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How to Draw Cool Stuff Pointing Finger

How to draw hands - article title

Every bit you no doubt have already figured out, drawing hands is not an like shooting fish in a barrel job. The forms alter dramatically depending on the gesture, and similar with all adept drawing nosotros take to proceed a lot of things in mind at once: anatomy, proportions, expression, etc.

Since drawing hands is complicated, we are going to do what nosotros did successfully in other tutorials, we are going to break it downward into simple, easy to understand sections. At the end of this article, I have compiled a checklist you can download to cheque against your drawings of hands.

If I had to summarize drawing easily in ane paragraph, I would say: know some beefcake, then first with the shape and angle of the palm, so block-in the shape and silhouette of the entire hand, while minding proportions, earlier drawing the details or individual fingers. Nosotros will become through this process stride-by-step below.

Drawing hands encompasses having command over six areas, they are:

  1. Shape
  2. Landmarks
  3. Proportion
  4. Basic anatomy
  5. Expression
  6. Drawing method, step-by-pace

It is easy to group 1 through 3 nether beefcake in general, but there is more to learn under some of these topics than merely anatomy. Therefore, we will consider each ane of them in turn as we learn to draw hands.

In training for this tutorial, I drew hundreds of hand studies over a menstruation of 10 days, in my 10-solar day hand drawing claiming. Learning to draw is a discipline requiring both the acquisition of deep knowledge and its application while you lot draw. Information technology works best when you learn something and utilise it to drawing the same mean solar day, and and so once again over the adjacent few days to solidify your understanding. if you are interested in cartoon hands well, I highly encourage you to accept this claiming. Details on my ten-mean solar day manus drawing challenge can be found hither.

If you need more than help on learning to draw easily and anything in general, head over to the Academy. There, I teach how to depict hands by building a visual library. The methods are more circuitous and are provided at Step 16 in my course Learn to Draw in 18 Steps.

Without further ado, let's get started with an overview of the bones shape of the hand.

1. Consider Shape When Drawing Hands

This is a skilful section to start discussing the drawing process:

Draw the contour shape of the hand beginning, before getting into the details of what goes inside of the shape. Await at proficient reference (I have some great references for manus drawing at this pinterest board) and effort to carefully discover what goes into the shape outline of the manus, what features are visible? Study the shape of the palm (or the dorsum of the paw) and build the shape from there.

Keep the post-obit in mind when observing the shapes you are drawing:

1. In that location are 2 principal masses to bargain with when drawing the paw: that of the palm and the one of the thumb attached to it. These masses shift, the palm folds, simply the changes are minimal compared to the motility of the fingers.

how to draw hands - shape of palm and thumb
1. Observe two main masses of the hand: that of the palm and that of the thumb.

2. The middle finger is the longest and is at the noon of an arch created by the fingers when they are extended.

how to draw hands - second finger
ii

3. When fingers are extended, their shape has a backward bend to it. Contain this backward bend when drawing hands with fingers flaring out, or the drawing volition not look natural.

how to draw hands - back curve when fingers extended
3
how to draw hands
3

4. The palm has an curvation to it pointing inward to the duke. Find that the palm of the hand has a hollow in the middle, forming a sort of a spoon-like shape, particularly when the pollex is brought close to the mitt.

how to draw hands - palm curvature
iv

5. When clenched into a fist, the thumb does not stretch beyond the 2d finger.

how to draw hands - thumb shape

half dozen. There is a change in the shape of the form from the forearm to the hand. The paw steps down from the manner it attaches to the arm. Hold your hand out in front of y'all every bit in the diagram below, and observe this shift in planes. Make sure to indicate this in your hand drawings.

how to draw hands - step down from arm to hand

Keep the above pointers in mind regarding the shapes when cartoon hands. Now allow's add some more information to your visual library by looking at important landmarks.

2. Important Landmarks for Drawing Hands

Highlighting anatomical landmarks and sometimes exaggerating them in your hand drawings will help create expressive and believable drawings.

When you lot are looking at a painting of an onetime primary or a modern-twenty-four hours artist you really similar, where anatomical landmarks seem to have been subdued and, on the surface, it may appear every bit though at that place are a bunch of direct lines creating very straight fingers barely indicating the knuckles or almost masses of the palm. When yous run into this, know that this is only what seems to appear on the surface. Because if you are looking at a great and conceivable drawing of hands in that location is no incertitude that anatomical landmarks are properly indicated, just very subtly and in a way that could be impossible to detect to an untrained eye. Yet, trained or untrained, we all come across the resulting beautiful cartoon.

