Whether you’re a budding artist still learning the basics or a seasoned pro, knowing how to hold your stylus correctly is essential to avoiding the plague that plagues artists everywhere: carpal tunnel syndrome and the many other repetitive stress injuries that can keep you from getting your work done.

While the vast majority of us begin our training traditionally with pen, paper, and pencil, the way you hold your drawing implement can vary greatly from person to person. Formal trained artists who work traditionally hold their pencil on its side, which allows for a smoother, less destructive stroke and a wider range of line thicknesses, while many more of us have become all too accustomed to the tripod/writing grip we grew up with.

Unfortunately, neither is the correct grip for holding a stylus when using a graphics tablet (the type without a screen). Below, we’ll explain the correct grip to not only keep you healthy and pain-free, but also improve your artwork and endurance.

Because many of us, as soon as we buy our first graphics tablet, want to dive straight into the wonderful world of unlimited digital art, we don’t think about the true nature of the drawing instrument in our hands. It looks like a pen. It feels a little like a pen. But it’s neither a pen nor a pencil.