Hello guys!

Today I want to encourage you to draw hands. I was the kind of person that hid hands with clothes or poses, but they are one of the most important key points of a drawing that involves characters. They are part of the communication and expressions, and it highly increases the level of the drawing itself.

First, I am going to show you some tricks I use to “see the hand shape”. Hands have a lot of articulations that are represented with many lines and shapes, but it is important for you to simplify the shapes used so you can remember the proportions easily.

 

THE BASICS

This is the guide. As you can see it is easy to remember a circle and squares/rectangles.

1. Draw the circle or base shape for the hand. I draw a square; however, you can draw a circle first so you can calculate the proportions of the square.

2. Attaching a second square that is going to be “flexible” it will tell you the movement of the fingers.

3. Use the last one as a guide to draw the fingers as rectangles.

4. Once the base is done, now it is time to detail! Remember all those articulations should appear now.

The coloring you will apply then depends on your style!

I know what you are thinking, “that’s it?” Well yeah, it is simpler than you think. In addition, keep reading and you will find my secret training to get better with gestures.

 

HANDS TRAINING

Levels from beginners to experienced.

So, you already know how to do the base, now you need to train your sight and memory.

 

1. The “What are those”: Get photo references and draw the base over it. It is not bad to do it, it is a way to memorize how the hand is composed by the base you do. Whenever you imagine a hand, the base will come up to your head.

2. The beginner: If you think you can skip the first part, then use those references and build the hands on your own. I know it is not easy, but you will get better everyday you practice!

This will help you to find your own way to draw them later.

 

3. The “This is fine”: “I don’t find the photo references for an exact pose I need” Do not worry my friend. Remember, you have your own hands! Take some pictures of them using your phone or tell anyone else to borrow their hands for a picture. When you already have the references or photos you needed, repeat the process from the last phase.

  a.	You also have tons of resources if you use CSP, the 3D models are extremely useful 

            if you have patience and play with them until you find the pose you need. 

Here you can rotate the model to find the perspective you need for reference. This one takes time.

 

4. The Experimental Guy: Try to do it without references but using the base we taught you before. Just using your imagination for the hands position. This will put into practice what you have

learned.

NOTE: Please be aware that the shapes you use to create the base of the hands should be able to do some 3D shapes for perspective. I prefer squares to do "boxes" that are more easy to transform.

5. The Clever (optional): Some drawing styles and depending on the artist, you can do it without the base. It is a good way to finish the hands training so you can practice drawing directly from your imagination + no base needed.

a. This is not mandatory, like if there are some positions you are not sure, you can always look for references. Achieving this just help you to work faster, however never stop training with references.

b. Also, for me is not like a definitive phase, we always need to get back to basics

NOTE: This is a style I use carefuly depeinding of the type of drawing I need

IMPORTANT TIPS

• Practice in digital, but most importantly, practice with pencil and paper. This will force yourself to make less mistakes, because you can not correct it with CRTL + Z

• Always challenge yourself. Draw them even if you are still in the lowest levels of training. Hiding them will not help you.

• This is an extremely basic base for hands, it is on purpose, so you can adjust it to different hand features, sizes, and drawing styles.

• Be an observant, not only for hands, your drawing technique will develop better if you are always paying attention to details in the environment and other artists.

• For objects is better to draw it first, then the hand

• Think in 3D,. As I said before, the basic shapes are plain, but we need to think in that square, rectangles and circles with volume. That way is more accurate for your sight

Now that is it! Hope this help you to improve your drawing skills.

 

In case you want further assistance:

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Find me work here: www.stephinni.com

 

Good luck!

 

Stephinni