How to draw hands with a pencil?

Hands are a personal and unique part of the body. Often they can tell about a person's life with their shape and size. For many years people have been studying their lines and structure, trying to read the future along the lines. Today we will learn draw hands with a simple pencil with a step by step tutorial. We will pay special attention to their construction and the imposition of shadows, so that the drawing comes out the most realistic.

Tools and materials:

1. White sheet of paper;
2. Eraser;
3. Solid simple pencil;
4. Two soft simple pencils.

Stages of work:

Photo 1. The figure will show two hands. One lies on top of the other. Let's start with the hand that will be on top. For construction we use a hard pencil. Let's denote the shape of the first hand with simple lines:

Photo 2. Place the second hand on the bottom left. It will be turned sideways. We are not in a hurry to draw fingers. Just outline the wrist and hand:

Photo 3. On the left hand, draw the fingers and folds on the bends. We do not stylishly press on the pencil, the pressure should be weak at the first stage. Otherwise, then the contours will not naturally stand out. The fingers are slightly unevenly spaced so that they peek out from behind each other. The little finger has the most folds, because it is the most bent:

Photo 4. Now let's move on to the right hand. She is on the top left. Add fingers and two parallel lines at the level of the bones, at the level of the bends. This will make it easier to navigate when building:

Photo 6. We continue to hatch gradually adding more volume. Let's draw a little contour and work on the right hand. The little finger and ring finger are on a bend, so we add more shadow on them than on the rest:

Photo 8. Let's make more shadow, but try not to darken it. Strokes are applied gradually. This trick helps to make the hands realistic:

Photo 9. Let's add more contrast. We continue to add a shadow:

Photo 10. Let's refine the contour again, it will highlight the foreground. The rest of the places are left untouched.

In this lesson, I suggest you draw a hand in its classic position - unclenched fingers, palm down. Perhaps you need to draw a hand clenched into a fist or a hand with the palm up. Or draw connecting hands, as in the background image. In any case, this lesson will help you draw hands. Drawing a hand is very convenient, because with one hand you draw, and with the other you can sketch. First, study your hand carefully, pay attention to the length of the fingers, all proportions. You can even outline the outline of the hand if you are going to draw it in full size.

1. Marking the contour of the hand

Indeed, if you need draw a hand on the whole sheet of paper, it is easier to outline the outline of your hand, and then, using some of the tips from this lesson, just add small details. If you need to draw a hand on a reduced scale, then first put two points for the wrist and five points for the fingers. Please note that not the index, but the middle finger on the hand is the longest.

2. Straight contour lines of the fingers

The length of the fingers is different. They say musicians have very long fingers. The nobles believed that long and delicate fingers emphasize aristocratic origin. Maybe, but we will draw a regular hand, so divide the segment where the little finger will be in half, and draw a line from it, parallel to the points outlined earlier. For the thumb, draw a rectangular outline.

3. Draw the real contours of the fingers

At this stage, you only need to trace the straight contours of the fingers with a pencil and give them real shapes. Perhaps these preliminary contours will be inaccurate, then the shape of each finger can be refined separately.

4. General shape of the hand

At this step, you can correct the contours of the fingers. Make a deeper "angle" for the thumb, but you can leave the original outline, at your discretion. Make a markup of the phalanxes and remove extra contour lines from the drawing.

5. The drawing is almost finished

First of all, draw nails on the fingers. Highlight the joints of the fingers with a few strokes and you can say hand drawing finished. It remains only to draw a few details in the next step.

6. How to draw a hand. Shadows

In humans, the knuckles of the hands have "wrinkles" or folds that stretch when the fingers are squeezed, make these areas darker. There is an area between the fingers that also needs to be highlighted. To make the hand look voluminous in the figure, you can make some of the contour lines darker and thicker. In this case, decide on which side the light source will be. It may seem that draw a hand quite easy. Try to draw, and then compare your hand with the resulting drawing.

Let's try to draw a hockey player in motion step by step, with a stick and a puck. You may even be able to draw your favorite hockey player or goalkeeper.

This lesson is designed for those who already know how to draw well, since drawing a person is not easy. Drawing a picture of a dancing ballerina is especially difficult, because in the drawing you need to convey not only the grace of human movements, but also the grace of ballet dance.

When drawing a person, you should see the entire future image from the intended lines, and you just have to draw them. It is important not only to accurately "maintain" the proportions of these lines in the drawing, but to accurately draw hands, eyes, lips. They convey the mood and character of a person.

Portraits are the most difficult form of fine art. Learning how to draw a portrait, even with a simple pencil, requires not only time for learning, but also talent.

