Adding physical activity into my Illustration workday.

Ouch. That hurt.

For two and a half day, I’ve been operating with severe upper back pain. Now I plan to be illustrating for a long time.

So I’m making the following changes to my routine.

1. Start the day with a physical warmup tuned for the job of hunching over a desk and drawing all day.

2. Do one or two sessions of constructive rests for 15 minutes, while listening to an audiobook. (I’ve been wanting to read more regularly anyway)

3. Do two 5-minute stretches during the work day

4. Close the work day with a longer stretching session.

5. Additionally do 1 session of strength/core training.

Additionally I’ve made a couple of changes in the studio

1. replaced my office chair with a hard stool, to promote better active sitting posture.

2. And I’ve gotten an adjustable drawing surface to reduce the amount I need to hunch to draw.

Instead of allowing my studio to cause a deterioration in my health, I’m using it to try to gain improved health.