Drawing hands can be a daunting task for many starters. Hands are recognized as the hardest body parts to draw and how well draw hands are often used to judge your skill level. It takes a lot of persistence and countless repetition to draw realistic looking hands.
Human hands consist of multiple joints, many bones, a combination of fats and muscles with skin enveloping them all. To learn to draw hands, you should observe many different hands and visualize how they will be translated to your canvas. The way you approach drawing hands will differ depending on the position, angle, and how much it's clamped.
After you've made a mental note of the hands you will be drawing, next step is to peg basic shapes to different parts of the hands. This will enable you to set the right proportions and positions of the joints and fingers. Basic shapes in drawing refer to simple geometric shapes such as square, oblong, oval, triangle and circles. Basic shapes you will most likely use for drawing hands are ovals, circles and oblongs. Keep in mind that hands come in many different sizes and shapes so you are going to want to modify your basic shapes accordingly. While drawing your basic shapes, make sure to have them overlap where the joints connect.
After you've set the foundations of the hands with basic shapes, next step will involve drawing natural lines over your basics shapes. Finally, draw in details such as fingernails if applicable, wrinkles, and shadings. Erase any excess bits as you go along and try to use light touches while doing your shadings.
Your first few attempts while you learn to draw hands won't be anywhere near perfect but don't worry, everyone has to start somewhere. Practice by drawing hands of many different sizes and positions and at varying angles. Also mix it up by drawing hands that are clenched, holding objects and hands making signals and gestures.
You will want to learn to draw hands if you ever want to be considered a serious artist. Practice and repetitions are what will help you draw hands that are realistic and life-like.
Quick Tip #1: Breaking It Down
Break the subject you are drawing into simple basic shapes such as square, oval, oblong, triangle, and circle. It doesn't matter whether you are drawing an apple or a dragon. If you break your model down into basic shapes and use them as an outline, you are greatly simplifying the process of drawing. |
Quick Tip #2: Outside In
Draw from outside in. What I mean by this is you should always draw the outlines of your models first then cramp all the details within those outlines. Drawing facial features such as eyes, nose and mouth before setting facial line is a huge no-no. |
Quick Tip #3: Upside-Down
One exercise that will improve your drawing skills is drawing an upside-down image. This may seem a bit weird at first but try it! It'll develop and improve your visual mode. |
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