Human eyes are the most attractive and main part of a person's face. Since this element of the portrait attracts the most attention, it must be drawn very precisely. In this lesson we will learn how to draw a person's eyes with a pencil in stages.

The nose of each person has unique features, so it is impossible to give accurate advice on how to draw the nose of a girl, child or man. You can only make an abstract or as they say "academic" drawing of the nose. It is this version of the drawing of the nose that I propose to draw for you.

Perhaps no aspect of the drawing is accompanied by more disorder and is less adequate material for study than the drawing of hands. Much of this trouble is caused by the fact that you rush to look for material anywhere, instead of looking at your own hands. You have the best source of information available at all times. Perhaps you have never thought of them in this sense. The drawing of the hands should be based largely on yourself. After all, any teacher cannot explain to you more than you learn by carefully examining your own hands.
The study of the hands, besides the study of their anatomical construction, consists mainly of considering the sizes of the various parts in comparison. The fingers have a certain length relative to the palm; the joints of the fingers are in a certain proportion in relation to the whole finger. The palm has a width and a length. The distances between the joints on the outside of the fingers are greater than they are between the folds on the inside. The length of the longest finger from its base to the third knuckle at the back is actually half the length of the back of the hand from the tip of the finger to the wrist. The tip of the thumb reaches almost to the second joint of the index finger. The length of the palm is equal to the length of the face from the chin to the hairline. You can take these comparative measurements on yourself or on someone else.
The hand is the most flexible and adaptable part of the anatomy of the body, it can embrace an object of any shape and size comparable to it. This flexibility is also a difficulty for the artist, because the whole hand can take different positions. But still the mechanical principle of the hands remains constant. The palm opens and closes, and the fingers curl inward towards the middle of the palm. Nails are a very convenient exercise for learning how the fingers work, since they need to be grasped accurately and firmly; you pick up the pin with your fingertips; take the hammer with your fingers and palm. The back of the hand is more or less resistant to the back pressure of the fingers, and is used in pushing (it is quite difficult to bend the fingers back). The hand is the most perfect mechanism that we know to achieve a variety of goals. In addition to its perfection, the hand is most closely and precisely coordinated with the brain than any other part of the body. Many of her movements are controlled by subconscious reflexes; for example, typing and playing the piano.
Man began to act with his hands before his brain and cultural level developed. The baby can use his hands effectively before he can think. The history of human advancement since ancient times is closely related to the adaptability of the human hand.
The fact that the hands and their movements require so little conscious impulse that it is surprising to be aware from the outside. Look now at your own hands; you will see in the illustration how the hand automatically takes a shape that is convenient for grasping the object.
To draw a hand while building an object, you must first examine the outline of the object, then observe how the automatic adjustment of the arm fits that outline. Watch your fingers before grasping and squeezing a peach or apple. The principle of the grasping mechanism is very important in the drawing of the hand. Only by knowing this, how it actually works, can the hand be drawn convincingly. To draw a hand as you sketch a person, you must first examine the contour of the object, then note how the position of the hand matches this contour. First, before taking and squeezing a peach or an apple in a fist, one must observe the fingers in order to notice how they behave before grasping. The reflex principle is very important in hand drawing. Only by knowing how the hand actually works can one draw it convincingly. The back of the hand can be drawn in three planes - the first for the section of the thumb up to the joint of the base of the index finger, and the other two along the palm, tapering towards the wrist. In most actions, the back of the hand is bent. As a rule, the palm is three blocks surrounding the inside of the palm - the base of the palm, the thick base of the thumb, the base of the remaining fingers. The joint between the fingers and the thumb is connecting, adapted to move the thumb to the palm inward or pull it at an angle of 900 to the palm. We must also carefully align the nails so that they lie on the same plane as the outer surface of the fingers and are a continuation of the midline of each finger. Otherwise, the nail will be crooked and you won't understand why.
Keep studying your own hands to learn about hands in general. The internal muscles are so deep that they are not as important as the external forms. The only bones we see are the knuckles on the outside of the joints and wrists. If you're drawing the palm in action, the fingers can be fairly easily attached to the knuckles and aligned correctly. Study the comparative length of the fingers; remember that the thumb works mainly at right angles to the rest of the fingers. Get rid of the idea that hands are difficult to draw. It's just very easy to get confused if you don't know how they work. Everything becomes much easier once you get the hang of it.
The most important thing to remember about the hand is that it is concave on the inside and convex on the outside. The fingers grow so tightly that even liquid can be held in the palm of your hand. The hand served the primitive man as a cup and spoon, he picked up in a handful what he could not take with his fingers alone.
The thumb muscle is perhaps the most important muscle in the hand. This muscle, supporting or opposing the rest of the fingers, gave a person the opportunity to make a very strong grip, capable of holding even the human body on weight. This muscle helped a person to hold a spear, a club. As animals often depend on the strength of their jaws, so man depended on the strength of his hands.
When you become familiar with the structure and proportions of the hand (Fig. 77 - 85), it will be easier and more convenient for you to display the features of women's hands, the hands of babies, children, and the elderly.

