lmao. I had to stop playing keyboard rhythm games because it destroys my wrists. Mouse and keyboard is not at all more ergonomic. In some ways it's a lot worse. I can draw all day every day for several weeks and be fine, but a couple hours playing rhythm games can leave me with horrible pain in my wrist all throughout the next day.
The only thing I think preventing 3d stuff doing the same to me is that I don't have to rapidly hit keys in succession. But point is it can be just as damaging.
Some studios have ergonomics people that can check out your setup and make suggestions and adjustments. Small changes such as desk height, chair height, and keyboard placement can make big changes. And don't get in wacky positions for your tablet etc. Get up often, even for a couple of minutes, to let your body adjust and reset.
Draw with your shoulder nor with your wrist makes a huge difference
not me just about to work on smth and started gettin wrist pain already while watching this vid lmao
Woah! If I didn't know this, I would have suffered the same thanks man!
They should do hand stretches like they do in drumline. It does seem to help. Plys taking breaks helps
Holy shit, of course I get this video the day I’m looking into art school portfolios.
I love where you told us how to fix it!!
can relate to this, in my case, my finger start to hurt when i hold pen, and i got carpal tunnel as well
when that happened, i felt an uncomfortable Fear,
because it took me 8+ years of investing in myself to be Great at my craft,
and i won't be able to use my hand again,
i can't make money with my skill anymore
yeah, in the end, i changed career, it was a very tough time, and i only exclusively use mouse and keyboard.
let my hand heal for 5+ years,
now, there was no pain, everything is healed,
and now i always use wrist and finger aid so that i won't hurt myself again
so, Good hand Posture, and be aware about aid for painting, because most of you will be here for a long haul,
Protect your hand
8+ hours of holding pen everyday is brutal for your hand
I just realized something why doesn’t animators just copy the first drawing of the character and copy it inside of the software by pressing a copy and paste thing in the software and then on the next frame just change some of the details slightly and repeat until your character completely moves it is less complicated and doesn’t really hurt your hand that much another way of doing it is take breaks from now and then and work on the animation process later so your hand can have a break for once but that’s my advice :)
;D
Anime :
I feel like I need a brace for my brace 😂😭 the pain has been intense! Though honestly, maybe it just means I need a brace in the first place
As a teen, I animate using my finger. Is this what my future will look if I start using a pen? What do I do to avoid it?
Thank you!!!
As an aspiring animator, this short scares me
I have been wearing a brace for a few years now due to tendonitis.. one time during college finals a year ago, my wrist was conked out for a good week or two and I needed to regain my strength by going to physical therapy or the campus gym.. i always get my work done on time, but sometimes i work a little too much😅
For those curious to a solution, exercises are great but the absolute best thing you can do is learn how to draw from the shoulder and not your wrist. it sucks, it's hard, but it's the best way to avoid carpal tunnel. You can't start doing it *after* developing carpal tunnel because just holding the pen will cause pain at that point.
I’m not even in art college yet and I’m already experiencing wrist pain :(
I’m an artist and a dog groomer and by the end of my week I have a brace on my right wrist 😔
I’ve tried to practice moving my arm, instead of just my wrist
It’s difficult but for larger projects it does help I guess? Compression gloves and tiger balm helps a little too. I’ve seen hand heat packs, but I have not seen any legitimately good hand / glove ice pack sort of thing.
I wake up and my right hand and wrist are both numb but also on fire at the same time somehow and it’s really a terrible time. If anyone can recommend any sort of wearable ice pack sort of thing please let me know
On It!!!🫡
I'll be aware on that when I First Animate😊❤🎉
How do we do that?
Like there a different way to draw or.. like maybe hand exercises? Im not an animator but like.. what do you do?
Look up stretching exercises for drummers! They use their wrists a LOT, so they have developed healthy stretches.
Also sketch on big formats regularly. Whatever the English equivalents of DIN A3 and DIN A2 are, draw in those formats every now and then, especially when you do studies. Drawing from your elbow and shoulder more takes stress off your wrist.
If you are pursuing a career in digital art, long term you might seriously want to consider investing in a f*ck off huge screen tablet so you can let your wrists chill a bit and work more with your entire arm. It's healthier and actually tends to have more cohesively good results, especially when it comes to neat shapes and clean linework.
As a animation guy thanks for this warning
I have a sister in college and one of her classmates had to quit during their second year for carpool tunnel surgery.
That's writers cramp for you. I experienced it when i did some drawing for my self. It was tiring for my so I stopped drawing. I can't do art if it gets fatiguing. If cyborg tech was advanced, I would happily get a cybernetic hand that can allow me to enjoy drawing.
I draw and animate almost every day, and I don't yet experience pain... but my wrists do pop an unholy amount when I rotate them lol
do preventive stretches so you don’t develop issues down the line
I'll keep that in mind when I start learning how to do animation.
