When drawing a person, special attention should be paid to both the face and the hands. First, besides the head, the arms are the most exposed parts of the body. Secondly, they are also expressive and mobile. Along with this, due to the complexity of the articulations, convex and flat parts of the hand, the hands can be, and usually are, the most difficult part when studying the structure of the human body.
The first mistake when drawing is too small hands. And here the ability to draw a head comes to the rescue. If you know how to correctly build the proportions of the head, then we can assume that you already have the correct proportions for drawing the hand. If you put your hand to your face, the tip of the middle finger will be at the hairline, and the brush ends at the level of the chin. Here is your main way to measure brush parameters.
I hope now you understand the importance of being able to draw the human body. If you can draw the human body, you can draw anything for two reasons: 1) you already know enough about the volume of the human body; and 2) if you place this body in a room with various objects, you can easily determine the dimensions of these objects in relation to the body. And you will also already know that all these objects have their own volume and shape.
Let's get back to the topic - Building a hand.
The hand has two volumetric bulges: one is at the base of the thumb (B), the second is the palm (the rest of the hand) (A). Double rows of finger bones, or carpal bones, are connected to the hand, creating one whole. The wrist does not exist separately, and it is not attached to the hand with a ball-and-socket joint, as in wooden dolls. The movement of the hand starts from the wrist. It narrows slightly at the junction with the forearm. The wrist can also be considered a universal connector because it moves in all directions - up and down, side to side, and can rotate.
The center of the palm is slightly lower than the rest of the hand. For example, if you put your straightened arm on the table with your palm down, you will notice that the wrist does not touch the surface of the table. You will notice that the wrist rises where it joins the hand.
The area of the thumb is much larger than the area at the base of the little finger. The hand is wider at the base of the fingers than at the junction with the wrist: however, closer to the wrist it is higher. Now pay attention to your hand: the palm is longer than its reverse side. The thumb is attached to the palm by an independent and highly mobile ball-and-socket joint, which allows it to actively move independently of the rest of the hand. The palm consists of elastic and soft areas - pillows. The surface of the fingers and the entire palm are covered with many pads. The fingertips are pointed, the middle finger - the longest - is the highest point of the hand. The pads at the fingertips are pointed so that they go in the middle - towards the middle finger. If you measure the length of the thumb from the top side, it will be equal to the length of the middle finger. The thumb is more powerful than the rest. The component parts of the fingers are more square in shape than it might seem at first glance, on the last square there is a nail, almost triangular in shape, with bulges on both sides, forming a place for the growth of the nail. You will better remember the structure of the hand if you study the structure of the skeleton of the hand, after which problems with drawing the hand will never arise again.
Knowledge of the structure of the joints, their movement and limitation in movement is very important. The first joint of the thumb and the first two joints of the remaining fingers are articulated. They can only move up and down, but not sideways and rotationally. When the fingers are spread apart, the uppermost knuckles of each finger arch back. The lower knuckles of the fingers will lean forward, while the upper knuckles or fingertips cannot be bent even at right angles. Note that the top two articulated joints can only be bent at 90 degrees. The lower joints of the fingers, as well as on the wrist, are spherical. There are many hand positions and structures for you to learn. Even when you are drawing, you can use your free hand as a model. Place a mirror in front of you, and this will give you more opportunities to study the positions of your free hand.
1. The first step in drawing a moving hand is the position of the fingers and hand. Draw a hand in motion and determine the approximate position of the hand.
2. Then select voluminous places - divide the brush into parts, this will help you determine where are the convex and where are the flat areas.
4. At the end, add shadows.
Remember this lesson, buy an anatomy textbook and study it. You can study the structure of the hand forever, and you may never be able to draw a hand in the same position twice. Every time you practice drawing a hand, you learn something new. Remember, the hands are just as important as the face. And they require the same attention and close study.
I hope you find this lesson helpful.
Successful work!
