Introduction

Hello everyone, I’m Bibim, welcome to a new tutorial!

 

There's a moment when you're drawing and everything seems to be going well. You have the perfect idea, the perfect character, the perfect sketch, and the perfect palette, until you decide to start drawing and realize you have to draw one of the biggest fears of artists… The hands.

 

Today, it will be divided into four parts:

Part 1: How to draw hands

Part 2: Tips and tricks

Part 3: Show emotions in your comic

Part 4: The body language of hands

 

Hope you like it!

Part 1: How to draw hands

I understand it can be intimidating, but you always have to start somewhere.

 

There are thousands of tutorials on the internet for beginners, even for advanced artists, that will almost always tell you the same thing: start with simple shapes.

 

You're probably tired of hearing the same thing and skipping this part, but why is this important? Well, it turns out that understand simple forms helps us to understand better the proportions, the perspective, and the movement. And as if that weren't enough, it also helps us draw faster, improving our visual memory in the process.

Simple Shapes

The Palm as a Rectangle

To begin with "level zero," we're going to divide the hand into different simple geometric shapes. First, we'll start with the palm. If you really don't know anything about drawing hands, you can start with a rectangle, not a square, but a rectangle.

 

After that, add depth, making it look like an elongated box, and then draw several, adding movement.

This is a basic exercise that will help you as an introduction.

 

Now that you feel more confident with this shape, let's move on to something more complex and more realistic. Instead of drawing a rectangle, we're going to draw a polygon, meaning that instead of four points, there will be five. After that, we'll slightly alter the base points, and it should look something like this.

Fingers

It's quite simple, actually. From now on, we'll draw the rest of the shapes. We can draw the fingers in two ways, depending on what you feel more comfortable with. You can draw them as cylinders or as rectangles, while we'll draw the thumb differently.

The four upper fingers will be three cylinders or rectangles, one after the other. For the thumb, we'll first draw a rectangle with inward-sloping curves along its sides. Then, we'll draw something like a trapezoid mixed with a rhombus.

Something like this:

Finger rotation

I’ve alway believed that to draw something, you first have to understand how it works.

 

In the four long fingers, we have three joints, while in the thumb we only have two visible ones. However, they don't all work the same.

 

The knuckles are the base. Unlike the other parts of the finger that only go up and down, knuckles have a wider range of motion. You can spread your fingers or pull them together when opening your hand. They aren't limited to a single angle.

 

The phalanges are the remaining two upper segments of the finger. These only fold inward like hinges, meaning their movement is limited.

 

The difference with the thumb is that instead of closing towards the palm like the other fingers, it closes in the direction of the other fingers. In fact, the thumb, if you notice, is very flexible and can touch all the fingers of the hand.

Skeletal Structure

Now, don't think that the fingers start where the skin is visible. The finger bones begin at the wrist. If you touch the back of your hand, you can feel those bony pathways.

 

However, the bones aren't perfectly aligned. The knuckle of the middle finger is the highest point. If you draw a curve connecting the knuckles, you'll see that it resembles the arch of a bridge.

A common problem when drawing a hand is that if you start with a rectangle, it will look odd when you add the thumb. This is where the bone structure comes in.

If you look at how the bones are aligned, you'll see a group of small bones (the carpus) that make the joint wider and more flexible.

You're probably wondering, "What's the point of this?" Well, knowing where the bones are helps you determine where to place the shadows. Where the bone is closer to the skin (like on the knuckles), the light bounces differently and the skin tenses, so your drawing will make sense.

Part 2: Tips and tricks

Silhouette

Of course, there's a chance that creating the structure using basic shapes won't be very helpful for you; it doesn't work for everyone. But don't worry, there are still methods that can help. One of them is using the border effect in Clip Studio Paint.

 

You can paint the hand outline directly in black, or you can paint it the color of your canvas while creating a border.

 

It's quite simple to do. In my case, my canvas is white, so I'll choose that color.

After that, go to the layer properties window and make sure to activate the first option, which is the one that will create the border effect.

The default color is white, but you can change it to whatever you like.

If you're having trouble finding this window, just go to:

 

Window > Layer property

Now it's just a matter of starting to draw the outline of the hand. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to worry too much, as you'll be able to tell if it looks right or not just by how it looks. Although, to be honest, this technique is much better when you're drawing poses where the fingers are spread apart.

