Check out the video version!

Introduction

More than just something to grab stuff with, hands are excellent tools of communication.

- Public speakers use their hands to emphasize their points, visualize their words, and make connections with the audience.

- The way we touch someone conveys emotions and intention even without words.

- Hands can enhance emotions conveyed through facial expression. But it can also contradict the facial expression and reveal how someone truly feels.

- Even with the same pose, different hand gestures convey different feelings.

- It can also add information and clarify what’s going on between people.

 

Without hands, it’s not clear what’s going on.

But with their hands, you can tell that these people might be in the middle of an argument.

- There are also interactions between people that directly involve hands.

Hand Gesture Basics

Hand flex

I categorize hand movements based on how dynamic it is. To make it easy, let’s divide it into three categories: Relaxed, Neutral, and Dynamic.

There are three parts you need to pay attention to:

 

First, the wrist joint movement:

1. Relaxed: Doesn’t defy gravity.

2. Neutral: Parallel to the forearm.

3. Dynamic: Fully bend up. The back of the hand is almost 90 degrees to the forearm.

Note: The “Relaxed” one can also bend up when the forearm is up. What makes it different from “Dynamic” is the angle. For “Relaxed”, the back of the hand would be around 120° or more to the forearm, and is accompanied by relaxed fingers. While “Dynamic” can get closer to 90°, and is accompanied by neutral or dynamic fingers.

Second, finger tension:

1. Relaxed: curl towards the palm.

2. Neutral: Straight.

3. Dynamic: Angled and tense.

 

When put into action, you can see how much difference each tension level makes in the way it holds onto a fabric.

With fists, there are two categories: Neutral and Dynamic.

Third, the gap between fingers.

For this one, “Relaxed” and “Neutral” are the same.

 

1. Relaxed/Neutral: small gaps.

2. Closed: no gaps.

3. Dynamic: big gaps.

Proximity to body

Hand-to-own-body distance.

- Far from body: dynamic, assertive.

- Close to body: neutral, protective.

Palm positions

1. Palm down shows authority and control. You might be familiar with the ‘table slam’ gesture (authority) and ‘calm down’ gesture (control).

2. Palm up makes the wrist area, where our artery is, visible, which is vulnerable. This can show openness, confidence, trust, and sometimes submission. It’s often used when welcoming someone or when you’re about to receive something.

3. Palm facing sideways and horizontal are neutral.

What do you think of the three pointing fingers below? To me, palm down feels most accusatory, palm up feels casual and relaxed, and palm sideways feels neutral.

Breaking Down Hand Gestures

Emotion is a spectrum, and the combination of how each hand part moves can convey the emotions.

 

Let’s analyze the gestures shown in the tutorial so far.

1. Calmly talking to an audience.

 

Wrist: Neutral.

Fingers: Relaxed.

Gap: Medium.

Proximity to body: Medium.

Palm: Sideways.

 

Note: The fingers show that the speaker is not anxious. The other hand parts are mostly neutral.

 

2. Patting a child’s head.

 

Wrist: Relaxed.

Fingers: Relaxed.

Gap: Medium.

Proximity to body: Far.

Palm: Down.

 

Note: "Relaxed" wrist, fingers, and medium finger gaps show that the hand owner pats the child softly and without hesitation. Hand far from the body (and closer to someone else), palm downward, shows that the hand owner feels comfortable reaching out, and that everything is under control.

 

3. Arguing with someone.

 

Wrist: Neutral.

Fingers: Dynamic (While the point finger is “neutral”, the other fingers are “dynamic”)

Gap: Closed.

Proximity to body: Far (It’s considered far because it’s closer to the other person)

Palm: Sideways.

 

Note: “Dynamic” fingers, closed gap, and far proximity signals assertion. The wrist and palm signaling “neutral” means that the person is only slightly heated.

 

4. Refusing the argument of the other person.

 

Wrist: Dynamic.

Fingers: Neutral.

Gap: Closed.

Proximity to body: Close.

Palm: Horizontal.

 

Note: “Neutral” fingers and palm combined with “Dynamic” wrist” closed fingertips gap shows neutrality, but stern. Proximity to the body signals defensiveness.

 

5. Surprised/afraid.

 

Wrist: Dynamic.

Fingers: Dynamic.

Gap: Medium.

Proximity to body: Close.

Palm: Sideways.

 

Note: “Dynamic” wrists and fingers show tension. The medium gap and palm sideways signal that the person wasn’t very surprised/afraid. Hands close to the body make sense; people tend to show defensiveness when surprised/afraid.

 

6. Ready to fight back if needed.

 

Wrist: Dynamic.

Fingers: Dynamic fists.

Gap: Close.

Proximity to body: Close.

Palm: Slightly down.

 

Note: “Dynamic” wrist, fingers, and close gap signals readiness to fight back. Proximity to the body means defensive; this person wasn’t going to attack first. Palm slightly down signals control.

 

7. Waving hands happily.

 

Wrist: Neutral.

