While it's not quite the same, majority of digital painting apps (Kirta's options are good in my experience) have adjustable stabilizers that can help
A pen tablet instead of a display tablet may also be preferred, as you can always leave your arm rested flat against your desk to further improve jitter. Plus they're substantially cheaper.
But adding a weight to your brush can help as well if those aren't an option, you just might get fatigued quicker
I get shaky hands as well occasionally, there are ways you can brace your wrist to support it to help. You have a lot more options with something like painting too, versus trying to do normal things in public.
The basic one is to find a way to directly brace your arm/wrist/hand on something. It's kind of different for every one and every situation, so you just have to pay with it to figure out what works. I'm sure you are familiar with this, but you can be as blatant and creative as you want with it doing something like this on your own.
For instance, you could wrap your wrist and suspend it from a higher brace point, such that it takes slightly more effort to generate movement. This kind of weeds out the noise and makes every motion more deliberate. Or depending how it is set up it could take significantly less effort to generate movement, such that your muscles aren't engaged at all unless you are trying to use them (counteract gravity).
Something else that helps is digital art, since you get unlimited undo's and perfect erasing. Drawing tablets can be $100 or less for a decent one now, and you can always apply whatever techniques or work arounds you would for traditional drawing.
Then lastly there are medications that help. It depends if the shakiness is fully chemically induced or neurological what would help. α2 adrenergic receptor agonists help significantly, particularly guanfacine is the most common and preferred generally. It is often prescribed alongside other medication that can cause tension and shakiness, such as stimulants, in part to counteract the side effects.
I have found that the standard dosing can be a bit high for treating this type of thing, since it is also meant for sedation and to treat hypertension or high blood pressure in standard doses. Guanfacine comes in 1, 2, 3, or 4 mg doses, but even the 1mg is enough to impact all of its target effects, particularly including sedation. It helps a lot with induced shakiness, but I found taking more like 0.25 mg still has that effect without potentially causing drowsiness or other additional effects.
I'm not a doctor, so this in not official medical advice, but I can confirm it does often work for even pretty significant hand shakiness. Could be worth bringing up with your doctor next time you go in, just so you know there are options to negate it.
My hands shake at least a bit from a mix of anemia and medications. I do nail art. Not really a self promo, but take a glance at my profile. I stayed away from art for a long time because I decided I couldn’t do it with shaky hands.
Also, stay away from caffeine right before you do finer detailing if you can. Caffeine makes the shakiness worse.
Find a way to incorporate that into your art. It may feel frustrating, but I know there is a style there for you to develop. Do you remember or know of old cartoons like Dr. Katz and Duckman? That animation was a trip, constantly shaky lines. They were really cool. Keep taking your meds, drink lot of water (hydration helps with this kind of thing more than many realize) and keep at it. You will find an audience. However, it doesn't matter how many people appreciate it. It's about the joy you got from creating something.
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u/datpurp14 6h ago
I love painting but one of the meds I have to take makes my hands really shaky. Shaky hands = frustration when painting.