A minor/major update and rant

2 min read

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Anodesu's avatar
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Alright, so 2 and a half weeks ago i came to experience an artist's worst nightmare. I slipped on ice and fell on my drawing hand, spraining it and damaging the ligaments in the palm. It's a bad sprain. A REALLY bad sprain. I genuinely thought it was broken when i landed on it. I was terrified. I'm in animation school, after all. How am I supposed to work like this? I was already a week behind on work due to the loss of a loved one, so I wasn't certain if i was going to need to repeat the semester or something. 

I flat out was not allowed to draw, which was probably a good thing because any art beyond 20 minutes was literal agony. Any pressure to the palm was painful. Swelling and bruising have almost disappeared... but haven't quite left yet. Typing only just became bearable last weekend and i'm still not using my pinky that much. I've finally managed to regain most of my range of motion but even now there's still stiffness and limits to what I can do. 

It has been the most draining 2.5 weeks of my life. I've lost a lot of confidence in myself and my skills at the realization that my entire life revolves around my left hand. It's a terrifying notion. I've had plenty of people say i should learn to use my other hand, but I don't think they realize how many years i've invested in to my hand-eye coordination, and how long it would take to rebuild myself. The joke just makes me mad now. I'm aware that plenty of the knowledge is in my head, but it doesn't cease to frustrate me.

So i'm off to hopefully one of my last days of physio where i can get the thumbs up that I can actually attempt to draw without further damaging my hand.
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Joetheone's avatar
perhaps I can give you some sort of a solution...
(btw, I just tried it before writing this down here)

grab the pen with the other hand and hold your wrists together (not a tie, just lay the grabing hand over the healthy one), and practice the hold.
if you think about it, the hand has tiny muscles, but are the arm muscles what you have learned to move with precision.

I don't say it is the most comfortable way of doing stuff, but will help you on the practice and the "don't-be-late" department.

Hopefully it will help you. and please don't get discouraged! just try a new pace of doing stuff =)

Best of luck!