Staying Healthy as a Comic Artist

[Tieback]

I started publishing my first webcomic “The Archer and the Squirrel” 6 months ago, and 3 months in, I started having several health problems that I never had before: bad neck and back pain, frozen hip, wrist pain, eye strain… I was so committed to getting my comic off to a good start, learning how to run a website, producing new pages, and marketing, that I put self care on the back burner. And it cost me… and ultimately, it cost my comic…

In my effort to spend every free moment I could gather on my comic: I stopped exercising, skipped meals, ate mostly fast food, and cut back on sleep. I spent many hours sitting with bad posture drawing and painting on a flat table, and I typed and edited long hours on a small laptop keyboard. I knew if I wanted to continue as a comic artist, I had to start working smarter. I saved up and invested in an illustrator table, a large monitor and an ergonomic keyboard and mouse. I force myself to take breaks and go on walks and stretch. I also motivated myself to cook more, by teaching myself how to cook some Japanese meals (my favorite food!)

It wasn’t easy or quick to make these changes, but my life and health has improved greatly for it! Dedicating yourself to something your passionate about can be exciting, but it also can be easy to lose yourself in that flow of creativity. Does anyone else struggle to take care of themselves while making a webcomic? If you have any self care tips, please share them!

[WakaXO]

I totally get where you're coming from, it's easy to get caught up in page production and not focusing on your health and it's a good thing that you invested in tools that allow you to work healthier. You can take it from me suffering from chronic back/neck pain is not something you want, it's best just to prevent any injury rather than to deal with it later. I have a bad habit of getting lost in my work and I end up sitting for long periods of time which exacerbates my neck and back problems, so I started setting alarms on my phone so I can't just sit for long periods of time, so far the alarms are really helping.

For general art health tips I have a few;
-Follow The 20/20 rule to help prevent eye strain ( https://us.discovericl.com/blog/the-20-20-20-rule-preventing-digital-eye-strain )
-Have water or another drink ready at your desk, this will help keep you hydrated and promote you to stand up every once in awhile (when nature calls ;D )
- learn some stretches/ yoga poses that you can do at your desk for your neck, back, shoulders and wrists. (It's easy to find step by step videos for desk yoga on YouTube.)
- I read a study awhile ago that connected exercise with creative thinking so it couldn't hurt exercising regularly.
- Never skip sleep, just don't do it! You won't get more productive or creative when you're overtired. The opposite is true, your literally getting bumber the more you put off sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to a whole host of health problems that affect every part of your life. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness, weight loss or weight gain, high blood pressure and more. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function as well, it's not worth it!

[hushicho]

I love that 20/20 rule! That is so helpful!

I've been doing this for many years myself, and every little bit helps so much. I exercise daily, mostly stretches, moves from my dance training, and hand weights. It's nothing super-intense, but it helps a lot and also helps me with energy levels!

I recommend, too, being mindful of something that I learned long ago in my training: most people will raise their shoulders when they're tense or concentrating or focusing. Doing this regularly can lead to chronic tension in the shoulders, which can lead to neck pain, which can also cause headaches. It also makes injury much more likely!

It's good to look around, to relax and move your head and neck, and rotate your shoulders and arms, when you're working. This is especially applicable for me digitally! If you find yourself lifting your shoulders, be sure to lower them, take a breath, and relax!

One of the reasons I went digital, in fact, was because even though I maintained good posture practices working traditionally, I just couldn't overcome old injuries. It was too much pain and discomfort. It's much easier to arrange a workspace digitally and do that. Easier on my body! So I recommend it to anyone having trouble with a more traditional approach.

[Rueleer]

Please take care of yourself while working on your art!!!! QAQ

I'm really glad to hear that you've changed habits and improved your lifestyle, but I've read so many stories about artists who push through discomfort until it's too late. The artist Yuumei is a prime example; though her works are beautiful, she worked too hard and ended up damaging her hand. I myself have to be careful because my wrists are thin, and are prone to straining.

That said, my set up isn't as ergonomic as I'd like, but here's my tips:

1
Get a wristband/sweatband/some sort of wrist support. (Kinda like having a gel wrist pad but on your arm : D )

Especially good for digital art when (for me at least) there's always a constant pressure on the hilt of your palm. The fabric helps reduce friction, and the pressure on your wrist helps with strains. (Like a compression band!)