Drawing hands is one of the most thorny tasks that a novice artist faces. What are hands? Yes, we see them every day, they are constantly in front of us, because we perform most of the actions with the help of them, but at the initial stage hand drawing- these seemingly visual parts of the body, difficulties always arise. In this online drawing lesson, I will try to teach you how, without much difficulty, to understand the plasticity of the hand and the technique of its execution.
1) To learn how to draw hands, first you just need to try to copy (at least from the drawings below), from your own hands, from photographs, and after that, when you encounter certain difficulties, you can study this article in detail and here you will already find answers to common mistakes and some subtleties and tricks when drawing hands.
2) Each drawing, of course, begins with a sketch or sketch. A drawing that is done correctly and proportionately owes, first of all, a sketch. A sketch, especially of parts of the human body, can only be done correctly with knowledge of human proportions or anatomical structure. So, what do we know about the proportions of the human palm. In the figure below, we see that the human palm can be measured relative to the head - from the jawline to the hairline.
3) The next thing we need to know about the structure of the hand for drawing is that the bones, or knuckles, are not located in a straight line - this is a common mistake - they are located in an arc (see example). And in general, as for the hands, there are almost never parallel and even lines. Here everything moves, the hand is multifunctional, the hands are a separate creature, they live their own lives.
4) Fingers on the hand of different lengths. The longest finger is the middle one, the next in descending order is the ring finger, then the index finger (the last two differ slightly in length), the little finger (reaches the upper joint of the ring finger) and the thumb, although the thumb is equal in length to the little finger, it turns out to be lower than all the others and this seems to be the shortest. You also need to know that the length of the middle finger is almost half the length of the palm. The thumb slightly misses the second knuckle of the index finger and basically, when working and moving the hand, it is 90 degrees in relation to the other fingers. The width of the palm is approximately 75% of the length of the palm, or slightly more than half.
5) Despite the fact that the hand is the most flexible and unpredictable, at first glance, part of the body, there are laws by which the hand, palm and fingers live. We all know these laws, but when we start drawing hands, for some reason we forget about them. The mechanical principle of the hand is that the palm can only close and open, and the fingers bend or curl down to the middle of the palm, squeezing the pastern, like a closing flower bud. The hand is concave on the inside, and convex on the outside, the fingers grow tightly, when the fingers are folded, they are a continuous continuation of the palm. An incorrect drawing is one on which the fingers are widely spaced from each other or, when added together (mentally), gaps are obtained.
To master this, you need to watch the hand while it holds something, reaches out, grabs it. Only knowing how the hand works, which phalanges are involved in a particular reflex process, can one convincingly draw a hand in motion or in a static state. Here is another tip that I will give you in order to learn how to draw hands: always divide the palm into three parts: the first part is the base of the palm, the second is the base of the thumb, which cuts off a significant piece from below, the third is the upper bases of the remaining four fingers. The muscle of the thumb (the second part of the palm) is the most powerful of all located in the palm of your hand, it is the most important and most visible, the most convex and voluminous. In the middle of the palm on the inside there is a characteristic hole with the lines of fate. My advice to you: when drawing a hand, first sketch out the lines of the hand, then build blocks or those same three parts based on the lines, it will be easier to depict a natural hand.
6) The bones in the palm and fingers are visible only in the form of knuckles on the back of the hand, in other cases they only form shapes and, when sketched, they can be depicted with lines along which the hand will be built. The fingers consist of several bones, thanks to which they have a rhythmic shape - from each knuckle to another they narrow and expand. In places of joints, the fingers look a little thicker, on the inside there are folds that are located just above the joint. You also need to study the articulated ability of the fingers to bend, so that later you do not draw an implausibly bent finger. The first two joints can bend at a right angle, and the upper ones cannot even at a sharp one. Look at the unconscious dependence of the joints, for example: when the second joint bends, the upper one automatically bends. When the fingers are extended, the upper joint tends to lean back.
