The entire digital art tip series is on SALE now until December 18. Get a permanent copy of all 12 videos for $6. crowneprince.horse/store Buy them for a friend and force them to be better about their art health. >:[

drawing on something other than white is a tip i give people ALL the time ever since i learned it years ago. not only does it help with headaches but i find using a mid gray encourages me to draw with a more diverse range of values. it especially helps for getting the contrast just right on character designs

also if you find that you can get sucked into the “art zone” for hours at a time, set an alarm to get a glass of water and/or a small snack every two hours or so. it’s super easy to lose track of time and get headaches from hunger or dehydration!

I got concussed recently and digital art really messed up my eyes and head, so I went traditional. I used to only use white backgrounds but now I’m a firm advocate of 50% L*, it makes so much of a difference

Also, there's 20/20/20 rule I learned while back in college for minagating eyestrain. Look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds, every 20 mins after looking at a screen or other close objects. You can look at a distant object outside or look at a corner from a distance indoors (not exactly 20 feet depending, but any distance is good).

For coloring and shading my digital illustrations, I use a dark green background because since I mostly use bright colors, it helps me not to confuse my color palette with the background because it sometimes has a tendency to blend in with the color white.

drawing on grey is like.. my life, my eyes burned before i started doing that and also grey feels more inviting, its less of a intimidating canvas. also making my sketches be a lighter colour feels lovely. (like the super rough stuff)

as someone with extreme ADHD I've always found the "look at something else" tip funny because if I so much as need to take a sip of my beverage while doing a screen activity, I'll inevitably start looking around the room, and since I'm generally situated in a corner of the room, I basically just look up a little and I'm staring at smth 20ft away lol

There might not be conclusive science on the blue light actually damaging your eyes, but anecdotally the blue light has had a huge impact on my ability to fall asleep at night. And it's cumulative. One night where I stay on my screen right up until bedtime might not give me trouble, but the more nights I do it the more trouble I have getting to sleep and feeling rested in the morning. If I have to be on the computer after sunset I tend to turn the night light on, and I keep adjusting it to comfort level as it gets later in the evening.

For desktop PC users who have no option to easily control the brightness of their monitor, there's a tool for Windows called Twinkle Tray. It uses the same technology that laptops use to control the brightness of any modern monitor at driver level, not just software emulation. Total life changer. I activate it when I'm sketching or practicing for long periods of time, but disable it when I'm working with color or grayscales.

As someone with an astigmatism I can agree that dark mode is worse, however I can still put up with it and it’s worth the sacrifice for me but if you also have one, it may be worse or you just don’t wanna deal with it or stuff, just saying it is possible but always be careful of your eyesight please :)

Watching this as a purely pencil on paper artist still ended up being helpful cause I was playing video games and had sore eyes when I watched it so thanks I guess

looking away doesnt only help your eyes but it could also help if youre getting stumped on a drawing. taking a break and looking at it later with fresh eyes can help you better see any flaws or details you want to change

1:44 when I played games at night once the blue light was a difference of day and night. It really helps you and it’s way more relaxing for the eyes and lets you sleep easier. I don’t remember the exact pros but it’s worth it.

Happy to say I've been doing the first 2 without having to think about it, but the rest of these tips are appreciated

I can’t lie that all my canvas backgrounds are white

Good tips! Always take breaks, indeed. For backgrounds, most of the time, I just turn it off and get the gray checkered board. Or, when I coloring my animation, I use a soft purple. Don't know why, It's helps me not get eyestrain painting all those frames.

i have the matpatify google extension and this video literally had your little fursona thingy with a big text saying "SMASH?"

I usually draw on a colour I associate with the character I’m drawing (Runako, coral red, Lucien, lilac, Sterling, gold, etc)

i have astigmatism, and chronic migraines and have to take a ton of meds for it so this is very helpful since i spend 40 hours on a canvas sometimes over the span of a couple days tysm 😭

i find blue light filters helpful because they reduce the amount of contrast without making things too dim, i think. it does help quite a bit with headaches but i probably should stare at screens less also lol

Hey thank you for making these. It’s the only content I’ve seen for these. I have health issues and you’ve helped address some of them. Thank you.

Giving that environment changes how we perceive color I'd say it's generally better to draw on off white background, because that's how to make sure the color look good in proper environment. This is especially important when dealing with highlights, because they wouldn't be bright enough on a pure white background. And instead of using pure off white color, imo the better way would be to block out the background before coloring if you don't plan to draw it right away (or ever). And this block out could be left as is if don't actually have a background, as that could make the whole drawing look more natural and less amateur. Grab a texture brush and set the brush size to 1000, and a few strokes could do the trick. (And as a bonus, drawing on off white background can also make it easier to check transparent holes in the drawing, which is useful when making assets.)

Great tips. I never thought about using a gray background before, might try that!

