Preventing Eyestrain

[Johasu]

So, the more I find myself working on art in general the more I find myself staring at a monitor all day.  I've gone through my settings to adjust everything to prevent so much white and bright colors on my windows.  But it only helps when I'm moving through them.  Not specifically art itself.

I learned long ago to avoid backgrounds that are too bright or too dark while you work on a piece because it can inhibit your color choices and detract from your sense of how well a sprite/object/whathaveyou actually reads.

Has anyone spent some real time focusing on finding that sort of optimum color for working on art for extended periods of time.  A color that just seems to work best for both art and not stressing your eyes?

My first thoughts would be that grey or green would probably be best and I often use a sort of middle saturation level green unless I'm working on coloring something green.

Any thoughts?  Im a bit over-sensitive to yellow tones for some reason.

[Joe]

I don't know about optimum colors, but staring at light for any extended period of time is going to wear your eyes, regardless of color.
Two obvious but unpracticed ones: stay hydrated and get plenty of sleep. Also diet is really important, excluding as much sugar as possible helps prevent eye degradation.

Another clever solution, since you can't get around the fact that your eyes need rest, is to enforce a typing break. I'm sure there's one for windows too; in linux there's an option to lock the screen for x minutes every x minutes. So you can basically force yourself to get up (somewhat countering the effects of long-term sitting) and look around, stretch/relax your eyes regularly.

[Johasu]

Thanks for the tips Joe.
I try to drink a lot of water, especially when I am up late.  It seems to help everything run better all the time.
I've never heard or read anything about sugar causing eye degradation.  Interesting.

I've been trying to take breaks more often.  Intermittent but.... probably not nearly often enough.

Even with the breaks I work at my computer most of the day and I'm really hoping to find ways to reduce the overall battery my oculars are taking.

[ptoing]

Also, looking at a monitor makes you blink less, which is bad. So it is good to make a conscious effort to blink every now and then. And just looking away from the monitor and focusing at something that is at a different distance helps a lot too.

[Probo]

i have trouble with eyestrain too. its totally true diet and a good nights sleep impact it a LOT. but i still get it even when im looking after myself sometimes! Take plenty of breaks as other people have mentioned, and when you dont have to be in front of a screen, find other things to do. like dont finish work and then go straight on the ps4 perhaps

this program F.lux dims the screen or uses warm colours to tint it (warm colours are apparently more conducive to sleep than cold ones), depending on the time of day. I used it once but not long enough to say how effective it is, i might give it another go myself

[Dr D]

I use F.lux all the time, and you don't even notice it until you turn it off, but I'm sure it's saving quite some eye strain when I compare it to how bright my screen usually is.

Main problem with it however though is that you shouldn't use it when you're working on art as it will heavily influence the colors. So it probably wouldn't help you too much.
However, you might be able to work on a piece with it on, and then turn it off at the end to change colors/contrast. Not sure if that's a good or bad idea.

[Johasu]

I am trying out F.lux today to see how it works.
I'm interested in seeing the impact it has and if it will be impossible to use.  Especially if it's something I can use to help save my eyes some stress.
It has a "disable" toggle on it so maybe I can go back and forth or something.

Thanks for the input on blinking.  That's one of those things that you know you aren't doing enough when you think about it but immediately forget to do again when you get busy and focused.  Im making a conscious effort to blink more.  Maybe I can train it into myself.

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

There was a similar topic about preventing sitting problems and like carpal tunnel. PPD recommended a program that every like 15 mintues or so theres a short break every 2 hours a longer one, etc.

http://www.workrave.org/

I've used it and its nice, but idk I stopped using it, because I dont really pixel ever anymore. It could help you with eyestrain and break taking.

[yaomon17]

In addition to what has been said, you could try buying some Gunnars or something (though the tint might affect your color perception).

[PixelPiledriver]

the more I find myself staring at a monitor all day.

Then don't.
Find a paper hobby.
Go outside.
Take walks.
Get a gym membership.
etc.

PPD recommended a program that every like 15 mintues or so theres a short break every 2 hours a longer one, etc.

Yes!
Use Work Rave!
It's amazing what a bunch super short breaks will do for your health.
I stopped using Work Rave about 6 months ago because I started to find it annoying.
Last month my hands were REALLY starting to hurt.
So I decided to re-install it a couple weeks ago.
And poof.
My hands don't hurt at all anymore.
It's great for the eyes as well.
I have mine set to a 1 minute break every 15 minutes, and a 7 minute break every hour.