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Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:57 pm
by Sapphi
My non-artist brother bought a Wacom Bamboo as an impulse buy a few months ago and ended up giving it to me because "You can use it better than I can". So tonight, I finally got around to installing it and gave it a test run doing lineart and coloring for a sprite. The verdict is that it creates much nicer lineart than my Medion... but after just about an hour or so, I had to stop because my wrist was killing me.

Now... my Medion's drawing space is 32.5x25.5 cm and this Wacom only has a puny 16x12 cm of space. I am used to moving my arm around a lot when I draw with my Medion tablet, so I was naturally pretty tense and cramped-feeling drawing on this tiny space. But I tried relaxing my hand, and it seemed I couldn't get the control I needed to draw non-shaky lines. I tried holding it a little closer to the nib and looser, but I still couldn't get enough control.

Even now, about 45 minutes after I stopped drawing, my entire forearm hurts (up to my elbow) and I was feeling some tingling in my hand. Is this normal (AKA I should just power through the pain and get used to the new tablet) or harmful (AKA I should not ever draw on tablets this small again)?

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:05 am
by Tag-
I'm not sure if it's the size that's the problem, it's probably because you're so used to the larger tablet that it makes it harder to adjust.

I remember when I first started using the smallest tablet, my entire arm hurt, even all the way up to my shoulder. After a while (about half a week or so), I adjusted to it and now I can use it fine. However, I don't know if something like this is safe for you, especially since you said you felt tingling in your hand as well.
I say keep to your Medion for now and maybe switch to the wacom every once and a while?

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:10 am
by Tetiel
I don't think it's actually supposed to hurt like that, but you may need to adjust the way that you draw. I believe my tablet's of about the same size. I tend to move my wrist and fingers to draw as opposed to my arm. Actually, even when I'm drawing on paper I almost never use large arm movements. It may just be something that you need to get used to because it's new muscle movements. My father used to always joke that people who play video games all the time would develop giant thumbs. That's an exaggeration, but I think you just need to develop the muscles in your hands for endurance. It takes practice.

I still get hand aches and cramps when I'm doing repeated brush strokes for small details. I tend to distract myself while drawing with music or an audiobook so a. I don't get distracted and b. I don't feel the pain as easily. Then again that usually only happens when I'm at it for 8+ hours and start forgetting to eat... or feel anything at all besides the desire to just get the bloody thing done.

I have never experienced the tingling, though. That you may want to hold out for advice from someone who has experienced that before or ask a doctor. The last thing I would want you to do is listen to me and end up hurting yourself :(

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:55 am
by LateWhiteRabbit
Sapphi wrote:My non-artist brother bought a Wacom Bamboo as an impulse buy a few months ago and ended up giving it to me because "You can use it better than I can". So tonight, I finally got around to installing it and gave it a test run doing lineart and coloring for a sprite. The verdict is that it creates much nicer lineart than my Medion... but after just about an hour or so, I had to stop because my wrist was killing me.

Now... my Medion's drawing space is 32.5x25.5 cm and this Wacom only has a puny 16x12 cm of space. I am used to moving my arm around a lot when I draw with my Medion tablet, so I was naturally pretty tense and cramped-feeling drawing on this tiny space. But I tried relaxing my hand, and it seemed I couldn't get the control I needed to draw non-shaky lines. I tried holding it a little closer to the nib and looser, but I still couldn't get enough control.

Even now, about 45 minutes after I stopped drawing, my entire forearm hurts (up to my elbow) and I was feeling some tingling in my hand. Is this normal (AKA I should just power through the pain and get used to the new tablet) or harmful (AKA I should not ever draw on tablets this small again)?
You should never feel pain when drawing. Especially not tingling. That implies nerve damage. Something I learned from my body-building days - soreness is okay, pain never is. A dull ache that isn't localized in any way probably just means your muscles are not used to being worked that much. Any sharp or localized pain means you are hurting something and possibly doing damage.

16x12cm is plenty big enough to draw on. I feel like you may be drawing using your wrist instead of keeping it straight and moving your elbow. You should never feel the need to clutch your pen tightly - doing that for a long period will cause pain in your tendons, as you are keeping them stretched. If you can't get the strokes you want with your hand relaxed that likely means your tablet isn't configured correctly - you should be able to adjust its pressure sensitivity and other settings in the program installed with the drivers. You may also need to adjust how much screen space is represented by the tablet.

Also remember that it takes a while to adjust to drawing with a tablet, so shaky lines may be par for the course until you become comfortable with the disconnect between hand and screen. Regardless, never draw or force your way through pain. That is an indication that you are doing something wrong.

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:28 am
by LVUER
Try switching back to your old tablet, Medion. Is the pain still persist? Most people draw in two distinct style, with their writs and with their arm. It seems you're into the latter (as with almost all, if not all, people who draws with large tablet).

Anyway, drawing with tablet shouldn't make you feel pain, since it should be the same like you're drawing with pen and paper. Stop drawing for a while and/or go to doctor.

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:42 am
by Junker-Kun
Well, the pain may mean anything. For example when I draw, my, ahem, butt hurts. Just because I sit at the laptop and don't have a place for tablet on my table. So I have to place it on my laps and thus butt says "It's hurt". I've never felt pain in wrist when I was drawing with Genius 3X4 and I don't feel it now, when using Wacom Bamboo M. Try to place tablet in other places (laps, a little aside from current position), maybe your hand hurts because of this.