Figure 77. Anatomy of the hand.


Pay attention to the tendons located on the back
side of the palm that reach for the fingers. They perform
huge function: with their help you can compress and decompress
palm, and also move each finger individually.
The muscles that control these tendons are located
in the forearm. Fortunately for artists, most
tendons are hidden under the skin and muscles, and imperceptibly.
In children and adolescents, the tendons of the hands are not visible, they
emerge in old age.

Figure 78. Blocks that form the hand


On the back of the hand, bones and tendons are located close under the skin; those on the sides and on the inside of the palm are additional. I have outlined these surfaces in such a way that it is easier for you to get to know them. Note the thick, fleshy "pads" in
base of the thumb and base of the palm. A pad is present at the base of each finger, together they encircle the upper part of the palm. The muscles of the fingers protect the bones. Due to their elasticity, they
provide good coordination of movements, just like good tires provide traction on the road. There are no muscle pads on the outside of the palm,
but on the other hand, the outer surface of the little finger is well protected by the muscle, so much so that it can withstand a fairly strong blow, especially when the fist is clenched.

Figure 79. The proportions of the hand


The next important thing is the curved lines that can be drawn through the fingertips and knuckles. If you divide your palm along an imaginary line in half, then on each side of it there will be two fingers. The tendon of the middle finger roughly bisects the outside of the palm. Note also that the thumb grows almost at right angles to the rest of the fingers. They can be moved perpendicularly from the palm and towards it, while the remaining fingers are compressed and unclenched parallel to the palm. The joints of the fingers are located slightly above the folds on the inside of the fingers. Draw imaginary curved lines: the curve crossing the base of the fingers will be gentle, those crossing the knuckles will be steeper, and the steepest one will be the line crossing the fingertips.
The middle finger is the key finger by which we determine the length of the hand. The ratio of the length of this finger to its knuckle at the back is slightly more than half the length of the hand.
The width of the palm is slightly more than half the length of the inner side of the palm. The index finger is approximately as long as the nail of the middle finger, the ring finger is approximately equal to the index finger. The little finger only reaches the top joint of the ring finger.

Figure 80. Building a hand

Figure 81. The inside of the palm (fossa)


In the picture above, note how carefully the turnout is indicated in the middle of the palm. Also note the curve encircling the inside of the palm. Hands never look natural and capable of grasping until artists understand this feature. All of these hands look like they are holding or grabbing something. The loud clapping sound is produced by the sudden compression of air between these two pits in the palms. A hand that does not look capable of grasping and clapping is poorly drawn. Examine your own hands to be sure.

Figure 82. Building hands in perspective

Figure 83. Hand in action

Figure 84 Joints

Figure 85. Drawing your own hand

Figure 86. Woman's hand


Women's hands, like their faces, differ from men's mainly in smaller bones and more delicate muscles, and generally more rounded surfaces. For greater elegance of the hand, the middle finger should be about half the length of the palm, and oval nails also add grace. Even though women's hands are thin, they can be very clenched and prehensile.

Figure 87. Fingers, tapering towards the ends, in motion.

Figure 88. Explore many different hand poses.


There is only one sure way to learn how to draw hands, and that is to make many, many sketches. When drawing hands, more than anywhere else, their position is essential. Spread your fingers along the palm of your hand before examining them in detail. Hands are almost never completely straight and flat. Carefully study the space between the knuckles of the fingers. Most of the time we see them not in direct projection, but in perspective, as shown in ch.82-85.

Figure 89. Baby's hand


Babies' hands are studied separately. Their main difference from the hands of adults is that the palm is thicker in relation to the smaller fingers. The muscles at the base of the thumb and at the base of the palm are relatively very powerful in young children. Babies can pinch and grab something equal to their weight. The joints on the outside of the arm are completely hidden by the muscles and marked with dimples. The base of the palm is often surrounded by a thick fold. The base of the palm is much wider than its width at the level of the base of the fingers.

Figure 90. Studying the hands of an infant

Figure 91. Children's hands


The hands of a child are intermediate between the hands of an infant and a teenager. This means that the muscle of the thumb and the base of the palm are thicker than in an adult hand, but not as thick as in a child's hand. The fingers grow relative to the palm in the same way as in adults. The whole arm is smaller, a little thicker, and more dimpled, and the joints are certainly not as prominent as they are in adults.

