LEARNING HANDS

        Hands are one of the hardest parts of the human body to draw. The sheer complexity of the hands - the fingers sizes, the perspective and the wrinkles are all crucial in not just drawing a hand, but making it realistic.  Up until the day I was taught how to draw hands, they where a body part I avoided with a passion - if I drew a body, I'd always leave the hands for another day, which never came.

   The first part of the workshop was learning how to draw the hand itself. Much like drawing the hand and the body, I learnt you start with blocking out the positioning and basic shape of the hand. Starting with a square for the palm of the hand, a single line is drawn directly from the middle of the square as a reference for the middle finger- this is the longest finger. From the middle finger, the next two are drawn on either side, both of which are the same length. The final finger is the small finger, which is slightly smaller than the two previous fingers and finally there is the thumb. Firstly, an equilateral triangle off shooting from the side of the square is drawn, from the top of this triangle the thumb is drawn. Now the entire hand is drawn in it's basics, and all that is left to complete is the minute details to define the individual characteristics of a hand.

   We was then taught how to draw hands holding objects with two main tips - one, reference a model and two, start with the basic shapes of the hand. From those tips and the lesson in drawing the hand itself  the below practice session took place.

   

   In that one session, I learnt how to draw hands and how to draw hands holding objects such as a ball, a cup and a pencil. Through practicing theses I learnt not only how to draw the hand itself, but how to draw the hand at different angles and perspectives, giving me a more comprehensive knowledge on drawing the hand. Since learning and practicing, I can now draw hands without thinking too much into things, and I believe the images above highlight this success. In all I learnt;

• The hand is built from a square, a triangle and a line
• The middle finger is central and the longest
• The fingers next to it are the same length
• The thumb is an offshoot of the triangle
• Referencing is an effective tool of practice

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