the_gneech (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_gneech) wrote2002-01-19 10:18 am
the_gneech) wrote2002-01-19 10:18 am
Well Wudda Ya Know? Snow. :)
Apparently, winter has finally arrived in beautiful downtown northern Virginia.
I did a quite nice penciling (I thought) of the Black Knight yesterday, for Monday's strip; I hope the inking doesn't ruin it. Of all of my art skills, my inking is by far the weakest, and I think a lot of it is because I just don't like doing it. I always smear something, and while I often use inking to correct minor mistakes in the pencils, I also inevitably screw up something that was nice in the penciling, by moving the pen wrong.
I just don't have the kind of control over my motor skills that I would like; I grew up with a very minor condition known as "Scrivener's Palsy," which essentially boils down to the filters in my nervous system that tell commands to go the right hand instead of the left, or instead of to the foot, etc., didn't mature at the same rate as the rest of me. Thus, a certain chunk of my mental concentration is not just focused on putting the pen where I want it to be, but also on just the act of moving it at all, without moving my other paws at the same time.
This isn't something that happens on a conscious level, and as I say, it's very minor. But the net result is that I just don't have the very fine level of control that it takes to exactly duplicate ink lines over pencil, for example. I can usually get very close, but it's never exactly right. It also makes my hand get tired faster than it otherwise would, because the muscles are very tense in order to maintain control.
It has abated some as I became an adult; when I was a kid, I used to _GRIP_ pencils so hard it left a big ol' dent in my finger. The cartooning has helped, also, by forcing those parts of my brain to exercise, basically.
And that's today's update, brought to you by the letters O and P, and also the number 4. Gneech's livejournal entries are a production of The Children's Television Workshop. Bye bye!
-The Gneech
I did a quite nice penciling (I thought) of the Black Knight yesterday, for Monday's strip; I hope the inking doesn't ruin it. Of all of my art skills, my inking is by far the weakest, and I think a lot of it is because I just don't like doing it. I always smear something, and while I often use inking to correct minor mistakes in the pencils, I also inevitably screw up something that was nice in the penciling, by moving the pen wrong.
I just don't have the kind of control over my motor skills that I would like; I grew up with a very minor condition known as "Scrivener's Palsy," which essentially boils down to the filters in my nervous system that tell commands to go the right hand instead of the left, or instead of to the foot, etc., didn't mature at the same rate as the rest of me. Thus, a certain chunk of my mental concentration is not just focused on putting the pen where I want it to be, but also on just the act of moving it at all, without moving my other paws at the same time.
This isn't something that happens on a conscious level, and as I say, it's very minor. But the net result is that I just don't have the very fine level of control that it takes to exactly duplicate ink lines over pencil, for example. I can usually get very close, but it's never exactly right. It also makes my hand get tired faster than it otherwise would, because the muscles are very tense in order to maintain control.
It has abated some as I became an adult; when I was a kid, I used to _GRIP_ pencils so hard it left a big ol' dent in my finger. The cartooning has helped, also, by forcing those parts of my brain to exercise, basically.
And that's today's update, brought to you by the letters O and P, and also the number 4. Gneech's livejournal entries are a production of The Children's Television Workshop. Bye bye!
-The Gneech
no subject
What kind of pen do you ink with? The only inking I've done has been brush-work, and I wasn't all that successful at controlling it.
Although you say it's minor, it sounds like the Scrivener's Palsy thing would be a major annoyance. It's good that it is an unconscious thing, though. I have hands that shake due to my nervous condition, and I understand about lines not going exactly where you plan. Guess that is why I haven't tried anything permanent in the art department (oils, inking, watercolors). If you can't erase it or paint over it, then I don't do it.
Cute allusion to the CTW. :)
no subject
As for the Scrivener's, well, it's minor to me because I've always had it; I have no idea what it would be like without it, y'know? It's just a normal part of life for me. :)
-The Gneech