The tendons on the hand, visible on the back of the hand, appear as threads or lines that form a straight line from each of the midline of the fingers. They appear when the palm is very tense or arched. It would be a mistake to depict the tendons of the back of the hand in children, adolescents and overweight people, since in these cases they are hidden, not visible or underdeveloped.
7) Another important thing that we will cover in the online lesson "how to draw hands" is the location of the lines of the fingers. Note that the line of the middle finger divides the palm into two equal halves. This line is also at right angles to all the others. This finger is unclenched and compressed exactly to the palm, while the rest, when compressed to the palm, tend to its center, and take an angle.
8) How to draw female hands. As elsewhere, when depicting a woman and her parts, one must remember that the main things here are smoothness and roundness. The knuckles on the fingers and the outer side of the palm of a woman are smaller, the fingers are mostly thin. With clenched fingers, they tend to one point more clearly than in a man, as if a few more centimeters and they would merge into one point.
A hand is such a drawing subject that is always at hand (sorry for the tautology). Even when you draw with one hand, you always have a second one in order to see how the palm or finger, or phalanx behaves in this or that case. Of course, in the technique of drawing a hand, practice is considered the main thing, studying anatomy, behavior and structure is half the battle, and then you need to train and train. The hand is a part of the body that you don't have to draw twice in the same position, so each time you will learn it in a new way, but with the basic knowledge that you have received, these will be little things that you can easily build around the outline base.
Follow the releases of the site and in the next updates of the Articles section, there will be new tutorials on drawing parts of the human body.
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People who try to draw human hands for the first time face a number of difficulties. How to understand the shape of the hands? How to learn patterns in their structure? Plastic anatomy for artists helps to understand these issues. In this article, I have made a series of anatomical drawings, sketches, and diagrams to help beginners understand the basics and pay attention to key aspects. I have tried to make this material as simple and to the point as possible. I do not exclude that somewhere I could make small inaccuracies, but the essence of this does not change.
1. Main titles
The arms are made up of three main parts:
- shoulder;
- forearm;
- brush.
The forearm is made up of two bones:
- ulna (thickening at the elbow);
- radius bone (thickening at the wrist).
Main muscles:
- deltoid muscle (raises the entire arm);
- biceps or biceps brachii (flexes the arm at the elbow);
- triceps or triceps muscle of the shoulder (extends the arm at the elbow);
- muscles responsible for the movement of the hand, fingers and rotation of the forearm with the hand (pronation-supination).
The two main muscle groups of the forearm are:
- on the side of the external epicondyle of the humerus is a group of muscles (a), which includes the extensors of the hand and fingers;
- from the side of the internal epicondyle of the humerus there is a group of muscles (b), which includes the flexors of the hand and fingers;
- these two muscle groups are clearly visible and distinctly separated by the ulna.
2. Anatomical structure of the hand. Core muscles
The shape of the hand depends on the shape of the bones and muscles. Therefore, in the process of drawing a person, you need to pay attention to the anatomical structure of the hands. It is important to “see” which muscles are located where. To understand plastic anatomy, the following drawings, which depict the skeleton and musculature, may help. In each such drawing, I added a diagram in which I highlighted the key, clearly visible muscles with color. These muscles are pronounced, so they should be visible in the drawing of a person. Of course, the muscles of women's hands will be more refined and miniature than men's. In addition, there are full people, and there are thin and "wiry". This means that their muscles will also be different. But the main muscles indicated in the drawings will be visible to one degree or another in each person.
3. Pronation and supination
If you stop and pay attention to how the hand moves, you will notice that it is able to rotate. That is, we can turn our hands palms up, or we can turn our palms down. If up - then this position of the hand is called supination. And if from top to bottom - then pronation. In this case, the radius of the forearm moves around the ulna. For clarity, I made a schematic diagram showing how this happens.
In the process of drawing, you need to constantly compare sizes. This helps to correctly convey the proportions. Hand drawing is no exception. If we talk about the forearm, then in its widest part the abdomens of the muscles are concentrated, and in the narrowest part - the tendons (although there are also some muscles there). Knowing this feature, it will be easier to draw human hands.