Thank God, I’m a computer science major. I can get carpal tunnel while making a six figure salary.
When you said "bad posture" I was like C → l
..buy a VERTiCAL ERGONOMiC MOUSE!
if I knew it sooner, it would've saved my wrist.
It's healed but is not the same anymore.
now I gotta do push-up with my fists closed otherwise I can't.
Mouse artist here (as in I draw with a mouse), will keep this in mind!
@@hurbywurby23488 do it the sooner you can.
you can get a good one for about $30-$40.
a vertical one was what my doctor advised me + some wrist bandages.
@@hurbywurby23488 get yourself a vertical ergonomic mouse as soon as you can.
you can find good ones for about $30
lol I felt this pain before when playing online games and I punish my hand by heading it and it never came back.
"It's all in the wrist."
-Olaf
I have wrist pains and i use a wrist brace since i was 14 and i did inktober... am 18 now and usually i don't have a lot of pain and don't really feel it but i think genetically i am at a higher risk cus my mom has carpal tunnel and my sibiling has wrist pains and is hyper flexible so that really sucks (I'm a digital artist and an animation student)
As a waitress, I am carrying a lot of weight on my trays and it also hurts in the same place where it hurts when you write is it the same pain because I’ve been trying to put a name for that pain but I have no idea what it is
If you want to try and help this wrist pain, get something like a dokiwear glove. They’re a company that makes gloves with built in wrist support and are pretty good quality. I have one myself and they’ve helped me a lot over the past two or three years
First of all, I'm no animator. Just a digital artist. I draw one piece wothout having to make it move.
But I would recommend this practice:
In a day you have 12 to 13 hours of work. Within those twelve hours, divide it by 3. 4 hours for day 4 hours for noon 4 hours for night. Work for 2 hours and 30 minutes within those 4 hours, each. Let the one hour and thirty minutes be your rest time. 1 hour for hand rest. 30 for meals and personal stuff. Then you sleep in the end of the day. Wake up early to exercise your hands and body too . Thats a must.
Note that, the situations will be different if you are an individual or a family person. However, adjusting to it will really help balance your art, your lifestyle, and your personal time.
This is just my opinion BTW.
I used to draw daily but had to stop just after high school because of de quervain's. Unfortunately I'm predisposed to wrist problems. Learning stretches helps big time!
Too late man, had surgery on my left hand a month ago (though i draw with right)
Maybe wrist warm up would help
This is amazing!
basically use your shoulder rather than wrist. shoulder have more muscle and able to move for more time without it hurting and you can also work out to make your shoulder stronger. you have to force it tho 1-2 month of it will make you get used to it
Luckily if you’re the type that stops to think about your next move every so often then you shouldn’t develop this condition thanks to the frequent micro breaks which would be saving your hands! It’s possibly also one of the biggest reasons why many former Disney animation legends can still animate and draw with no pain in their 60s or older! :)
This is important information, but isnt exactly helpful when no one seems to have the answer for WHAT you should do. The only thing ive seen is "draw from the shoulder" which like what does that even mean?!
You should take breaks while drawing anyway so use those minutes to rest and do some wrists stretches, you can find them online. And your drawing setup can mess you up too, both your back and your wrist so try to not sit like a shrimp :]
No solutions offered by this video, but as someone who had what my doctors described as "the worst sprain" they've seen, had it watched for a month for fractures (that whole time my thumb was completely numb and unfeeling too), and now has carpal tunnel.
The best thing you can do is get a brace for work/daytime, and a night sleeve to compress and immobilize during sleep. Wear it even if you've just got a little pain, one wrong movement leaves my wrist and hand throbbing for a full day.
Ice in 20 minute intervals and look up stretches you can do for increased wrist strength and mobility (if you can, heat the area with a heating pack for a few minutes before).
I'm not an artist, I'm a line cook, and that sprained wrist is my dominant hand so you can guess probably guess how bad my wrist feels after some shits doing prep and knife work.
These have helped, along with other more pricey machines that they used during my OT that you can buy for home use. But all of these tips come directly from my rehab experience, and I hope they can help even one person out there.
You definitely helped me! I didn't know there was thing for sleeping, might need that since I tend to heavily bend my wrists in sleep. Thank you:)
Now that I think about it I’ve always noticed animators with wrist braces.
I've had wrist pain for years already. Probably almost a decade. Yet, it's so frequent I don't feel it anymore. Same goes with my arms and legs.
For some reason I'm experiencing pain on my left hand, which is weird because my right hand is the one I used lol still, better take care from now on
Well how do you prevent it?
ikr, how?
Take short breaks when needed. Try to get a little exercise in daily. Pencil holders can help a little. Get enough rest at night. Small changes have made a huge difference in my experience.