 

If you try it with a closed hand, it’ll probably end up looking like an unrecognizable blob. It all depends on your taste and comfort level! :)

Tip: Perspective Ruler

Although this trick works better when deciding on the initial sketch (in the box stage), if you find perspective too difficult, don't be afraid to use the perspective ruler as a help.

 

To create a perspective ruler, go to the ruler icon, then select "perspective ruler" and then make sure it's set to "add vanishing point".

 

Ruler > Perspective Ruler > Add vanishing point

 

Or, if you're a keyboard shortcut person, press the R key twice and it will take you directly to the ruler option, although this may vary depending on your keyboard shortcut settings.

 

Press R key twice > Perspective Ruler > Add vanishing point

 

This way you can create a perspective rule and you can add the exact point where you want the vanishing points

The other alternative to do this is by going to_

 

Layer > Ruler/Frame > Create Perspective Ruler

Unlike the first option, this one will create the guides automatically, so you won't have to position them manually unless you want to modify the existing ones.

3D Models

If you feel that perspective isn't your thing or it’s becoming too difficult, Clip Studio Paint has 3D models you can use to your advantage. Just drag the hand from the material palette to your canvas and that’s it!

 

[Go to the Materials palette > 3D]

Since I mainly work on webtoons, I usually use the hands integrated into the 3D bodies, but you can also use separate 3D hands from Clip Studio Assets.

 

Clip Studio Paint also has an option that makes drawing hands much easier. And yes, I'm referring to the Hand Scanner. You can easily find it in the "Operation" window or simply by pressing the O key.

If you don't see this option, simply click the wrench icon in the bottom right corner, which will open the Sub Tool Details menu. Go to Hand Pose and make sure these options are enabled.

If you need a closed fist, you can also simply click here and select the pose that best suits your needs.

If you have version 5.0, you can also directly drag the recent models to your canvas where you will find a greater number of settings that will undoubtedly allow you to draw from any angle!

Manga Perspective

If you want to achieve a more obvious and even exaggerated perspective, you can also use the "Manga Perspective" option.

There's not much explanation behind this. This option simply exaggerates that perspective, which is precisely what most manga and anime tend to do.

Tip: This type of perspective makes the illustration or scene feel more impactful and dynamic!

Finger brush

Okay, now I think this is one of the oldest options, and one I've heard about for a long time. It's a finger brush. Yes, that's all. As we know, drawing fingers is possibly the most complicated part of the hand, so... why not a finger brush? haha

 

To download it, just go to Clip Studio Assets and type "finger" in the search bar. It will appear in the first results.

In my case, I already had it downloaded, but there's no problem doing it again.

When you're ready, just open the materials palette and you'll find it there. Now, make sure to select all the brushes corresponding to that material (because yes, there are several brushes) and drag them to the sub-tool with all your brushes

 

To keep your selection, remember to hold down the Ctrl or Shift key.

Now we're going to draw the palm, taking into account what we've learned. After that, we select one of the brushes we downloaded and use it, after that, let's lower the opacity a bit and use that as a sketch. If you feel comfortable, you can start directly with the line art; if not, then use it as a base reference for your sketch.

Tip: The fan effect

Imagine your fingers are the ribs of a fan. When you open your hand, your fingers don't spread out in parallel, but rather expand in a curve.

 

At the same time, when you make a fist, your fingers don't move down in a straight line towards your palm. Each joint follows a circular motion.

 

When drawing a half-closed hand, make sure the tip of each finger is following that curved "path" toward the center of the palm.

Tip: Proportion between hand and face

If we talk about proportions, there isn't really a specific rule since hands come in all sizes. However, generally, the size of the hand tends to cover the entire face, although this is more common in men. In women, hands tend to be smaller. In my case, the measurements are from my chin to just above my eyebrows.

Part 3: Show emotions in your comic

Apply this on your webtoon

Now, if you're interested in including what we learned in your webtoon, it's important to add other things that can be useful.

 

What we're going to do is add some bordered lines that will help reinforce the characters' movements. To begin, in the Layers panel, we'll create a new vector layer and apply the border effect that you'll see in the Layer Properties panel.

Depending on the shape of the line, you'll convey different things.

 

If the lines next to the hand are curved, broken, and vary in length, you'll create a trembling effect. But if you change the object and place it near a cell phone, it will give the effect of it vibrating.

 

Below you'll see different shapes with different purposes~

Radial Blur

If what we want is something more "aggressive" or "sudden", the best thing would be to exaggerate the movements with the blur effects.

