Sketching Hands
Sunday June 21, 2009
Stuck for a subject? Draw hands! They have lots of tricky bits to work on, you can change them into interesting poses - even grip objects - and best of all, for most people, there's a willing model attached to your non-master hand. Why not do a page of hands in different styles? Experiment with gestural drawing. Try making one jagged and anxious, one soft and pensive, one elegant and expressive. Draw a hand holding a steaming coffee cup, or a toy gun. Tip: when using your own hand as a model, try closing one eye to remove parallax - thats the way things look different through each eye. It makes it hard to draw things accurately when they are close to you.
How to Draw Hands
Examples of Hand Studies
Hand Studies - Page 2
Comments
Drawing hands is really difficult, but that is what makes it so fun. It is a challenge and any improvements are obvious. I love that your example picture here shows the veins in the hands, because that is a major indicator of skill level (knowing where the veins are and how to correctly shade them).
Hi Anika, thanks for your kind comment. I find with subtle surface detail it helps to have the right lighting – with modern, flat, bright lighting you lose a lot of detail. With more angled natural light or a lamp, you can emphasize detail and give yourself something to draw. Older hands are good to work on too, as the veins and tendons become more apparent with age.
Dear Helen,
I teach human anatomy to medical students and I am plannng to buy a pressure sensitive tablet. Is there one that you will suggest. I have Production Premius CS4. I have a PC computer.
I would like to use pens that I can eraser.
I would appreciate your comments.
Thanks,
Nilson
Hi Nilson, my apologies… I’d missed your comment on this post previously. So it’s probably a little late – hopefully you’ve seen the other discussions we’ve had on the topic of tablets.
I have a Wacom Intuos 3 which I am happy with, and their now Intuos 4 looks like an excellent update on this product. I was a little underwhelmed with the Cintiq, though other readers have mentioned that they’ve found it indispensable. You’ll find more useful information on tablets at our graphics software GuideSite.