So uh. Hey.
No, this blog isn’t dead. I just have a chronic habit of completely forgetting that time exists. Seriously, how the hell has it been seven months since my last post?
Yeah, I don’t think I have any right to give Owen Dennis a hard time anymore.
So, what have I been up to in all that time? Well- school and work, mostly, but some cool stuff outside of that too! Why don’t I give y’all a little Status Update as to what’s gone down over the last 227 days?
The Digital Scrolling Essay
So remember this? This behemoth of an essay that I mentioned once and then never brought up again?
Even though it’s been months since I finished and posted the essay, I’m still really proud of it. Part of it is because it was genuinely fun to throw together and experiment with what looks good and explore the long scrolling format. But another reason is because I feel like this was a very important message to get across. Artists from across various industries suffer from poor working conditions, long hours, and low pay. But, like I said, this was written many months ago. Did things get any better during that time?
No. Not at all.
Across the Spiderverse is a recent animated movie released by Sony, being the second in a trilogy of animated Spiderman movies. But there have been recent allegations that the animators working on the film were terribly mistreated, being forced to work long hours and having to redo entire, fully animated scenes if they didn’t please the director.
It’s the same song and dance as the many tales I told in my essay. This issue isn’t unique to just one studio or director- it’s widespread across the industry. And incidents such as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike have been raising awareness as to how people are growing fed up over how studios are treating them. Who knows? Perhaps animators will one day join the writers and actors on the picket lines.
Spectrum
So, Fun Story: For Christmas, I got a brand new drawing tablet- an Artist 12 Pro (not sponsored). And I told myself that I needed to do something Big with it. And as the new semester rolled around, in my Digital Storytelling class, I was told by my lovely lovely teacher that we’d have to complete a major individual project by the end of the semester.
So naturally, I went overboard.
Spectrum (or as I like to call it “My Monster”) is my first Twine story and… hoo boy, was it a process. The first hurdle was the writing, as this story has three (3) different routes, with many alternate ways to jump between them, as well as dialogue that changes depending on past events. I also drew many art pieces for this and implemented an inventory system and a means of saving your game. It was a massive project with a lot of content, but in the end, I’m happy with how it turned out.
However, even though this world was meant for just this one project… I can’t get it out of my head. The story had to be written quickly for a deadline, and there’s so much I want to be able to explore. It likely won’t be the last you see of these characters 😉
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Okay so this is… a far less fun update. When I said I had to draw a lot for Spectrum… I meant it. I was making many, many colored sketches for the project, and I was working at a breakneck pace. I was constantly worried that I wouldn’t get enough done before the project was due, and I was pushing myself beyond what I’m used to.
Suffice to say, that backfired. Horribly.
As I worked on the project, I started feeling some pain in my wrist. At first, I tried to ignore it, only taking short, insufficient breaks every now and then. But eventually, that pain grew worse and worse, spreading to my hand, thumb, and fingers. It got to the point where I couldn’t draw without significant pain and had to stop for a few days. When I tried to return to drawing, I had to go significantly slower, as I couldn’t go even a few minutes without pain. And even with my efforts, I had to cut a lot of planned drawings in order to complete the project.
After Spectrum was finished, I had to stop drawing entirely for a month. The pain was constant, and at first, I was worried that it wouldn’t go away at all. But as time passed, the pain dulled, though it was still noticeable. Eventually, I found some wonderful stretches designed with artists in mind that I could turn to in order to relieve pain.
Eventually, I was able to return to drawing, but I had to be a lot more careful. At first, I set a timer for an hour, and every time it would go off, I would stop to stretch. But I was quick to realize I couldn’t make it thirty minutes without pain, so I switched to taking breaks every thirty minutes instead. And slowly, with this new habit in place, the pain became much more bearable.
Even now, it hasn’t fully gone away. Though there are some days I don’t feel it at all, after drawing or writing for an extended period of time, I would start to feel sore, mostly in my thumb, index and ring fingers. And though I’m still doing what I love, I realize now how close I got to jeopardizing all of it.
So, to all my artist friends out there: please, please, PLEASE take care of your body. Repetitive strain injuries of all kinds are no fun to deal with, and many can be permanent if you aren’t careful. I knew that this was a risk going in, and yet, my workaholic nature overpowered my reason. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Take time to stretch and move around to avoid damaging your body.
And if you aren’t sure which stretches to do? This may be a good place to start. Try different things and see what works best for you.
Upcoming Projects
On a more cheerful note, I’m approaching my senior year of college, and I have the rest of my life ahead of me. With the classes I’m taking this semester, I hope to have even more awesome things to share with you all. I’m currently planning on going for a New Media Certificate, so that could give me the tech skills I need to make more sophisticated projects.
And I’m still holding on to that hope of one day making a webcomic. It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember, and though I have many ideas, I already have one that looks very promising. Spectrum already has a rich world and characters I love, as well as the framework for an awesome story. If I have any updates/progress on that front, I’ll be sure to share it with y’all!
Until then, that’s all for me! I swear, I won’t take another half a year to post again. I’ll try to send updates and rambles and rambles and updates when I can. But until then, I’ll see y’all around! Take care of yourselves, okay?
– Eliza