Just 4 months ago it effectively ended Piemations. Creator of many great parodies including Meet the Team and 5AM at Freddy’s, as well as Suction Cup Man and Sheif Hayseed. Now Hayseed is over because the pain got too bad
Wonder if any artists learned to draw with their other hand after the pain for the dominant hand was irreversible
I started getting pains in my hands every time I was drawing and I had to stop for a month. I'm doing a bit better but I make sure to not over do it and take breaks.
Okay so what I have to say is a little hard to believe, but I'll share anyway:
So I went to school for art my wrist would flare up from time to time. Not only that but I had bad knees that ached and I got myself a nasty back injury in 2017 that took me off working for about 7 months. It was pretty bad.
About a year ago I found out something that sucks. Y'see, I'm a dairy fiend. All my favorite things have milk and cheese in them, or if not then at least one or the other. I'm not lactose intolerant either... however... as it turns out something in the dairy proteins really does a number on my joints. The most insidious thing about it is that the pain reduction was very subtle at first. Simply cutting the diary out for a day was not enough to make any noticeable dent in the aches. I had to cut it out completely, and slowly I got better. Like better over 3 months. And the pain would start to come back a few hours after if I had a cheat meal.
There might be people who can do dairy just fine, but I'd say that it might be worth looking into personal diet and to start trying to eliminate things to see if one thing or the other is causing an untoward reaction. It is shocking just how much of a difference just getting rid of the dairy did for me.
I’m not an animator and I found out the wrist pain a while ago ;-;
The amount of people who hold a pen or pencil incorrectly, even when writing, is unacceptablely high. What it boils down to is the old way of drawing on lightboxes back when animation was still done on paper 1 page at a time is a skill that has all but been lost.
Thank you sir
I’m not an animator, but I struggled with carpal tunnel syndrome for most of my life. (Heads up, long story!)
Ever since I was a kid, my hands would go super numb when doing things. Playing video games, holding a phone, writing, cooking etc. Later I got really into playing guitar, but playing through songs was tough because my hands would go numb and couldn’t feel the strings anymore. I never knew it was carpal tunnel until years later.
The last straw was when I was trying to write down an order at work and my hand was cramping while writing. I went to my doctor and explained the numb feeling I had all my life, and she immediately sent me to a rehabilitation center to test my carpal tunnel’s. According to that test my numbers were bad. No doubt I needed surgery. After trying a few failed alternatives with my surgeon, we planned a day for surgery.
The most frustrating part was hearing from all sorts of people that it was a waste of time and money, that I was too young to have any severe problems like that, or that it was just all in my head. To them, if my hands were just NUMB but not IN PAIN, then I was overreacting. That numbness hindered my work and went on for several minutes. Before my surgery, it got so bad I’d be waking up with my hands up to my forearms feeling like they were on fire! It absolutely was a problem!
My mom took me to the surgery. She told me after I woke up that the surgeon said I was in the top 5 worst cases he had seen at that facility. I was 27, but I had the decayed carpal tunnels of (specifically) a 90 year old woman that had untreated carpal tunnel syndrome for decades. Both carpal tunnels had such little oxygen that they were purple. They believe I was likely born with bad carpal tunnels, which is why I struggled with it all my life.
Three years later I’m still doing great! That surgery for me was an absolute life saver! I’ll never forget the feeling of oxygen flowing through my arms after surgery. Easily the best thing I’ve ever done for myself!
Many animators were forced into retirement as early as their 40s or 50s because of this condition progressing to a stage where they could barely use their hands without experiencing the worst pain possible.
Was taught to draw with your shoulders. Although I feel that might have rising issues on its own.
Me writing notes in school:
another advice: take a 15 min- break
Yeah, don't draw with your wrist! Pivot at the elbow!!!
Y'all, basically you have to draw from your arm rather than your wrist.
It’s really for any job. The amount of work each person is expected to do anymore is ridiculous
Am I the only one not getting wrist pain..? I’ve never had that happen? If anything my finger starts to hurt
Make sure to also stretch your wrist. Put your hand flat on a table, and lean.
Wait so the pain is mainly from holding something while drawing? If so, the solution should be to find a way to draw with your finger tips rather than always using a stick of plastic or wood or whatever. The same is with typing To long, andusing a hand controllers or joysticks
Thanks for advice I’ll definitely be more careful when I draw and animate
me; that not so bad i already experienced it (my school is so long and socail study suck it like 20 page per week and one page had 900 word )
when I was 15, I drew all day every day. had to wear a wrist brace for weeks
Would it be better to have... let's say, a Wacom tablet connected to an upright screen, or a tablet on a 45° angle?
Better have it laying flat down imo, it's harder to draw at an angle BUT having it angled makes the (if you have a tablet with it) screen easier to see. I'd reccomend having it in the middle, so about 23 degrees
Ok about the wrist but what about the tight deadlines and low wage? Doesnt take years to be a skilled animator? All of that to get low wage? :/
Okay so how do I avoid this cause I have a friend who also wants to animate