0:02 This video is part two of a three-part
0:03 series that's all about healthy
0:05 lifestyles for artists. If you missed
0:06 part one, be sure to go back and watch
0:08 it for tips about ergonomic equipment
0:10 and posture. In this video, we'll be
0:12 covering wrist and eye health. Wrist
0:14 health. Boy oh boy, another artist
0:16 lecturing you about wrist health. Don't
0:19 you know it, cuz it's true. You got to
0:20 hear it over and over and over to get it
0:21 into your brain. Always watch your
0:23 wrist. Always watch your wrist health,
0:25 right? It is your money maker. If you're
0:26 going into art as your career, your
0:28 wrist, that's the thing that's going to
0:29 make you money. Make sure that you keep
0:31 it in good health, right? You need to
0:32 protect your wrist from strain and
0:34 injury so that you can draw for longer.
0:36 Do regular stretches. I did I didn't
0:38 exercise at all in high school, anything
0:40 like that. I don't I didn't really
0:41 exercise. I don't have a regimen, right?
0:43 The thing I exercise was my wrist. I did
0:45 so many wrist stretches. There's this
0:47 guide. I can't remember if it was an
0:49 artist or if it was Nintendo itself that
0:51 released it, but there's like a Splatoon
0:52 like stretching guide, you know, the
0:54 game where it's like they tell you this
0:56 one was called like the satellion. There
0:58 are so many good stretches that were
0:59 supposed to be for Splatoon players,
1:01 right, who play for very long periods of
1:02 time, but they're also really, really
1:04 good for artists. So, make sure that you
1:06 are doing a lot of those wrist
1:07 exercises. Try to draw with your arm
1:09 more. Loosen your grip on your drawing
1:11 utensils that you're not stressing out
1:12 your nerves, right? That's why,
1:14 especially with traditional artists, you
1:15 guys, if you're working with paints,
1:17 you're working with charcoal, you want
1:18 to make sure that you are using that
1:20 entire arm, right? Don't just use your
1:22 wrist because that's a smaller range of
1:23 motion and you're going to be stressing
1:25 out these nerves that are within your
1:26 wrist a little bit more. If your wrist
1:29 starts to hurt, stop drawing and let it
1:31 heal. If your wrist starts to feel like
1:33 it is hurting while you're drawing,
1:36 don't push through it. No, no, no. Stop.
1:38 Just stop. It's a lot better for you to
1:41 just stop drawing. Put a brace on it or
1:43 just like don't work with it at all and
1:45 just let it heal for a couple of hours,
1:46 maybe for the rest of the day, right?
1:48 You don't want to stress out your arm
1:49 too much. You don't want to stress out
1:50 your hand too much. You don't want to
1:51 stress over your wrist too much. It's
1:53 going to lead to injury, right? So, you
1:55 want to make sure that you are resting
1:57 that wrist so that nothing bad happens
1:59 to it. Wrist braces also help with
2:03 avoiding carpal tunnel as well.
2:06 Do I have like all of the symptoms of a
2:08 carpal tunnel memorized? Of course not.
2:09 So, I have a list here that I will read
2:11 off for you so you don't get carpal
2:12 tunnel and so that like you know you
2:14 know the signs. Weakness when gripping
2:16 objects with one or both hands. Pain or
2:18 numbness in one or both hands. Pins and
2:21 needles, feeling in the fingers, swollen
2:22 feeling in the fingers, burning or
2:24 tingling in the fingers, especially the
2:26 thumb and the index and middle fingers,
2:28 pain or numbness that is worse at night
2:31 and interrupted sleep.
2:34 Pretty bad. If you end up having carpal
2:36 tunnel, right, the only two ways that
2:38 you can help with that is like it
2:41 requires surgery. Um, like you can only
2:43 help with it with surgery and you won't
2:44 be able to draw anymore. Pretty bad. I
2:47 don't think that you want that. So, make
2:49 sure that you are keeping a track of
2:51 your wrist health. Getting a separate
2:53 grip for your drawing utensils is also
2:54 ideal if they don't have one, right?
