Damned Faery Wings

I’m spinning my wheels for a few moments, taking a break from working on the faery drawings. I’ve been working on cleaning up the wings drawings that I’ve made, getting them ready to add to the Marissa faery that I’ve already drawn. It’s tedious work. A lot more of the paper texture than I expected has shown up in the scans, and I have to edit all that out. I’m beginning to suspect that except for the basic sketches, the next faery will be rendered entirely on the computer. I’m spending more time correcting problems than I am actually rendering anything.
Mostly I’m taking a break because my left hand was numb. I’ve been holding my graphics tablet with that hand, and it’s aggravated whatever problem is going on over there. I’ve tried not to grumble about it. I’m sure Victoria thinks I’m a hypochondriac the way I go through my daily list of aches and pains, but this one has me a little worried. I’m wondering if it’s connected to the neck and shoulder problems I’ve had for years; a condition that’s simply getting progressively worse. Right now it’s manageable, but I wonder what it’ll be like down the road. I already have problems when I’m playing with the band sometimes, because my left hand will get so numb that sometimes I can barely feel the neck of my bass. Needless to say, it’s not helpful if you can’t feel the strings, either.
I’ll worry about this down the road when I have to worry about it. Right now it’s an inconvenience that can usually be addressed by taking a break and letting the numbness pass.
But I didn’t want to write about that. I wanted to write about the faeries. I know Victoria is getting frustrated with me because this first faery is taking so long. I’m going to have to approach the next one differently. If we’re going to sell prints of these faeries to supplement our income, we can’t afford for me to spend so long rendering each one of them. To my mind, that means rendering them on the computer, and not being so obsessed with detail. Victoria keeps pointing out, rightly so, that no one’s going to notice all that detail but me.
And besides, it makes no sense at all for me to be doing this artwork the same way I always have. Not when I have a graphics tablet, Corel Painter X and Adobe Photoshop at my disposal. I’d actually create much more professional renderings if I never put pencil to paper at all. Well, at least where the coloring is concerned. I think I should become a computer-based artist, if for no other reason than that it wouldn’t be so time consuming.
Well, Victoria just got back from the store. I’m going to go help her get the groceries in. I think I’m already in trouble because I didn’t go the store before her afternoon break. It’s probably in my best interest to get those those damned faery wings finished as soon as possible.