5. Shoulder and forearm are angled relative to each other
When a person holds a straight arm, the arm will not be absolutely straight anyway. This is due to the fact that the shoulder and forearm are located at an angle to each other.
6. The connection of the shoulder and forearm is similar to the connection of chain links.
The chain example is very helpful in understanding the shape of the hands. How is the widest part of the shoulder rotated relative to the widest part of the forearm? This is clearly seen in the schematic drawing. If you remember this feature of the structure of the hand, then further drawing of the hands will be much easier.
The elbow joint provides a movable connection of the humerus, ulna and radius. The principle of its operation is clearly visible in the schematic drawing. The head of the ulna is like a wrench. The joint of the radius and humerus resembles a ball and a cup, because the radius rotates around the ulna, and also moves up and down, like the ulna, providing flexion of the arm at the elbow.
8. Three visible points in the elbow joint
Some novice artists may ask: “Why do you need to know the structure of the joint if you can’t see it anyway?” The answer is simple - the joint affects the shape of the hand, its movements, and three of its elements are also visible. Internal condyle, external condyle and head of the ulna. If the elbow and internal condyle are visible to a greater or lesser extent in any position of the arm, then the external condyle is noticeable with the arm bent. When the arm is straight, he hides in the hole. These nuances affect the appearance of the hand, so it is important in the drawing.
9. Drawings of hands in pencil
After studying the anatomical features, you need to be able to apply knowledge in practice. Therefore, in the conclusion of this article, I give as an example pencil drawings in which human hands are depicted in various positions. Notice the shading. It seems to repeat the shape of the muscles of the hand, bending around the surface. This is an important point in the technical side of the drawing. If we talk about chiaroscuro, then both on the whole arm and on individual muscles, you need to learn to see light, penumbra, shadow - just like in the drawing of a jug or geometric shapes. However, in order for the drawing to become confident and professional, you need to practice a lot. It takes time to develop skills in drawing.
This lesson is related to "How to draw a person" and if you look in more detail, in this lesson I will tell you " How to draw a hand»
For starters, pay attention to our hands. They consist of three parts: shoulder, forearm and hand. Each of them can be depicted in the form of ovals, well, or you just need to learn how to draw a hand right away. If you depict a lowered hand, then the tips of the fingers will reach the middle of the thigh, and the elbows will be at the level of the waist.
Here we have considered a method with a simplified form of the hand, now we will improve it so that it looks more natural. When you draw the hands, don't draw them too evenly. We start from the shoulder, it has a smooth bend, near the elbow the arm narrows a little and expands again at the place where the biceps are located.
The elbow will be a little hard to draw, because it's not just a bend, it's a connection, a hinge.
Next is the brush. Imagine each of the segments as a cylinder, and now turn your hand upside down and you will see three almost identical segments on each finger. Well, because all the fingers are different in length, the pads and the folds that are between them do not line up.
Let's start draw a hand from the joints of the fingers from the bones. Joint 1 is the largest of the three. The second joint is located between the two (in the middle), it is smaller and shorter than the first, but longer than the third joint - the tip of the finger. It is not possible to draw all fingers in this way, since each finger has a different length.
On top of the phalanx of the fingers, you need to draw straight lines, and from the side of the palm, rounded.
But let's not forget that the male hand is slightly different from the female. The male hand is more massive and more sinewy. There are three options for drawing a hand: Muscular, toned, and a weakling's hand. 
What conclusions can be drawn from this lesson? Conclusion one: draw a hand not so difficult as it might seem at first glance
Many will agree that drawing a person's face is not an easy task. However, among some artists there is an opinion that drawing a hand is even more difficult. What is more difficult to draw - the face or the hands - I can't say. Probably, for whom. But, what can be stated quite definitely is that it is really difficult to draw hands and fingers correctly. But this is possible if you understand the basics of plastic anatomy and know the proportions. To do this, I prepared a series of drawings with visual diagrams. They will help you understand the key points that you need to learn to pay attention to in the process of drawing hands.
