I'm not left-handed

[redbird]

I was looking at GIMP tutorials, and this one seemed suitably simple. (The writer clearly isn't a native English speaker, but that's okay.)

And I was having trouble drawing a stick figure. Unlike the characters in The Princess Bride, I'm not even close to ambidextrous: I can do ordinary computer stuff with the mouse set for left-handed (point and click, move a scroll bar up and down, even type on one of those stupid virtual keyboards that banks think provide security). Drawing a circle, or any smooth curve, is another matter.

So, my options seem to be: give up on computer graphics, or go back to working right-handed. If I do the latter, I should probably set things up so I can switch back and forth, and only work right-handed when I need the fine motor control, lest I re-injure my rotator cuff.

Or I can go play with wire, or read my book.

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

How are you with touchpads? I prefer them for switching back and forth, because it's so easy to use my right hand for fine manipulation (like drawing) and my left for basic pointing and clicking, without moving the device or reconfiguring anything. Last time you were here, you said something about my touchpad being right-handed, but that's not a significant issue except when you do a lot of things that need both buttons.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Might you be better able to handle a graphics tablet and stylus for left-handed drawing? So hard to draw with a mouse.

[avram]

Or you can practice a lot with your left hand. I don't know how long it takes to get any kind of proficiency that way, but I'm pretty sure it's possible.

Or -- Do you have a scanner? You can draw on paper and scan the image in. That's how I do most of my art.

[carandol.livejournal.com]

I'm left handed, and broke my left arm when I was thirteen. I wouldn't say I'm ambidextrous, but I all that practice with my right hand means I can get by with the "wrong" hand if I have to.

Alternatively, have you tried something like Inkscape (www.inkscape.org)? It's a vector graphics art package, which has a "freehand" option which allows you to alter the points on your lines if they weren't in the right place. I tend to use that for drawing things, and keep GIMP for photo manipulation.

[carbonel]

If you keep mousing with your left hand, you will almost certainly achieve reasonable proficiency with it. I switched to left-handed mousing several years ago because of severe right-shoulder problems. The transition period was hell -- I'm quite strongly right-handed, but now I'm almost ambidextrous when it comes to mousing.

[redbird]

I'm fine with the day-to-day stuff I need to do with the mouse, including highlighting text. Drawing or selecting arbitrary shapes (which is what most areas in a photo are) either will require an additional transition period, or is more than my left hand is up to.

[liv]

I am no expert on computer graphics or dealing with rotator cuff injuries. But what I do know is that photo manipulation and digital drawing are entirely different things, and software designed for one purpose is often a very poor tool for the other. I also know that most people who are at all serious about graphics use just about any other input device in preference to a mouse. The trouble is, everybody starts out using GIMP (or if they are dishonest, a pirated copy of Photoshop) plus a mouse, to see whether they're interested enough to invest time and probably ultimately money in the hobby. So you're in a position where the entry point is absolutely the worst possible set-up for you medically.

[redbird]

My goal is to get to a level of proficiency that will allow for a little photo manipulation: something beyond just cropping the edges of an image. The place where drawing seems to overlap with that is that I was having trouble selecting object-shaped pieces of the photo, rather than rectangular ones.

That doesn't mean this isn't a hardware problem.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

it is both a hardware and a wetware problem: the mouse is not the input device of choice for anyone serious about either photo manip or digital drawing, and without practice the other hand is nearly worthless at the start.

is there any way you could try a wacom tablet and stylus? i do a lot of graphics work, and even with my non-dominant hand i can do better with the stylus than with my trackball -- mostly good enough for selecting irregular objects (magic scissors also help with that). but the stylus is harder on my much worse RSI-afflicted dominant hand.

i keep meaning to practice, practice, practice with my other hand because i'd love to be ambidextrous. wonder how long one would have to practice. longer than i ever have, *snrk*, but realistically.

[mneme]

Spefiically for photomanips, The Gimp -is- the right tool for the task.

The key (especially for uncoordinated, disgraphic, left hander mousing right me) is to use zoom liberally. Tasks that are difficult to impossible when mousing around at "fit to screen" become downright trivial when you've switched to a 4/1, 8/1, or even 16/1 zoom.

[spacefall.livejournal.com]

My current setup is a quill mouse used left-handed for general mousing, and a graphics tablet and stylus used right-handed for sketching etc. Depending on your injury, you might find a stylus less or more comfortable for your right hand, but it could be worth a try. Wacom graphics tablets are relatively cheap these days