Draw Stronger: Self-Care For Cartoonists and Other Visual Artists

by Kriota Willberg

Overview

Finally, Draw Longer, Draw Stronger is here! You’re a cartoonist. You take care of yourself to prevent drawing injuries. You do your stretches, take regular breaks, and draw with perfect posture. What happens? You start experiencing pain when you draw anyway! A perfect example of bad things happening to good people. What should you do? Go to the doctor if it’s serious. But, if it’s a minor injury, go to your bookshelf and start reading Draw Longer, Draw Stronger! This little tome can be used to help reduce discomfort until you see a healthcare professional, or it can provide guidelines for managing mild drawing injuries that don’t require medical attention. Explore Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation Therapy (R.I.C.E. Therapy) from the perspective of a committed drawer, learn some tips for understanding your pain, avoid worsening your injuries, and more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941250235
Publisher:	Uncivilized Books
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Cartoonist Kriota Willberg draws from decades of experience as a massage therapist and educator in health sciences and the arts, creating a comprehensive guide to injury prevention for cartoonists. As a massage therapist, Willberg focuses on the treatment of orthopedic injuries and has worked with populations ranging from the New York Giants football team to patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She has taught at a variety of institutions including the New York Academy of Medicine Rare Book Collections Library, the Center for Cartoon Studies, Marymount Manhattan College, New York University, and the Society of Illustrators. Willberg’s creative work focuses on the intersections between the body, science, and artistic practice. As a cartoonist she has made three volumes of self-care comics for artists, a series of autobiographical comics about life as a massage therapist, and a gag cartoon/performance series centered on nding the humor in disease and physiology (Pathology Laffs). Her comics appear in The Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, the anthology series SubCultures, the book Awesome ‘Possum Vol. 3, and the upcoming Comics For Choice, and Graphic Canon. She is the rst-ever artist-in-residence at the New York Academy of Medicine Library.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Kriota Willberg's Draw Stronger is a life-saver. Every artist—pro and amateur alike—needs to memorize this essential little book.” — Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, The Sculptor

“Kriota Willberg's Draw Stronger is an indispensable guide to help artists and writers practice self care and sustain their artistic practice. The ups and downs of the creative process can be a pain in the butt but it doesn't have to be a pain in the neck, back, and arms too.”—James Sturm, Director of The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS)

“A concise, thoughtful, and informative manual that should be required reading for all aspiring (and aging) cartoonists.”—Adrian Tomine, author of Killing and Dying

Editorial Reviews

02/05/2018
Artists, designers, writers, and anyone else who spends their days hunkering over keyboards, squinting at screens, or posed over a drawing board will appreciate Willberg’s nerdy, pun-heavy advice for better self-care. Back spasms, neck pains, and hand cramps: “Bad things can happen to good artists,” cautions massage therapist Willberg. Willberg notes passion-driven creatives’ bad habit of ignoring pain—which she depicts as a nervy lightning bolt—in order to push through just one more page of work. Her main thesis is repeated: “Pain is your frenemy. Pain is trying to tell you something.” Easy-to-understand anatomical drawings flesh out basic descriptions of repetitive stress injury, tendonitis, and muscle spasms. Along with plenty of caveats about when to seek out a doctor, Willberg offers basic stretches, exercises, and lifestyle tips (along with dad-joke humor) to ease the aches and pains of modern-day, desk-bound creative careers. This practical, handy volume is a worthy addition to many workplace bookshelves—preferably high up, requiring a standing stretch to reach it. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Draw Longer, Draw Stronger is a fat little tome that should have a place on every cartoonist’s shelf”—Jessica Abel, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, La Perdida, Radio: An Illustrated Guide “I was saved by Kriota Willberg’s brilliant book, Draw Longer, Draw Stronger, which illustrates beautifully how and why you should care for your body as an artist. It applies to anyone who sits and works with their hands a lot (use a computer for work, do you?) – I can’t recommend it highly enough.”—Georgia Webber, Dumb

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2018
Torn muscles, ruptured discs, swollen hands, intractable pain. If you're thinking sports stars, think again—cartoonists and visual artists can have these injuries as well. Do see a medical professional, advises Willberg (contributor, Comics for Choice, among others), and recognize pain as your frenemy. Combining and expanding content from previously published minicomics, the author points out that one's drawing instrument is not just one's hand but entire body. Describing numerous possible injuries, she urges sufferers to think and live like a "cartoonist athlete" and prescribes plenty of basic exercises plus pain management strategies. Her tan and rust-peach art varies appropriately from simply drawn humans in various predicaments to more detailed musculoskeletal anatomy. Willberg's credits include work as a dance choreographer, massage therapist, health science educator, and the first artist in residence at the New York Academy of Medicine Library. VERDICT Willberg's straightforward yet lighthearted delivery makes her advice enjoyable and easy to follow. This lively self-care guide should wake up artists, amateur and pro, and also apply to anyone who sits at the computer all day.—MC

Library Journal