|
The hands are probably the most complicated
part of the human body. With various joints, bones and positions,
it's no wonder why most amateur artists find it hard to draw them.
Just a warning: I'm not all that
great at hands myself, but I am trying to study them at any moment
I get. I'd advise anyone else to do the same. This is a simple and
basic map of how I draw my hands in a flat position and in a fist.

This is how I draw my
basic flat palm. First I start with a pentagram, as you can see
in the picture to the left if you ignore all the fingers.
What I think most people
forget is the fact that the thumb is different from the other fingers.
Keep in mind that it goes to the side of the hand rather than the
top.
The pentagram figure
helps me to keep this in mind. As you can see, the thumb gets its
very own side, while the other four get the larger side at the top.
~*~

Here is another example
of the pentagram figure. Notice the skin between the index and the
thumb finger. Open your hand wide and notice the skin that curves
between each digit. Depending on your style, you might want to leave
out the skin or include it. However, the skin between the thumb
and index finger is important. If you plan to draw your hand stretched
out, it would look better if the space between those two fingers
had some skin than an angle...

Here's a fist. Can you
picture the pentagram that I used to draw it?
Depending on how you
prefer to make a fist, the thumb can be outside of the other fingers
or inside of them. I like to draw with them outside of the fingers.
The very tips of the
fingers are hidden inside of the hand and aren't visible.
~*~
One of the reference
books I keep in hand when I'm drawing figures is something called
Anatomy and Drawing by Victor Perard. The ISBN is 0-7607-1212-3.
I highly recommend it for anyone looking for references for drawing.
Here are some scans
from the book about some theories about hand drawing.
Method
of Blocking
Use
of Imaginary Lines to Obtain Proportion 1
Use
of Imaginary Lines to Obtain Proportion 2
Like I said before,
I'm most definately not an expert at drawing hands. If you would
like to add anything or correct anything in this tutorial, please
don't hesitate to email me.
If you're looking for more tutorials, please refer to the links
section, where there are links to many many other tutorials on the
web.
return
to tutorials
|