2:57 Apple pencils, normal pencils, pens,
3:00 brushes, etc. A grip super super useful,
3:02 super super ergonomic. You want to make
3:04 sure like that you are holding the
3:06 pencil in a more natural way. If it's so
3:08 tiny, you're going to have to squeeze it
3:10 more, right? So, if you have a grip, a
3:12 thicker grip, the Cintiq pen, like Wacom
3:13 pens, they have a very, they have a
3:15 built-in grip. It's nice and it's like
3:17 thick and squishy. It's a really really
3:20 nice holding in pencil. My Surface Pen
3:21 doesn't have a grip, so I do need to get
3:24 one for it. I keep forgetting. But the
3:27 Apple Pencil as well, also a lot of like
3:30 iPad artists will use a grip, too. So,
3:31 make sure that you're watching for that
3:32 wrist health. Make sure you're watching
3:36 for your hand, your eyes.
3:37 It's kind of funny that like me, I'm
3:39 like lecturing you on how you should
3:42 like watch for your eyes and like I'm
3:44 wearing glasses. So, you know, I I guess
3:47 I am just like
3:49 an example
3:50 very similar situation to your wrist.
3:53 You need your eyes to see not only for
3:56 your artwork but you know to see.
3:58 I hope you want to keep your sight. So,
4:00 make sure that you are watching for your
4:01 eye health as well. If you notice your
4:03 eye health diminishing, write some
4:04 things that could be happening to you.
4:07 blurred vision, dry eyes, headaches, or
4:09 like heightened light sensitivity. Some
4:10 of the things that can happen to you
4:12 when your eye health starts to diminish.
4:13 Number one thing that you probably
4:15 shouldn't do that I learned um back in
4:17 high school is that if you are working
4:20 on a PC, if you're working on a canvas,
4:21 doesn't matter what, you shouldn't have
4:23 a window as your backdrop. So, if you
4:25 have your two screens right here, right,
4:27 behind it should not be a window. You
4:29 notice that my window is behind me,
4:31 right? It's should be that the light is
4:33 going onto whatever you're working with,
4:35 not that the light is coming at you. I
4:37 know that like having a window as your
4:40 backdrop is good for like, you know,
4:42 lighting cuz it's natural lighting, but
4:44 it's bad for your eyes cuz you're just
4:45 kind of staring into the sun all day.
4:47 Not great, right? Pretty bad because you
4:49 are straining now. The screens are
4:51 competing with the light behind it. It's
4:52 the same thing with a canvas. You're
4:55 It's also just not good for your canvas,
4:56 right? You're not getting any light on
4:58 your canvas. you're getting like back
5:01 lit which is like not great anyway. So
5:02 you kind of want that light directly on
5:04 it or to the side. Very very similar to
5:06 getting up and walking taking a rest
5:09 right every 20 to 30 minutes get up look
5:12 somewhere far away so that you are you
5:13 know resetting your eyes and like giving
5:15 them like an exercise so that they're
5:17 not just looking in one place all the
5:18 time. So you want to make sure that you
5:20 are looking somewhere farther away to
5:22 test your depth perception to test if
5:24 your eyes can focus far away. Again, if
5:26 you can't really focus that far away,
5:28 congratulations. You need glasses. But
5:30 if you are able to focus far away,
5:32 you're still a okay. So, make sure that
5:34 you are, you know, getting up, walking,
5:36 and looking far away as well, so that
5:38 you're not just looking at the same
5:40 distance every single day all the time.
5:42 Also, artists, I know what you do. I
5:43 know that you hunch over, you lean over,
5:45 and you decide to look at your work, and
5:48 you're like so tiny and close cuz you
5:49 want to get all those details in there.
5:51 Step back, my friend. Nobody's going to
5:54 look in that far. If you are working on
5:56 your pieces and you are like sitting so
5:57 close to your work, you're not seeing
5:58 the big picture. You're also just
6:00 hurting what your work looks like
6:02 because you're so hyperfocused on one
6:05 section, you should back up. With desks,
6:06 it's more ergonomic to have your
6:08 monitors a full arm length away from
6:10 you. It should be the same thing with
6:12 your canvas or your sketchbook or
6:14 whatever it is that you're working on,
6:15 right? You should have it so far, it's a
6:17 little bit farther away so that you're
6:18 not straining your eyes too too much.
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