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:48 am
by Zylinder
That pain you're feeling may be because you're sitting/using it in an awkward position. I used to put on my table, in front of my laptop - and after 6 hours of drawing I usually feel like I've run a million miles and tried to body slam boulders. Now I put it on my lap and the only casualty after long work hours is my rear end. I've seen some artist put it on the table, but beside their computer too (so they work with it like we would a mouse). Swap positions and see if the pain still persists.

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:29 am
by Sapphi
Tag- wrote: I say keep to your Medion for now and maybe switch to the wacom every once and a while?
It's probably what I'll end up doing, using the Wacom for lineart and Medion for everything else, at least until I get used to it.
Zylinder wrote:That pain you're feeling may be because you're sitting/using it in an awkward position. I used to put on my table, in front of my laptop - and after 6 hours of drawing I usually feel like I've run a million miles and tried to body slam boulders.
I held both the tablets at an angle, with the bottom resting on my lap and the back propped up against the edge of my keyboard tray. That's the most comfortable position for me because my arms get tired otherwise :P I really don't know how anybody can stand to put their tablet on their desk, but then again, I had a hard time when I first started driving because my arms kept losing circulation just from holding the steering wheel ^_^;
Tetiel wrote:Then again that usually only happens when I'm at it for 8+ hours and start forgetting to eat... or feel anything at all besides the desire to just get the bloody thing done.
I am so jealous. I could never go that long without eating because I would get too shaky and lightheaded to draw!
LateWhiteRabbit wrote: You should never feel pain when drawing. Especially not tingling. That implies nerve damage. Something I learned from my body-building days - soreness is okay, pain never is. A dull ache that isn't localized in any way probably just means your muscles are not used to being worked that much. Any sharp or localized pain means you are hurting something and possibly doing damage.

16x12cm is plenty big enough to draw on. I feel like you may be drawing using your wrist instead of keeping it straight and moving your elbow.
That's kinda what I figured...

Went back and tried to recreate the scenario... I think I was doing that. My elbow wants to rest against my side when I use this little tablet and make my wrist do all the work. Forcing my elbow to move seems to feel a lot more comfortable, although my strokes seem less controlled... I'll have to go back through the options and see what I can do with the screen space representation, since that's probably why I got so tense (a little movement on the tablet makes a lot of movement on-screen).

Thanks everyone for troubleshooting me ^_^

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:36 pm
by nyaatrap
Bamboo tablet is very slippery and my arm got tired easily when I bought it :(
But after pasting a tracing paper over it, the pain declined and I can draw with it more long time :)
Why not try it?

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:12 pm
by LVUER
nyaatrap wrote:Bamboo tablet is very slippery and my arm got tired easily when I bought it :(
But after pasting a tracing paper over it, the pain declined and I can draw with it more long time :)
Why not try it?
Slippery? Is it the latest bamboo series and is it new? Since the drawing surface is supposedly to emulate paper feeling which is pretty rough (though after repeated abuse, the texture will wear off and become slippery).

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:23 pm
by nyaatrap
Slippery? Is it the latest bamboo series and is it new? Since the drawing surface is supposedly to emulate paper feeling which is pretty rough (though after repeated abuse, the texture will wear off and become slippery).
I don't know the old models, but all recent bamboo models failed to emulate paper feeling :( I have Bamboo Pen (CTH-460) btw

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:34 pm
by LVUER
Oh... that's right... recent Bamboo models enable us to touch directly on the drawing area as if it's touch screen. Perhaps that's why it's slippery...

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:36 pm
by Lumen_Astrum
Before, I had a really really small tablet, almost a bit bigger than my mouse pad. I wasn't really used drawing on such a size, but then I got used on it. Especially when I broke the pen tip and replaced it with a new one, I was also feeling the same pains. I suggest not drawing continuously with the Wacom, and please, don't wait for the pain to come before you stop, since it will hurt more terribly. Time the intervals you pause, like every ten minutes or so.

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:09 pm
by justblue
I recently got my own tablet too, yes, it hurt that much. I used to draw a shaky line too. :cry:

but, after proximately a week. I was more and more comfortable using it. and the pain in my wrist, arm, and elbow decreased :P . make sure you find a good position to draw.
moreover, I draw a shaky line no more, the faster I draw the line the smoother the line I get. :idea:
and, .. don't rest your wrist when drawing things. don't let it touch the tablet. instead, put your little finger as a prop :idea:
here, if you want to take a look at my tablet drawing.

sorry for a bad grammar. :oops:

Re: Is using my new tablet supposed to hurt this much?

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:55 pm
by LVUER
Whatever the reason, using tablet shouldn't make your wrist hurt. Since using tablet is no different than using normal pen and paper. Are you hurting when drawing with pen and paper?

When I first use tablet, I don't feel any discomfort, except now I have to accustomed myself staring at screen instead of area around my hand.

Just be sure to be very comfortable when using tablet. Don't look at tablet commercial about how they use it since it's very wrong. Spend an hour or two only to find the most comfortable drawing position (for you).