Figure 92. The proportions remain more or less constant.

At primary school age, the difference between the hand of a boy and a girl is small, but in adolescence there are big changes. The boy's hand is much larger, stronger, more developed bones and muscles. The base of the palm, the joints of the fingers are more developed in the boy, while in the girl the hand is thinner and more delicate, the bones in it are smaller. On the boy's hand, the nails, as well as the fingers, are slightly wider.

Figure 93. The hand of an elderly person

If you have mastered the construction of the hand, drawing the hands of old people is a pleasure for you. In fact, they are easier to draw than the hands of young people, since the structure and anatomy are more clearly visible there. Main features: thicker fingers, protruding knuckles. The skin becomes wrinkled, but this needs to be drawn only in close-up.

It is necessary to develop and bring to perfection any skill, even having a talent from birth, you need to constantly develop and hone it.

That absolutely everyone can learn to draw, and we hope that you have already begun to implement our tips. Today we want to touch on another “sore” topic for novice artists, namely, drawing such complex body parts as hands, feet and, of course, eyes. As a rule, these parts of the body are always the most difficult to draw and that is why it is worth giving them a little more of your time and attention when you learn to draw.

How to draw hands

A few basic rules:

1. It is necessary to practice drawing the palm in different positions. The same principle works here as everywhere else - Practice, practice and more practice.

2. Children's palms are thicker than fingers.

3. The female palm is thinner and more elegant.

4. To make the palm more masculine, add some angularity to it.

5. On the palms of older people, we put more emphasis on the knuckles and draw more wrinkled skin.

To begin with, we need to understand a little the anatomy of the palm. Take a close look at your hands. Your main goal is not to remember what is called, what part of the brush, study the proportions and shapes. Please note that the phalanges of the fingers are not in the same line, and the fingers cannot be perfectly even and are always tilted to one side.

The index, middle, ring and little fingers are quite closely related and cannot be far apart, while the thumb has a fairly wide range of motion.

Try tracing your hand and filling in the outline with details. This will help you get a little better idea of ​​what the palm should look like in the drawing.

Before you start drawing a hand, first of all, you should outline its overall size and the points where the ends of the fingers will be located. Only after that the sketch is divided into several parts.

When drawing hands, there are generally accepted proportions. For example, the length of the palm is equal to the length of the index finger multiplied by 2. The index finger is equal to the ring finger, sometimes the ring finger can be slightly longer than the index finger. The little finger reaches the top phalanx of the ring finger.

The nail should occupy half of the phalanx. Women's nails are drawn more rounded, while men's nails are more square.

If you find it difficult to draw fingers, imagine that the phalanges are cylinders connected to each other.

Don't forget to add shadows to make the hand more realistic.

Starting to draw, first try simpler options, for example, an open or unfolded palm. Gradually complicate the task, for example, by drawing a hand folded into a fist.

How to draw feet

As in the first case, before drawing, you must carefully study the anatomy of the foot.
The structure of the hands and feet are somewhat similar to each other, however, the proportions will differ.
The length of the foot is usually equal to the length of the head of the person you are drawing. The foot consists of two parts - the heel and metatarsus (the part that is connected to the fingers). The top of the foot rises to the top. The bone that is outside is always lower than the inside. The lower part of the foot has a curve, it is not drawn flat. The thumb is always drawn parallel to the ground, and all the others will be lowered to the ground.

Another note, if you draw the foot from above, then the toes will be longer than in the drawing of the foot from below.

The lower part of the nail is at half of the upper joint, the width of the nail is longer than its height. The thumb is the width of two second fingers.

How to draw eyes

If your goal, of course, is the ability to draw portraits, then the eyes will have to devote a lot of time. Look - what first of all needs to be conveyed by drawing eyes.

The first step is to draw the shape of the eye. In the future, when drawing portraits, this step will have to be given quite a lot of time, since an incorrectly shown shape will ruin your entire drawing.

After that outline the cornea. Immediately apply highlights to the pupil. Don't miss any of the little things you see. The iris of the eye should not be completely round. From below and from above it is cut off by a century. The iris that falls under the upper eyelid will always be slightly darker. The rest of the darkening and highlights will depend on your desire or on who you are drawing.

Darken the whites of the eyes. On the edge of the shadow should be somewhat darker.

Eyelashes are drawn as the final step. They are thicker at the base than at the end. Note that the eyelashes are slightly reflected in the eyes.

Finally, we remind you once again that the main thing is practice. Start simple and gradually bring your skill to perfection, gradually complicating your tasks.

Draw and be inspired with us.

The main photo is taken from the website.

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.