Thank you so much for these tips!! 😊

Starting off with that tip is awesome. It's seemingly small but really helps.

Thanks for the tips! I was staying up one night working on a project and I had a lot of lines close together on my screen. I noticed that when I looked at it for too long, the lines looked like they were curving. Yeah, I should definitely give myself a break. Lol

Was about to write a comment when I saw the thing about blue light because I’ve done the research on that, but was relieved to find out you did to (also it’s good to keep in mind many of the papers done where funded by companies with a stake in it, and that’s why they often say “they could help” rather then “it’s very unlikely they help” because they technically mean the same thing)

Heads up for clip studio art users Dark mode can mess with the colour picker The colour you pick won't be the colour you get It's way less saturated for some reason For me it only effects of I'm colour picking for a gradient map , but for others it's all the time it's used

Another good thing is the eye comfort shield! You can slide down the toolbar from your mobile device and turn that on.

fortunetly i never ever get agitated by screens at all, for some crazy reason, but this is good advice!!

Thanks!! This is quiet helpful I already did some of this but still!!

I have something fancier when it comes to vision: Instead of using both eyes - only left is concentrated on the screen, so if I need to look for distant objects - the right eye is still at good condition, and yet left one is also good for closeups, a win-win to me.

I have got myopia & astigmatism since i was six years old. Nothing crazy like can't read a book or see faces, I could function fine at most tasks without correction needed, but i do need correction to be able to read road signs or small texts. And yet, despite my relatively low level of myopia/astigmatism, i have crazy halation effect. I can see halos from virtually anything i stare at long enough. Back in school i could not look at the teacher or writing board too long or i would have halation out of it and it makes you feel dizzy and eye strained VERY quickly. I had times when it would feel painful, like trying to cross-eyes for too long, but with no way to stop it other than closing my eyes for a while - which isn't appreciated in times where you are supposed to be attentive. These days, anytime I'm at a conference i have to remember myself to do eye pauses. I can have the same issue sometimes when reading books. But curiously I don't have much issues with screens, i guess because the areas i actively look at aren't static enough for halation to start (i work in animation).

1 month ago? why yt stopped notifying me? i love this kinda vids and am subbed with bell notifications on, wth

Oh I draw on grey allllll the time because I draw lineless when I'm drawing digitally, so it makes it SOOOO much easier to see what I'm doing if I'm drawing light skin or otherwise pale things. Sometimes, depending on what the colors are, the grey would have to be lightened or darkened

I have astigmatism and I use dark mode for everything. And the gray background is good not only for eyes train but for filling in the near white colors in a drawing without having to use another color first.

blue light glasses!

i didnt know the bit that brighter themes are better for astigmatism! For the longest time I used dark modes and recently was diagnosed with astigmatism, huh maybe it was my fault all along? Oh well no point in crying now, thanks for all the tips!

thanks for the info champion

1:16 made me remember to put my glasses on.

Thank you for this

thank you for doing fact checking!!! i know that might be dumb but i really do appreciate it

I think I solved the light mode/dark mode problem switch between the two every frame

another thing is to minimise the ammount of changing you do to the over all screen. nothing makes your eyes more sore than fiddling with screen settings.

This may help, thank you

I'm love to hear about your drawing skill Crowne , i'm still hyping for your pmv

I always draw with (a very desaturated) green as a background.

I'm drawing on a 50% black canvas, and have blue light pretty low... I also wear yellow glasses when work with the huge ammount of text, it helps me. I need prescription glasses, but I still won't get them, as I wad bullied for wearing them in school. Yep. If I'll put them on, I'll get my face smadhed that second. Well, actually, I had been bullied later too, when I stopped wearing them... I guess, I just have that hittable kind of the face and a charming personality to boot.

I usually use a red tinted gray canvas:)

I don't usually get headaches while drawing digitally but I might acutally need to start doing the grey canvas trick since its hard for me to draw pale stuff because of the white.

I've never felt this issue before.

My headaches from screen time are usually solely that I can forget to drink for 8+ hours of a time. ... ...speaking of which, I should finish my drink from 4 hours ago...

sai was featured in the tip for using a gray layer if a program doesnt have the ability to change the bg color BUT the beta/in development paint tool sai v2 has the abilty to do this! so if you have a valid sai license, you can grab that and use it (its really solid/totally full of features sai1 doesnt have even though it says beta)

i second flux! it has other neat features too, like vignette and darkroom mode :)

coffee/brown mode is the best mode

Hey. I 'ppreciate this.

Very useful

"If you are in the dark you do not want to be looking into a supernova."

Maybe this is not covered by evidence, but in a workshop I was told to use dark/light mode depending on if my tools are in "dark/light mode". E.g. if my keyboard is black with white keys, constantly swapping with a screen with white letters on a black background is better, which logically does make sense to me

your monitor can make a big difference too, i have an old 144hz gamer monitor that has borderline painful strobing and color issues

YES!