1. Brush size
The size of the hands is approximately equal to the face (not the head). If measured from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger, then this segment will be equal to the distance from the chin to the upper border of the forehead. This is the size of an adult's hand. The younger the person, the smaller the hand will be relative to his face. In young children, the palms are equal to the distance from the chin to the eyebrows.
2. Skeleton and muscles
The shape of the fingers and the entire hand depends on the shape of the bones and muscles. You can verify this by looking at the given anatomical drawings of the hands.
3. Middle of the brush
In the process of drawing, it is important to compare distances and check proportions. A good starting point for this would be a line corresponding to the middle of the brush. Having outlined it, it will be much easier to avoid mistakes in the future. Therefore, at the very beginning of the drawing, you should not immediately draw fingers and details. It is better to outline the general outline of the brush, similar to a mitten. Then determine the middle. And then you can proceed to the details.
4. Middle of fingers
In order for the fingers in the drawing not to turn out to be crooked, it is necessary to correctly determine the length of each phalanx that makes up the fingers: proximal, middle and distal. The following schematic drawing will help with this, in which the middle of the fingers is easily visible. Having determined the middle of each finger, further comparison of proportions will be much easier.
5. Thumb length
The thumb will end at 2/3 of the proximal phalanx of the index finger.
6. The length of the index finger and ring finger
The length of the index finger is equal to the length of the ring finger. However, this ratio may vary slightly from person to person.
7. Little finger length
The tip of the little finger is at the level of the joint between the distal and middle phalanges of the ring finger. By comparing the length of the little finger with this level, it is easy to check your drawing for errors.
8. Length of nails
The length of the nail of each finger is 1/2 the length of the distal phalanx of the corresponding finger.
9. Location of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb
When a person looks at the hand, he sees just some bumps and depressions. But an artist who studies plastic anatomy sees joints, ligaments, bones, muscles behind each such “tubercle” ... On our hands (more precisely, hands) there are three key joints, “tubercles”, which are important for determining the size and further marking the picture. If these three points are determined at the beginning, then the further drawing will be much easier, since it will be possible to build on these points. Therefore, to draw the thumb, it is better to start with its metacarpophalangeal joint (point 2). And to determine its location, you need to remember that it is located approximately in the middle between the metacarpophalangeal joint of the middle finger (1 point) and the head of the ulna (3 point).
10. The hand fits into a circle
The hand fits easily into the circle. Therefore, you can draw hands using a circle as an auxiliary line.
11. Concave shape of the brush
On the inner, palmar side, the hand has a concave shape, repeating the shape of a ball. The hand is not flat.
12. The fingers are slightly curved towards the center.
The fingers have a subtle bend. They are curved towards the middle of the brush. The fingers are not completely straight.
13. The bends of the fingers on the palmar and outer sides of the hand are at different levels.
The phalangeal joints of the fingers form skin folds. These folds on the palmar and outer sides of the hand are located at different levels.
14. At the heart of the form are geometric shapes
From the above figure, it can be seen that by dividing the hand into geometric shapes, it will be easier to understand its shape.
15. Hand model corresponding to the main anatomical features
To learn how to draw hands, you need to be able to see the basic shape among the many little things. Be able to see the nature of the form. To do this, you can imagine the hand in the form of three-dimensional geometric shapes. As in the drawing of the head, artists use a model called “cutting”, so in the drawing of the hand, you can use the above diagram. Such a conditionally schematic representation corresponds to the main anatomical features. It will help novice artists understand the essence, and therefore draw hands more confidently.
Summarizing the above, we can add that beginners should accustom themselves to pay attention to the proportions indicated in this article. If you constantly compare values, compare sizes, then the drawing will be easier and will become much more competent.
Despite the fact that the proportions of the hands may differ depending on the individual characteristics of a person, these differences are unprincipled and insignificant (for example, the length of the index and ring fingers may vary). Therefore, the proportions and features indicated in this article generally