 

To apply this go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur

You can configure the direction and mode with the options below to suit your taste, although it may still not be entirely to your liking for the final result, so let's add something else.

 

To do this, click on the comic section (or simply press the T key twice) and go to Focus Lines. I chose the first option, but you can choose whichever you prefer.

Apply it... and that's it! It looks much better, isn’t it?

Motion Blur

Imagine you're on a bus and it suddenly brakes, causing you and the other passengers to lurch forward. If you were holding onto the handrails overhead, you're more likely to lose your balance.

 

To capture these kinds of sudden, one-way movements, it's best to use Motion Blur.

Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur

This menu will appear later, giving you the option to adjust the blur to your liking. The Box option (which is the one I'll be using) is a more aggressive blur, while Smooth is exactly what the name suggests: softer. You can also define the direction and strength of the effect.

This would be the result with the configuration from above:

Part 4: The Body Language Of Hands

Now that we better understand how to draw hands, let's move on to the part about how to communicate through them.

 

The hands don't just accompany the character: they communicate intention, emotion, and subtext. In many cases, they can completely replace facial expression or powerfully reinforce it!

 

By nature, hands are expressive, so if you have ever read about body language, you will see that they are mentioned repeatedly.

Types of gestures and what they convey

Tension or Conflict

When we are angry or scared, the body tenses up. So we want to draw more pronounced knuckles, straighter lines, and sharp angles. If you’re feeling rage, you’ll probably clench your fists until your nails dig into your palm.

 

Closed hands also evoke tension, control, and conflict.

 

Firm fist → anger, determination, strength

Fingers clenched against the palm → emotional restraint

Half-closed hand → discomfort or insecurity

Calm

The opposite happens here. Fingers are relaxed, curves are softer, and they are never fully extended or fully closed.

 

In this case, there is also the possibility that the palm is open, which can be taken as a gesture of vulnerability.

 

Palm facing up → honesty, dedication, need

Palm facing down → calmness, control, gentle authority

Relaxed fingers → tranquility, confidence

Shyness or Delicacy

If you want to try something about shyness you have to think of hands that don’t fully commit to an action. Instead of strong or defined movements, these gestures feel light, contained, and sometimes incomplete

 

Hands touching each other → nervousness, self-comfort

Fingers overlapping or fidgeting → insecurity or anticipation

Hands close to the body → protection, emotional restraint

 

If you want to convey elegance or delicacy, avoid straight or tense lines. Keep the fingers slightly curved and relaxed, never fully extended or fully closed.

Point with the hands

Pointing helps direct attention to a specific point or character, though it can also be aggressive depending on how you draw it. If you point with an extended index finger, it will easily be understood as an accusation or emphasis. Pointing with an open hand can signify an invitation or guidance, while pointing to oneself can signify insecurity.

Extended index finger → accusation, emphasis

Open hand pointing → invitation or guidance

Pointing towards oneself → insecurity or need for validation

A little tip:

 

If we add a supporting hand with the appropriate contortions, we can add more expressiveness to the scene and make it more evident that the character is expressing frustration.

Doubt

Often, to show doubt, insecurity, or inner tension, small but quite expressive gestures are used; not to mention that scenes with this type of pose are usually silent and/or intimate.

 

Fingers touching each other → nervousness

Hand close to the body → protectiveness or discomfort

Incomplete movement (as if about to touch something but stops) → doubt

Tiredness or defeat

The lack of energy is also a key point to mention, although what I would honestly do is make the hands less of a key factor in deciphering the scene, allowing the main body pose or forward arch to take center stage.

 

In other words, this type of gesture usually works better when accompanied by body posture.

 

Fingers drooping downwards → exhaustion

Hand without tension → sadness or resignation

Enhance storytelling with interaction

If you want to take storytelling to another level, remember that hands are almost never "alone." If you're a webtoon artist like me, this might mean that drawing hands all the time can get tiring, but sometimes it's necessary to add more power to the visual narrative.

 

Sometimes it's necessary to draw certain scenes to convey a specific message, such as touching objects that express a particular intention, touching a person as a personal connection, or even touching the other hand as a symbol of nervousness or introspection.

 

Gentlehold → affection, protection

Firm grip → urgency or fear

Object held with finger tips→ doubt or delicacy

 

A little tip: your audience loves small details, especially when they involve hands.

Drawing hands is something we almost always avoid, but sooner or later we have to learn. Now that we've learned all this, I really hope you find it useful and that it helps you learn and grow.

 

Thank you for reading~

Assets used in this post