This is why I highly recommend that if you are interested in cartoon hands well that yous take my 10-twenty-four hour period mitt drawing challenge. I vividly call up very subtle changes in lines and angles that indicated proper anatomical placement of features in many master drawings that I have reviewed; and that I personally could not even spot until about 24-hour interval five of the cartoon claiming.

With that in heed, let's wait at the most prominent landmarks to look for in your reference, and to indicate your mitt drawings.

1. Distance between the knuckles and the tip of the fingers is longer than the distance between the webbing between the fingers and the tip of the fingers on the palm side.

This means that the duke are set back a bit from the webbing betwixt the fingers. Fingers appear longer due to this when looking at the back of the hand, comparative to the palm side. When drawing the dorsum of the hand, exercise not place the duke right up against the bottom of the fingers.

Knuckles actually sit right above the horizontal fold of the palm. Hold your hand with your thumb pointing to you and your trivial finger pointing abroad from you, bend the palm and observe the location of the knuckles.

how to draw hands - webbing and knuckles
ane

two. The 2d knuckle is larger and higher than the residual. It creates an arch pointed upwardly when the fist is formed:

how to draw hands - arch when fist is formed
2
how to draw hands - fist second knuckle
2.

iii. The palm is made up of 3 sections:

  • (1) thenar eminence (mass adjacent to the thumb on the palm side)
  • (2) hypothenar eminence (mass nether the little finger stretching to the wrist),
  • (iii) The pads institute right below the fingers.

Thenar eminence of the thumb is the highest of these. A detailed word of these is below under the anatomy section.

how to draw hands - padding of the palm
three. (note: a study of pads of the palm on the right is from Loomis' drawing books).
how to draw hands - thenar eminence
3. See how the thenar eminence (pad of the pollex) raises above the other masses of the palm, blocking them from view in the two drawings on the right.
how to draw hands - pads palm view
3.
how to draw hands - masses of the palm
3.

4. There are two basic in the lower arm connecting to the wrist, the radius and the ulna. Each as they connect leaves a landmark in the course of a bump below the wrist surface area. These landmarks are the styloid process of the ulna and the styloid process of the radius

The styloid process of the ulna is the more visible and thus more prominent of the 2 of these landmarks in hand drawings. Information technology is visible on the little finger side right below the wrist. Carefully expect for it in your references and indicate information technology accordingly in your drawings.

how to draw hands - ulna
four. The styloid process of the ulna indicated
how to draw hands - ulna 2
four.

v. Styloid process of the radius. The styloid process of the radius is on the thumb side down beneath the carpal basic of the wrist. Information technology is less obvious than that of the ulna but can be seen in many angles. Indicate it accordingly in your drawings.

how to draw hands - styloid process of the radius
v
how to draw hands - radius
5

3. Consider Proportions When Drawing Hands

A  small caveat: I am not big on memorizing proportions in a way that can be expressed as a formula. This is because as y'all practise drawing from reference, over fourth dimension yous volition develop a improve center for proportion. Further, there are many variations in proportion in life, and you lot may want to limited that in your drawings. With that said, here are some formula-type proportion statements to memorize when drawing the hand. I call up that at least at the kickoff they can be very helpful, but I am confident that with fourth dimension you will refer to these less often.

one. The starting time joint of each finger is equal to the last two joints of that finger in length.

how to draw hands - proportions

2. The length of the heart finger from its tip to right before the knuckle is equal to the length of the paw.

how to draw hands - hand proportions

3. The first finger (alphabetize finger) nigh reaches the fingernail of the heart finger.

4. The third finger is just slightly longer than the index finger.

5. The petty finger barely reaches the summit knuckle of the third finger.

6. To find the last joint in each finger, have the length from the centre joint to the top of that finger and divide it in half.

7. The hand, wrist to the tip of the middle finger is near the height of the face.

4. Basic Manus Anatomy to Describe Easily Well

Without further ado allow's discuss the basic anatomy of the hand. Beefcake tin can be an intimidating topic, therefore we will take a practical approach and proceed things as simple as possible with focus on learning but enough to create anatomically correct hand drawings.

