Top 3 Pet Peeves of Being a Left-Handed Artist

Now don't get me wrong... I am quite proud of my left-handedness; however, being unique isn't always as glamorous as some of you might think...

My kind make up only about 10% of the world's population, which makes me quite unique. Research studies that have shown that left-handed people have some advantages over right-handed people, like scoring higher on IQ tests, are better at divergent thinking, and are naturally drawn to the arts. I can't argue with the research... I think they have it right. The negative ones are only myths..

 We even have our own international holiday!!! Who knew?? Mark your calendars for August 13th and make sure to  honor your left-handed students and/or friends and family...

Aside from my own awesomeness, I have not really experienced any direct advantages from being left-handed. In fact, I have a few select annoyances that I would like to share with all of you who might have left-handed envy.... (bwahaha)...

#1.  Eating Next to My Right-Handed Husband and/or Kids

 There are a few things I do dominantly with my right hand, which baffles many people who notice (like I bat and cut right-handed), but I eat with my left hand. When I eat next to my husband I risk getting a sharp elbow bump on my left arm as I am trying to take a bite. Because of this, I prefer to sit on the ride side of a booth and on the outside edge when we eat at a restaurant.

#2 The Graphite Covered Drawing Hand

   Whenever I draw, I end up with black pencil or charcoal all over the edge of my drawing hand. It does not matter where I begin my sketch, I always end up with a smudgy black hand once I am finished. This is such a popular annoyance among left-handed artists that a company has even created a product to help prevent the smudgy black hand called, the Smudge Guard. This problem "apparently" occurs to right-handed artists as well, but I have friends who are right-handed artists who do not end up with nearly even close to the amount of graphite on their hand as I do on mine.

#3 Scrolling Blindly to Locate a File or Option!!!

This might not seem like a big deal to most of you... and you might not even really know what I am talking about. Let me expand on this for a moment to help you all to understand my frustrations.

 There are times (or programs) that do not allow you to use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll down a page (which is what I typically do to prevent the blind frustration from happening most times). I spend close to 14 hours a day doing design work on my Wacom Cintiq 24HD Monitor or my Cintiq Companion  (more about my Cintiq Companion in a later post).

I do have a wireless mouse at my desk, but I prefer to use my digital pen for nearly everything, because  using the pen saves me a great deal of time. I also prefer the silence of my pen over the annoying clicking sound of my mouse...

I bought a cheapy one -  because it was pretty -  and now I have to live with a clicking sound that echos loud enough for my neighbors to hear. I will show you which one I have at the end of this post, so you all don't make the same mistake.

Back to the blind scrolling annoyance...

When I am forced to use my digital pen, instead of my mouse or my keyboard) for scrolling, I am unable to actually SEE what it is that I am trying to find without having to arch my wrist uncomfortably and, at the same time, tilt my head down and to the right just to be able to see the items in a list or folders in a file.

I believe the best way for me to explain what I mean is to give you a visual....

The first image is an example of what I experience while trying to locate a file and having to use a right scroll bar with my pen.... my hand is always in the way and I must contort my hand into the Yoga, down-dog position in order to see what I am looking for.

The second photo shows you what I experience while trying to find a font in my Adobe Photoshop program. This problem is even worse with a touch screen, because my hand will naturally rest on the screen in certain positions causing me to click on options or links I didn't want...

Both of my Cintiq's allow me to set up my screen for a lefty, however the scroll bars are located on the right side. It would be nice if the scroll bars switched to the left side with ease, so that us lefties could see what we're doing when we are working.. haha

Now that you know my top 3 left-handed annoyances, what are yours? If you are a lefty, I would love to read what funny annoyances you experience..

I would also love to know how many of  my followers are lefties!! We will have to go big for our international holiday - it is right around the corner!!

Why, YES... I think I WILL love a Left-Hander (other than myself)...

P.S. Here is the  wireless mouse I recently purchased that is annoyingly noisy....
I am posting the pic, so you don't make the same mistake I did...