I say this a lot but at the end of the day, the people who hire artists need to think of them as athletes or voice actors. Even only 6-7 hours a day of drawing is pushing the upper bound for most people IMO and risking shortened career through RSI or back injury. - ThreadSky

justinoaksford.bsky.social • 114 days ago

I say this a lot but at the end of the day, the people who hire artists need to think of them as athletes or voice actors. Even only 6-7 hours a day of drawing is pushing the upper bound for most people IMO and risking shortened career through RSI or back injury.

Reposted from Jamie McKelvie

Drawing comics, especially at the rate required to make a living from it, is an enormously damaging way to live. It sucks! It also sucks that the vast majority of ergonomic design is for how a body sits when typing, not drawing.

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whistlinpast.bsky.social•113 days ago

this is absolutely true and i think disabled artists, especially people with musculoskeletal disabilities that affect your hand, often expect themselves to pull off this much work every day w/o any accomodations for themselves. pencil weights and pencil grippers are dead useful for people w/ EDS

whistlinpast.bsky.social•113 days ago

(source: i had to rethink everything about how i drew because i discovered i had EDS this past summer, lol. turns out i was not actually all that bad at art, i was just dislocating most of my fingers without realizing. so that was hilarious)

lunascimento.art•113 days ago

When I dropped from 40h to 28ish a week, my body pains and illness flare up decreased significantly 🙏🏽

dremenec.com•113 days ago

"Athletes of the small muscles" as they say about musicians - but applies to artists also

justinoaksford.bsky.social•114 days ago

I'm sure most artists are pushing 10-12 unless you are fortunate to have a W-2 and a company that doesn't crunch you. Even then you're usually at 7-8 hours.

justinoaksford.bsky.social•114 days ago

Artists should also think of themselves as athletes, physically conditioning our bodies to a degree that we are able so as to prevent injury, but when you don't get paid for it that's a tall order 😔

justinoaksford.bsky.social•114 days ago

I say all this as someone who a few years ago got an RSI working a cushy 8-hour day even after getting ergonomically set up, which resulted in me losing my job, and which still plagues me, occasionally prevents me from playing games or drawing or cooking.

abdiyohan.com•114 days ago

I remember you going through that and I felt terrible for you. It really got me to see how strenuous art can be on the body and how I shouldn't take health for granted.

charlesvalsechi.bsky.social•114 days ago

Just going to second this.

Prioritize your mental and physical wellbeing, your employer probably won’t.

danichroma.bsky.social•113 days ago

Every professional of their direction has to be respected by clients!

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