Bones of the hand:

There are two bones in the forearm that are continued to the bones in the hand past the bones in the wrist. These are the radius and the ulna. So nosotros the post-obit sections of bones to retrieve about: the 2 in the forearm (the radius and the ulna), the 8 in the wrist (all eight of which we volition collectively call the carpals), and the bones of the hand of which in that location are precisely 19, 4 for each finger and iii for the thumb.

bones of the hand - carpal bones

The first department of these 19 bones is housed in the manus itself. They are collectively called the metacarpals, there are 5 of them, 1 for each finger and the thumb.

bones of the hand - bones - metacarpals

The following sections are all housed in the fingers and the thumb are collectively called the phalanges. Each finger has three of them and the thumb has only two.

bones of the hand - phalanges

So to summarize, we accept the metacarpals that are the basic inside the hand, they are continued to the carpals (the wrist bones) on i side, and to the phalanges (the finger bones) on the other side. The carpals are connected to the forearm basic the radius and the ulna.

If nosotros motion from the elbow to the tip of the fingers, we go Ulna/radius —.> carpals /wrist basic —-> metacarpals/manus bones ——-> phalanges/finger basic.

Before we movement on to the muscles we need to call up about when drawing the hand,  let'due south come upwardly with a quick way to memorize the names of these bones and their sequence from elbow to the finger:

To memorize this, just remember: "Your Cape Must Fly" or "UR Cape Must Phly" or "Ulna/Radius, Carpal, Metacarpals, Phalanges". This phrase gives us all the bones we need in the proper sequence from elbow to the tip of the fingers.

Another consideration with the basic of the manus is that there is 1 os in the carpal group (the bones of the wrist), that we do need to know, the pisiform bone. This bone is housed on the palm side, downwardly from the pinkie on the corner of the palm. In some angles, it stands out in drawing, especially when the hand is extended back. Run into the beneath diagram for its placement.

bones of the hand - pisiform bone

Muscles of the hand, back view:

In the back of the hand we just need to concern ourselves with three items:

  1. 1st dorsal interosseous – muscle betwixt the thumb and the index finger. It originates at the carpal group (bones of the wrist), below the base of the thumb, and its insertion is at base of thumb and base of the alphabetize finger.
  2. Abductor digiti minimi – It originates at the pisiform os of the carpal group (bones of the wrist) with insertion at the base of the pinkie (its beginning phalanx – the starting time of the 3 phalanges of the pinkie)
  3. Tendons covering the fingers. The thumb and the little finger accept their own extensors. Yet, the fingers 2 through 4 have them grouped as tendons of extensors digitorum – a muscle of the forearm. The little finger'due south tendon is of the extensor digiti minimi muscle of the forearm. Both it and the extensors digitorum originate at the humerus os by the elbow. You can tell where,if y'all place your left manus on your right elbow and wiggle the fingers of your right hand, yous should experience extensor muscles flexing with your right hand. The tendons covering the thumb do not go to the elbow, originating almost halfway at the ulna.

Muscles of the paw, palm view:

In the palm, in that location are many tendons and muscles, merely we simply demand to concern ourselves with what is visible and that is mainly three masses of flesh and peel:

  1. Thenar eminence – pollex side of the palm and the largest of the three (responsible for the motility of the pollex – so this mass moves upward or bulges upwards when the thumb is brought in to the palm) (note that the same happens with the muscle opposite the thenar eminence on the back of the manus, the 1st dorsal interosseous.). There are multiple muscles in the thenar eminence region but we only demand to concern ourselves with these muscles equally a group, in which abductor pollicis brevis stands out forming virtually of this eminence. It originates at the carpal basic and its insertion is the base of proximal phalanx of the thumb.
  2. Hypothenar eminence, opposite the thenar eminence, on the little finger side. The primary muscle in this group is the abductor digiti minimi (abductor of the pinkie). Part of this muscle is seen on the back of the hand, as it wraps around into the palm side. It originates at the pisiform bone, and its insertion is the medial side of proximal phalanx of the piffling finger.
  3. The horizontal fatty pad at the base of the fingers, likewise known every bit mounts of the palm, or four pads of flesh and fat straight nether the fingers. In that location are made up generally of peel padding, underneath there are tendons that pass through the carpal tunnel to the tips of the four fingers, they are not visible, however. Therefore our primary concern is to indicate the padding nether the fingers in our hand drawings. Expect at your own hands and study the shapes in different hand gestures. Try to memorize the shapes and describe them in your drawings of easily to amend your visual vocabulary.
how to draw hands - examples

5. Expression and Stylization

Hands play a primary office in non-exact communication and therefore tin carry a lot of expression in cartoon. There are a lot of variations and styles of cartoon easily, and it seems as if each fine art period through the ages has had its own stylistic changes in cartoon of hands. Each artist likewise draws hands differently. Looking at many unlike styles of drawings of hands can help place what you find interesting.