2
Try to set your screen so you have to sit straight to look at it properly.

I'm guilty of not following this (my desk is really low) but I try to compensate by raising my monitor. This would be harder to do for a laptop, though. qwq

3
SIT YO BUTT ON A NICE, FLAT, CUSHY CUSHION!!! I'm not actually sure how good this is but it's a comfy touch. :'D I assume they can help a little with posture?

4
When your eyes start to strain, have an eyemask to cover them for a couple of minutes (play a song you like while you wait~) Alternatively, close them for 30sec or so, then have a magazine or a favourite artbook nearby to flip through as a change from additive lighting to subtractive. XD

5
Yeah, don't skip sleep. We've all done it. We all know it's terrible. Doesn't stop us when a deadline is near though. :'DDD

6
And lastly, with food, FIND A HEALTHY(ish) FOOD YOU LIKE TO SNACK ON! No joke, this has worked pretty well for me.

Instead going to potato chips or whatnot when you get peckish while working, experiment and see if you can find a fruit or veg you can enjoy instead. Prep some apple or orange slices, mandarins, bananas, honeyed lemon slices, grapes, canned pineapple, or for savoury tastes, carrot sticks, celery, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, anything easy to nibble on without a lot of prep and can keep for a while. (Blueberries, strawberries and the like tend to be expensive tho =w=;;) I ended up with beetroot slices. :'D

Ahhh looks like that's all the words I have to vomit out. qvq Glad to hear that you've gotten onto a better track, keep up the good work and most importantly, keep up a good health!

Good luck~~

[divyadeep2007]

Man that is scary, am i glad i walk a few KM every day. Also i keep a bottle of water next to me all the time. I do need to get a nicer chair though. Every time i goto refill my bottle of water, i make sure to walk for another five minutes. Hopefully more people would see this thread and learn to watch out for their health.

[VexinglyYours]

check out Habitica! it's a fun way to keep up with productivity. you can make goals and reward yourself for having good habits, like drinking regularly or stopping to stretch.

[edmourabarbosa]

When I first decided I was going to be an illustrator, I put every effort into learning and improving my skills. I was working as an engineer in a factory, 9 hours/day. I didn't have time to take classes in a physical school, so I relied on online classes. I know it wans't ideal. I knew it would take time. So I put every little free time I had into it. I woke up 1 hour early every day, just to practice. When I got home, every free hour was dedicated to drawing. No more video games, no more Netflix, no more internet and reddit. It was all drawing or watching videos classes.
Some people would say that is commendable, an example to be followed. But I say don't EVER DO THAT. Some months in, I started to get depressed. I didn't noticed why at first, but soon it became clear. I felt distant of the world. I lost touch to my friends, to my wife. I lost touch to the world. It was like living in a bubble. I felt numb and empty. It was hard to feel any inspiration or will.
It was then that I understood that we have to indulge sometimes. It's ok to relax and procrastinate. You CAN'T be a robot. Those stories about important people making important stuff are fake. No one is like that. Everyone is flawed and feel the same as you. You have to take breaks and binge watch netflix sometimes. At least, that's how I go now. Sure, I sacrifice I lot more than my friends. While they're playing video games, or going out, I'm here writing and drawing. But that's not every day, not even every week.
You can make art without inspiration, but not without will. So yeah, staying healthy is essential to make a project like a comic a reality!

[Shanny8]

With me it's even more confounding because I work a FT day job, in which I sometimes put in 5 hours or more of overtime, then come home and plop my butt at my desk and work on my webcomic. On the weekends, when I'm not running errands, I'm at my desk almost all day working on my comic. I average about 5-6 hours of sleep Monday thru Friday and maybe 8 hours(if I'm lucky) on the weekends. Right now I'm trying to fight off some annoying cough, congestion, and chest feels a little tight when it cools down late at night. I'm almost done with the 1st installment of my webcomic, but I'm taking a break, so that I can try to stay healthy; I dont need to get sick twice within a month timespan.

Def trying to work on getting me a better chair as well.

[briadawson2014]

Take as many breaks as you can because last thing you need is Carpel Tunnel Disease. And for an artist that is detrimental. I always take about and hour or so break after long amounts of work. I'm prone to not eating for a while too but now I force myself to eat in between work to avoid dropping to much weight. And depending of you're a digital or traditional artist, make sure you relax your eyes as well from strain.