I can actually relate to the artist right now, to an extent. I had an ebike crash back in Nov and severely whiplashed my neck, smashing my head onto the paved concrete hard enough for my helmet to explode into pieces. I have a lot of ongoing issues, but the whiplash and head flares are what give me the most issues to this day, in terms of functioning in day-to-day life. Because of the whiplash, though, when I am cleaning or doing the sfx of a chapter, if I don't position myself in a specific way or lean forward for too long, I have to take a small break until it's bearable again. That's just from having whiplash; a herniated disk sounds incredibly uncomfortable and painful to deal with. I hope the artist gets the treatment she needs and recovers soon. I also hope that the readers can be a little kinder towards her and her style changes. I think readers should be less critical of the art overall, but now that people are aware that she puts herself in pain to draw art for us, I think that should dampen the "I hate the art" comments a bit. Lastly, being an artist involves contorting your body into the weirdest positions to draw lines at just the right angle, so it's not surprising that health issues would appear from extended practice of this, lol.
All the artists work so hard they get hernias or discs on their spine, someone get them to unionize, please