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Elias Lemus
First of all.. DO NOT STOP DRAWING. I had issues and I was able to reverse them. Still working on it, but I have progressed. I had signs of arthritis and early carpal tunnel. My hand would swell and I'd get pain that shot from my shoulder blade down to my wrist. My hand would get numb as well. Then I had lower back pain. It was all connected. Here's the deal, I had/kinda have horrible posture and muscle imbalances from being overweight and sedentary. What helped me was 1. Physical therapy for posture and repetitive motion 2. Working out, to strengthen my body 3. Yoga 4. Deep tissue massages 5. Acupressure massages. Point is, the whole body is connected and I'd start off by excercise, stretching, yoga, and seeing a physical therapist. That's at least what has helped me and I went from being stiff in the morning to almost doing the splits. You can do it! And I never quit drawing. And as far as critique, you're doing great! What I would advise you improve is your structural drawing. Good luck. Also, I am not a doctor.
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3yr
Thank you! I often forget to get up after long periods of drawing. I'll be sure to get out more.
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H H
Your drawings are amazing! Everything is nicely detailed! For your wrist, I know this may not be what you want to hear, but I think you should listen to your body. My sister had wrist pain in her dominant hand (it wasn’t carpal tunnel, we never figured out what it was) but she didn’t stop doing the things that hurt it and it got worse. To the point where she needed a splint (like a cast you can take on and off, but it basically immobilized her wrist). Typing and writing, really any activity with her wrist, hurt a lot and she could barely do her school work. Eventually, she stopped doing the things that hurt and slowly started doing exercises to strengthen her wrist. She’s fine now and was able to go back to doing what she was doing before without anything hurting. Considering you’re a beginner and your wrist is an important part for drawing, I seriously think it would be much better if you did take a break (or at least tried doing less, stopping when it hurts). I think it would be much better to deal with this problem now, rather than taking the chance of it getting much worse in the future. Also, maybe get it checked out by a doctor if you can. I’m only talking from my experience and a medical professional could give you more help. I know this is a difficult situation but seeing the amount of work and dedication you put in your drawings, I’m pretty sure you will be able to get through this. Hope this helps and I hope your wrist isn’t a problem for too much longer!
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3yr
I appreciate your insight, I'll ask about going to a doctor.
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Peter Anton
Your drawings are incredible for your age and it would be a crime for you to stop drawing. You could try getting a big newsprint pad and some vine charcoal, and draw with your arm, so that your wrist and fingers don't have to do much work. It's probably all the little detail work you do with your fingers. Check if you're spending a lot of time doing other stuff that might hurt your hand, like playing video games or typing on your smartphone. Maybe try doing Yoga (yoga with Adrienne on Youtube) or look up Physical Therapy exercises/recommendations for carpal tunnel on youtube. Other options: draw with your other hand, do sculpture, do 3d modeling in Blender, learn photography. If you REALLY can't draw, figure out something creative you CAN do. Creative people gotta create or we go crazy (in my experience)
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3yr
Thank you so much! I'll definitely check it out. I've actually been thinking about doing sculpture for a while, if you know anything about getting started that would be a life saver!
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An
Hey guys, I really need some help. I have been having pain in my forearm (tendons) and my mother believes I am developing carpal tunnel syndrome from drawing. The main worry is that I will be going into high school soon and I will be taking classes that require a lot of typing/writing. Is there anything I can do to reverse this? I don't want to stop drawing, but this seems like the only option. (The pictures attached are my most recent sketches from the past week, please critique as needed!) I am still a beginner, but I would love to continue in art. Thank you for your suggestions, they are highly appreciated.
An
Hey guys, I know this isn't the right place to put a topic like this, but I really need some help. I have been having pain in my forearm (tendons) and my mother believes I am developing carpal tunnel syndrome from drawing. The main worry is that I will be going into high school soon and I will be taking classes that require a lot of typing/writing. Is there anything I can do to reverse this? I don't want to stop drawing, but this seems like the only option. (The pictures attached are my most recent sketches from the past week, please critique as needed!) I am still a beginner, but I would love to continue in art. Thank you for your suggestions, they are highly appreciated.
An
Are there going to be any new model references? If so, will they be in another model pack deal? (Any skinnier male models soon?)
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An
This is a great start, as another has said, I think you might want to practice a bit more before you start placing features. This portrait's proportions are a bit off, mainly the nose is too big and the placement of the right eye is off. Otherwise, it's turning out to be a good portrait. The good thing is that you're already improving from your last artwork. Keep up the great work!
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An
Your painting looks amazing, but the main difference between your image and the style you are trying to copy is the detail and shadows. In the reference painting, the shadows are much more light/ not as contrasted with little detail placed into hair and muscles. I think that's what gives it the more dreamy look you want. I understand that the reference photo has dark shadows, but to make it looser you might want to lighten it up. The hair and other features (muscles and clavicle's) are also much more detailed. I think something else that might be holding you back is the proportions, the neck looks very thin with the dark background infringing on the space, the overall shoulders seem a bit too narrow compared to the head so it looks more cartoonish than the drawing reference you want to copy. I honestly like the painting you have on its own, these are just some tips to make it more like the reference drawing, but I like the style you possess! Hope this helps!
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An
3yr
I did some new notes today on the back from the anatomy course, and I really tried to implement the tips that I got from my last post and it really helped! I am very proud of these new notes and I actually feel like Iearned a lot from the video in contrast to the obsessive notes I took. Thank you for all the help! (any other critiques on these would be great!)
Luigi Manese
Love the study @Anfissa Pruitt. So you pointed out that you enjoy the way this artist uses patterns and gradients in his pieces. I think one thing that really stands out about their work is that the way they organize their detail is kind of opposite to the way most painters/illustrators would. I think the 'normal' way that artists organize detail in their pieces is that they keep the areas that are not supposed to be the focal point relatively simple, then they add a lot of detail in the areas that they want the viewer to look. This artist kind of does the opposite, there's A LOT of detail and noise going around the piece, with few areas of rest. It's a really interesting effect to look at. Looking at your study, it looks like you organized your detail in the 'traditional sense', you saved most of it for the focal area, and simplified the rest. If you wanted to take another go at the study, you could try adding noise/texture/detail/etc. to more areas of the drawing, and save areas of rest for only 15%-25% of the page. Would love to see how you would tackle this design challenge. Other artists that I think you would enjoy would be: Yoshitaka Amano (artist for Final Fantasy) Nicolas Nemiri (works under the same company as Kim Jung Gi) Boell Oyino (don't remember where I found him but his stuff is really cool) Hope this helps!
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3yr
Thank you so much for this in-depth reply! I definitely notice that now that I look at it again, I'll keep it in mind next time I do a study of the artist.
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