Little Red WIP update

So...still working with my right hand daily and ignoring the stiffness that comes and goes. 

My left hand is getting worse, which is frustrating. Now it's the back of my wrist that is aching, and I was assigned a late project today that has to be done before I go home.  *sigh* 

But I have worked some more on the picture for which I posted the beginning of line art last time. I have flat colors in the characters down, though I need to get my background sorted.  It's complicated, as the characters take up so much of the frame, but I'll get it sorted.  That's probably my next task. 

But here's where it stands right now: 

I don't really know how I'm feeling about it...it has that problem where, due to time constraints, I kind of rushed on the character design and I don't know that they are quite what I want. *Just now, looking at it with sort of fresh eyes, I saw a couple places that need tweaking and a couple wrong descisions I've made and will need to fix.) But I'll finish it, and then move on to something new. 

Progress or at Least Stubborness

Last Wednesday, I started on 10 minute figure studies, and quickly discovered the problem with that particular method: when I am working on a long-term project, at the end of 10 minutes, i know I'm coming back to it later. With 10 minute sketches, at the end, I'm done, so it is common to want to just finish a LITTLE bit more. 

These are the sketches I did last Wednesday: 

They were a lot of fun and I was happy with them, but definitely gave in to temptation a bit too much, when trying to work within established parameters.  

Then, my hand got all messed up again. It stayed that way over the course of the Thanksgiving weekend, and is still not quite back where it was , in regards to the flexibility and overall not-being-stupid-and-making-my-life-miserable. 

However, the longest I went over my allotted time was perhaps 5 additional minutes, and considering that my OT and I had discussed possibly lengthening my sessions to 15 minutes, neither he nor I believe that the drawing is likely the cause.  We hope. It seems to have gotten aggravated for unrelated reasons. 

So, our current treatment plan is just...ignoring it. He has had me return to 10 minute sessions, multiple times daily and is moving me into further strengthening exercises in therapy. He also electrocuted my arm yesterday, which was pretty cool. 

So, to try and keep myself more on track, I have started another bigger piece.  We'll see how it comes out, but here is an in-progress sketch/just starting my line art:

Here's hoping this 'ignoring it and hoping it goes away' plan is effective.  I can ignore the heck out of things. 

Drawing Exercises

Welp. 

Here is the thing I've been working on over the last couple weeks, a few minutes at a time. 

I think now I'm going to move into working on 10 minute figure studies, but my Occupational Therapist is having me step it up again, to add in more sessions to my drawing day.  So...that equals progress. 

Anyway, a wild thing king. 

November

It's been a month.  I guess that means it's time for a new entry. 

I'm actually making progress. Sort of. 

There was some back and forth with my right hand, which finally hit a tipping point a few weekends ago when it was just horribly stiff so I didn't use it all day and made a friend cut up all the veggies for our dinner and open all the jars and at the end of the day, the tendons on the backs of my fingers were as tight and stiff as ever before, and I got fed up. The next day, I made breakfast and I chopped up my own veggies, and then at some point there was pasta, and I opened the jar of sauce. I stopped avoiding using my right hand to lift my heavy messenger bag.  And it made an almost immediate difference.  Most of the stiffness is gone a lot of the time. I'm up to 10 minute drawing sessions, two or three times a day.  I'm not better yet, but I'm closer. 

On the other hand, my other hand has a combined progress/damage ratio that leaves me at a level zero. 

I am gaining a lot of control, and a good portion of the time, my lines go where I want them to. I spent a couple hours here and there sketching this past weekend, and it was lovely and I even did some movement studies that came out not too badly. 

But. 

After an hour or so of sketching (not that much time, in an artist's time frame) my hand starts getting sore. And though I made good progress on ability this past weekend, the inside of my wrist is burning and irritated every time I use the hand more than a little, and my fingers not stiff, but noticeably sore. I have occupational therapy today, so I'll ask my therapist what I can/need to do. 

And I have a bit of a doodle that I've been working on 5 and 10 minutes at a time. 

And it should be done soon. And I will post it here. 

Maybe by the time we are 2/3 of the way through December, I'll have something more exciting and exceptional to post.

My official once-a-month, I'm-still-making-no-art update

So yeah. 

Every time I think I'm about there, my hands laugh at me. 

Which is a little creepy. 

I think exercises and therapy have been helping...of course I screwed everything up last weekend because I HAD to clean my apartment and change out some water in my fish tank and my hands did not like that at all. 

Also, I'm on a few week hiatus from therapy because at $25 copay per session, twice a week...that's like $200/month.  And with kitty vet bills and Verizon screwing me over again, I ran out of money. 

But still doing my exercises. 

I've gotten to do a few brief drawing sessions. 

When I say brief, I mean 5 minutes. 

A couple weeks ago, my OT assigned 5 minutes at a time every hour and a half or so, which proved to be  a little too much.  So I took a break and tried again last week, doing two per day. 

Then i spent the weekend ruining all my progress, so I've been waiting until my hands were feeling better, but may give it a shot today.  We'll see. 

I seem to be in a holding pattering regarding RSI on the left side, which means I have to dawdle at work to keep from pushing beyond mild irritation into not having any working hands left. 

I fluctuate between determined focus and deep depression. *sigh* 

ANYWAY, here are a few 5-minute sketches (woo-frickin-hoo) that I have done. It's almost like making art only not really at all. 

various soggy cat doodles -- five minutes (or so...I pushed it a little too far on these) each. 

Batman - 2 five minute sessions -- 10 total. 

Until next time, kids.  

Maybe I'll be able to draw again some day.