Beyond stylization, still, there are narrative and thematic expression an artist should consider. Will you describe frail easily with long fingers, or muscular ones with brusk thick fingers? What gesture will you draw and what are you lot trying to communicate? …and and so on. Below are examples of variations I tried in preparation for this tutorial.

drawing hands - expressive examples

vi. Creating Hand Drawings, Step-By-Step

At this point, we looked at hand anatomy, specific landmarks, and proportions. Allow'south go on now to draw the manus step-by-step.

I think the easiest way to draw the hand is showtime to discover your reference and note the outline or the shape you are near to draw. Really try to take it in and understand the spirit of that shape and have a plan equally to what you program to put on the sail.

And then armed with the knowledge that we accept covered in this tutorial and then far, identify the landmarks you are looking for. Depending on the reference yous look at, some of the data may non be present in the image or in existent life depending on lighting conditions, however having the knowledge of beefcake you should still know where the landmarks are. I created a checklist for reference when drawing easily that you lot can download by subscribing to my newsletter below.

Once y'all cheque for the landmarks and identified their placement, at present we tin can begin to actually describe the hans.

Beginning by identifying the shape and the angle of the palm, so attach the fingers to it. So let's do that at present:

step-by-step 1

In this drawing of the palm of the hand, I tried to place the bending that nosotros are looking at and the overall shape of the palm, and now I tin get-go drawing the fingers. It is a good idea to indicate landmarks at this point, is the pisiform bone visible, which knuckles are visible and should they be fabricated more prominent in your drawing depending on fashion or expression?

step-by-step, example 2
In this drawing of the mitt, I indicated the fingertips with two dots up peak. This is to estimate proportion before cartoon in the fingers.

Y'all can see that I'g placing dots at the point where the fingers would cease. As I do that I step back from the drawing and endeavour to imagine the fingers drawn in with the dots as the placeholder for their length.

And so I compare that to the reference and to what I want to describe and decide whether the fingers were indicated to be long plenty and proportional enough. If not, no need to redraw, I tin adapt past just erasing these dots and placing them somewhere else more appropriate. If I feel similar the proportions are correct I can start cartoon and fingers.

step-by-step, example 3
Having indicated proportions and shapes to a level I was happy within this pace, I then moved to drawing details
step-by-step, example 4
step-by-step, example 5
This is a drawing over the base sketch created in the concluding step.
 step-by-step, example 6
And this is the final hand drawing over the previous correcting some forms.

Hither is a video time-lapse of this hand drawing:

BONUS: How to Describe Hands Using Bridgman Construction

Allow's now go through a half dozen-line construction method for drawing the paw constitute in Bridgman's anatomy books.

This method of hand structure begins by drawing the inactive and the active sides of the mitt. Depending on position, if the thumb side is the action side, the fiddling finger side is the inaction side and the opposite is true. In this method of drawing the hand, the inaction side is drawn equally a single line direct with the arm.

There are six lines full for construction in this type of cartoon and 3 of these lines are always unchanged:

  1. one from the thumb'due south metacarpal to the outer base of the index finger,
  2. the 2nd from that point to the meridian middle of the metacarpal of the second finger, and
  3. the third line from that bespeak to the base of the trivial finger.

There are 3 construction lines remaining. Two are attributed to the action side depending on the gesture, and only one to the inaction side. This is of course not the final drawing, but lines used to construct a believable gesture in mitt drawing. See below diagram, notice how construction changes depending on the activity side of the mitt.

how to draw hands - Bridgman construction - 6 lines
Bridgman six-line hand construction applied to palm and dorsum

Although this is a very elementary method to construct the hand, the proportions in this method however have to be resolved, and information technology seems like Bridgeman only used it for the structure of the palm. Although at its simplest form I recall you lot tin can use it to construct the back view as well as I did in the higher up instance.

Concluding Remarks on Cartoon Hands

This is the end of this hands cartoon tutorial. I hope you learned something and that it will evidence in your drawings!

I must tell y'all that there is one topic I purposely omitted from this manus cartoon tutorial: role. Studying the functions of the muscles of the hand and the hand itself is an advanced topic that would move this tutorial well into A3 category. I plan to visit this topic in the time to come in a separate tutorial. For now, watch your drawings of hands closely when developing a specific gesture and examine how the muscles motion and what positions the fingers take when interacting with objects.

Finally, I compiled a checklist based on this tutorial that tin be used to analyze your hand drawings. It is available to my newsletter subscribers. You lot can subscribe for free here and also get my creative person trainer pdf workbook for free, besides as other downloads.

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Source: https://gvaat.com/blog/how-to-draw-the-hands-a-simple-step-by-step-guide/