Fingers: Neutral.

Gap: Dynamic.

Proximity to body: Far.

Palm: Horizontal.

 

Note: The wrist, fingers, and palm signals neutrality. Big gaps between fingers and hands far from the body show openness and energy, enhancing the happiness the face shows.

 

8. Smiling, but angry inside.

 

Wrist: Neutral.

Fingers: Dynamic.

Gap: Closed.

Proximity to body: Close.

Palm: Sideways.

 

Note: While the wrist and palm signals neutrality, the “dynamic” fingers crushing the can signal otherwise. Closed fingertips gap and proximity to the body signal defensiveness. The person is angry at what’s happening, but couldn’t show it.

Expressing Emotions with Hands

Before you start drawing, decide on the emotion you want to convey. I’m thinking of drawing someone who was resting her chin on her hand when she heard good news. The emotions will be 1) surprise and 2) happiness.

 

Here I’m using Clip Studio Paint’s 3D hand model to speed up the sketching process (the tutorial for the hand model is in the next section).

At this point, the hand pose didn’t look dynamic enough. I tried other poses with the “Hand Pose” function.

- The first hand pose made the character look like she was going to punch the person who told her the news.

- The second hand was too playful, no element of surprise.

- The third one is similar to the original pose, but with the fingers slightly more open. This one is perfect. It shows surprise, but not so much to feel alarming.

After that:

1. Finish sketching the character.

2. Use Layer Properties > Effect >Layer Color on both the 3D model and the sketch layers. Lower. the opacity of both layers. Then create a new layer to draw the lines on.

3.  Line finished!

3D Hand Model

If you’re using Clip Studio Paint ver 5.0 (mine is on iPad, but I think it’s the same on PC), you can find the hand model in the 3D folder. There are left and right models. 

Drag and drop the model on the canvas. This is how the model will look out of the box.

I usually turn on the “Show hand details” function. It’s nice to see the bones and joints mapped on the model.

Hand Mixer

There’s a function called “Hand mixer.” No, not the kitchen appliance. This one is to change the hand shape. You can reset the changes by tapping/clicking on the round icon above the mixer menu.

 

”Limit hand mixer” functions to keep the hand model look human-like, no matter how much mixing you put into the model. If you turn it off, the limiter is off, and every change you make will be reflected in the model. It’s great for designing monster hands!

Pose

“Pose” is the next function. Here you can find a toggle to switch the hand from left to right and vice versa.

Hand Pose

Next up is Hand Pose. This menu helps you to pose the model without having to adjust every finger.

1. Hand Scanner (Camera) is self-explanatory.

2. The triangle here is the life-saving feature. You can adjust the finger gap by moving the slider left to right, and curl and uncurl the fingers by moving the slider up and down.

3. The four fists icons here instantly change the pose into a fist with different degrees of intensity and movement variations.

Adjust Parts

With “Adjust parts,” you can tweak the hands even more. If you click/tap the drop-down menu, you’ll find that you can adjust every part of the hand (individual/all fingers, thumb, palm, and wrist). Like before, the round icon resets the changes.

 

What interests me the most are the nail-related sliders. You can adjust the nails’ length, width, and even the sharpness. Great for fashionable characters or characters with claws!

For the “Palm” adjustment, the “Hand veins” checkbox is for the visibility of veins on the model. There’s also a slider to adjust the prominence.

Light Source

”Light Source” is where you can change the lighting. You can also turn it off, but I think the model details look clearer with it on.

Manual Posing

Slider

To manually change the pose, there are two ways.

First is by using the slider. With the “Object” tool, click/tap the hand.

Click/tap one of the purple shapes, and the slider will pop out under the model. (The chosen part will change color).

 

The half circle = palm.

Short cones = knuckles.

Ball = fingertips.

Long cone = wrist.

“Hand Pose” can override any manual pose you make, so be careful.

Pose Manipulator

The second way is to use the pose manipulator. When you switch from the slider, the “root manipulator” will appear.

When you select any hand parts you want to adjust, the “local manipulator” will appear.

The lines represents their own axis can be adjusted. Here, I adjusted the blue line to bend the wrist.

Saving the Hand Pose

Under the “Pose” section, there’s a “Register pose” button. You can save the pose for later use or to use with a full-body model.

“Material properties” window will pop out. You can name it, assign a thumbnail image, select a save location, and add tags.

 

I’ll ignore the details for now and save it in the “Hand model” folder.

In the “Hand model” folder, now the pose is at the very top. Double-click/tap if you want to access the “Material properties” window to edit the name and other details.

Using the Hand Pose

To use it with a full-body 3D model, first have the model on the canvas.

Go to the folder where the hand pose is and drag and drop the pose onto the model. Both hands are now in the same pose.

If you only want the pose on one hand, click/tap on whichever hand to select it.

Then, drag and drop the pose. Now only one hand is in the pose.

More Hand Tutorials

I have tutorials on drawing hands , so check it out if you want something in-depth.