I haven't really mentioned it here on NG yet, but I'm an artist with Epilepsy! Let's talk about it!
I've had epilepsy my entire life, and it impacts how I experience everything around me. It affects basically all aspects of my life, and I take medication for it. I have no idea what it's like to live without it, it's just what's normal to me. What does this have to do with my art and why am I bringing it up? Because once in a while I get asked (mostly on tumblr) if having epilepsy impacts how I make my art/being an artist. Nothing wrong with being curious, so I always answer honestly!
To put it simply, YES! My epilepsy DOES impact how I draw, use, and apply color! I'd like to think of my art style as being sensory friendly, and something of a sweet spot between being pastel and primarily colorful. (Or something like that?) I’m not drawing/rendering with the sole-intention of being “anti-eye-strain,” it’s sort of my default because of having epilepsy myself.
While I’m drawing, coloring, and building the drawing from the ground up, I use a lot of thin lines, lighter/de-saturated colors, low contrast, and rounded shape edges. After all, I’m going to be looking at the piece for a long time throughout the drawing/rendering process. I gotta' be able to work with it comfortably! It comes down to the question “why spend so much time/effort making something if I can’t even look at it comfortably?” With all that factoring in, my art style became what it is today!
It almost sounds pretty obvious when it’s spelled out, but even I didn’t always think about it that way! Like, it never occurred to me that my epilepsy played such a big role in how I use color, until my neurologist asked me about my hobbies and went from there. It was my first appointment with my current specialist about 2 years back, and she was making conversation before getting into all the Important Health Stuff™. As I talked to her about it, it got me thinking!
I don't know how many artist on here are epileptic like me, but I wanted to put this out there anyways. It's nice to feel seen and acknowledged, and if I can do that for someone else, that would be pretty cool. If you’re an epileptic person reading this, I see you! You’re so strong, we all are! I believe in you, I believe in us. We’re so much stronger than we get credit for, and it’s going to be ok! You’re valid, and I see you! Keep making your art, we got this!
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