I learned about the screen color trick after I discovered dark mode for my devices not I use grey or a darker shade of white

I don’t know if I’m weird for this but the night shift mode where it lessens blue light actually GIVES me a headache, I tried it for a bit and I couldn’t leave it on for more than 5 minutes.

0:34 Looking at something far away actually comes from a disconception that your eyesight gets worse if you stare at close objects for a long duration of time. In reality this is actually caused by lower ammount of sunlight so basically the more sun the better, you do not need to stare far away, and actually looking far like that at night actually does just waste your time. :D

Blue light doesn't have a proven impact on eye health but there's already a good amount of evidence proving it messes with your circadian rhythm, aka your natural sleep schedule. So putting away all electronics two hours before going to sleep is infact a good idea. Best you can do for eye strain is just looking away. I recommend every 20 min look away for 2 min. That goes for all the stuff you look at from up close. While reading a book you should also let your eyes relax. Also remember to frikin blink. It's easy to forget that.

not a digital artist, i am an animator (i guess animation is a form of art) and this helps alot! i do some of these things already but i'll be taking these tips, thanks :)

Daily screen use for 10+ years? Those are rookie numbers. Gotta pump them up!

tbh i used to use nightlight but it was more of a bother to be worth the basically inconceivable difference i could notice (honestly im not sure if it ever really made a strong difference for me)

nice kirin :3

I can deffinitively say that overuse of the mouse and or keyboard can cause carpel tunnel, though IDK if the body adjusts over time

“Reduce all screen time, especially at night” *looks at the time* *its 1AM*

When ever I do art on Fire Alpaca I *Always* make it a mid tone grey even beyond the whole eye strain stuff... in fact, it never was for eye strain, my eyes never really get strained with tech for reasons beyond me. lmao Why I use it is just cause I've found it's nicer to work with midtones cause my character, well, has white fur. lol

Scribbles: Rectangular void of anxiety. Me: Black mirror.

This is interesting, but I ABSOLOUTELY get more headaches if I don't use a blue light filter.

As a guy who stares at a phone 12 hours a day on average, I can state that reducing blue light definitely helps. With this option turned off, my eyes start to hurt almost immediately

as someone who uses the blue light blocking glasses, i have gotten zero headaches since i got them (never really had eyestrain) and i am a heavy computer user. hell, i got three screen right here.... dont know if it just might be a mental thing, then again psychosomatic effects are a hell of a drug (considering that 'successful' drugs are often only 1% more effective than a placebo, while the placebo itself often improves recovery by 30ish% says quite a lot)

Honestly I'm just thankful you were born into the world without you life would a little more dull in the world especially if we didn't have other KZfaqrs like Dr Wolf lightning Bliss silver quill the fiery joker and who can forget the invert Shadow which is kind of a little scary but hey it adds a little excitement to the world ❤❤❤❤❤ and so do you 😊

the problem is, during winter, there is a TON of snow where i live, so staring outside REAAAAALLY doesnt help.

I enjoy drawing traditionally and then finishing it digitally

Lol my yt is always on dark mode I've got so used to it

"...because of something called Halation" Ok, wow, I learned something new about myself today. I have a note 9 and every time I restart it the Android and Samsung logos are white text on black background and I thought it was a glow effect painted into the logo. I restarted my phone now and held it at a flat angle and discovered it's all in my eyes. The text doesn't actually have a glow effect around it.

You forget about forgeting to blink. This is the worst thing for our eyes, that we stare and don't blink for houres at all

Blue light is contained in sun rays and wakes our minds up

bold of you to assume that i have the guts to look at something for two hours straight

Thanks for reminding me I watch too much screens before bed.

Blue light's concern is more disruption of circadian rythem

I have both myopia and astigmatism + keratoconus, dark mode makes me see at least 3-4x times better small text, Of corse when i can i dont put on pure black

Wow

in terms of blue light hey it may not be damaging but it sure is overstimulating!

I swapped to blue light blocking lenses and my headaches have actually lowered and I sleep better. But I think it’s because I have thinned retinas.

I think blue light is still can make troubles for sleeping because seeing blue makes us being less sleepy and stuff

I can't read screens very long because of halation. Light or dark mode, doesn't matter they all do it. Bigger text helps a lot though.

for some reason i get headaches (literally) when i stare at grey stuff

Dark mode may be worse for people with astigmatism? Damn my egg lens!

**me when i draw for hours with 50% brightness hunched over my laptop art tablet in lap** "damn why my eyes hurt so bad??

Actually heard on a science vs podcast episode that the whole blue light reduction thing is pretty bunk with misinformation.

i usually draw on a color that is the color of my background

Another thing to reduce headaches - get up for a drink of water at least ten minutes every hour. It helps your circulatory system AND gets you hydrated

0:38 me watching this 10 minutes before bed 👁️👄👁️