Help with hands, please.

Jetbunny · Post by **Jetbunny** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:50 am

I've got quie a few problems drawing hands correctly. Whenever I try, they never seem to look right. In fact, I've resorted to merely sticking little circles on the ends of my characters' arms.

Can anyone help me out, perhaps give me some tips?

Sketch286 · Post by **Sketch286** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:53 am

look at your own hands... works for me. You just have to pay attention to the hand is facing in relation to where it's supposed to be in the picture. Or try to make a mirrored image in case of your drawing hand.

And looking at other people's work always helps too.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:04 pm

Yeah, check your own hands out for the trickier positions.

Mind you...mine only have three fingers...

Townie · Post by **Townie** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 3:17 pm

You just need to think in basic geometric shapes. Consider the palm something of a tapered box. The top along the knuckles is broader than the lower end near the wrist. Lots of cartoonists start drawing hands as mittens and then detail the fingers as they develop the drawing. You just have to get the basic shape in mind and see it dimensionally instead of flatly.

AsterAzul · Post by **AsterAzul** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 5:28 pm

I looove hands!

I don't think you should bother with fingers too much unless you're close enough to distinguish them, though.

The hand is basically a trapezoidal prism... is that a shape? Scratch that...

The hand is a sort of rectangular box with a smaller base than top. The top splits off into knuckles which are NOT all next to eachother. Each knuckle is in a different position, and they go up and down in the plane of the box. The important part about fingers are the joints... let's see... the hand also changes shape a lot, especially the pinkie-side part of the "box."
The thumb is in actuality almost as long as a finger itself, discounting the webbing.
Nails are difficult to draw in without making them look like claws. In general, too much detail of the veins and wrinkles makes the hand grotesque, and it's easy just to leave the whole hand blank, although I'm fond of drawing in the knuckles.

Of course, if you have a more cartoon style, especially a three-finger style, it's easier to draw hands much more simply without all this realistic whatnot.

I amaze myself with my ability to expound upon subjects which I really know nothing about... I have absolutely no right to be lecturing on the drawing of hands, considering I've only drawn a few dozen in my life...

Jetbunny · Post by **Jetbunny** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 4:47 am

Townie wrote:Lots of cartoonists start drawing hands as mittens

Heh, I draw mittens occasionally...for example, if they're pointing at something. Detail is one finger, and the rest is all in "mitten" form. o_O

Eunice_P · Post by **Eunice_P** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 7:52 am

Not the best tutorial I did. Oh well...

Nutcracker · Post by **Nutcracker** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 8:26 am

Look! I edited your fists of doom!:D
(drawing with a mouse sucks)

Jetbunny · Post by **Jetbunny** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 4:42 pm

WHOA! My fists of doom = t3h gone! >_>

AsterAzul · Post by **AsterAzul** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:41 pm

Eunice_P wrote:Not the best tutorial I did. Oh well...

I love that thumb. The outer curve is exagerrated just enough to be better than real. I've gotta try that.

And the detail lines are awesome. You picked just the right ones to emphasize.

Ryuko · Post by **Ryuko** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:38 pm

My thumb actually goes like that.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:52 pm

Heh...the middle finger of my right hand actually lies on a plane of about 45 degrees to the rest of my fingers. It's also a little curved to the right. Buggered if I know what I did to it, but it's been that way for years.

I don't recommend drawing fingers that way though. It looks slightly weird...

Jackhass · Post by **Jackhass** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:45 am

Ah...hands...most artist's worst enemy.

Try finding some pictures of hands in interesting poses online, print them out and then study and copy them...practice practice practice until you get a sense of how they work. And as I say over and over again...if you get a chance, take a life drawing class...they fun, extremely helpful and you may get to look at naked chicks.

Tears · Post by **Tears** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:01 am

I can only pass on the advice my art teacher gave me way back when I was at school... don't draw the fingers, draw the spaces between the fingers... for this to work you have to be drawing from life... but aparently the idea is that you already think you know what hands look like so you draw what you think you should see rather than what is actually there... but that you don't know whatthe gaps beteen fingers are supposed to look like so you draw them the shape you see them... worked for me at the time... and I think I draw hands ok-ish now.

-Rain- · Post by **-Rain-** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:13 am

I think the problem with hands is...that they have too many fingers

For some reason, I have no problem with drawing hands that look good and actually work...if they have 4, 3 fingers. I hate the little one >__<.

Another interesting tutorial on drawing hands, starting from the basics:
http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/hands/hands.htm
The other, about hand poses:
http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/hand2/hands.htm

I'll have to spend most of my summer practising hands, I guess...

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:20 am

-Rain- wrote:they have too many fingers

One reason I only give the kids three...besides...if I gave them four they'd just lose them.

Jetbunny · Post by **Jetbunny** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:39 am

Jackhass wrote:And as I say over and over again...if you get a chance, take a life drawing class...they fun, extremely helpful and you may get to look at naked chicks.

I took one of those once. It actually helped me a lot for realistic drawing...which I unfortunately don't do that often. o_O

And since it was a class full of girls, we got the chance to look at men in the nude. Most of who weren't all that bad...rrrrrrrowr.

CapitanG · Post by **CapitanG** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:43 pm

If you're drawing hands, THIS PAGE IS TURBOFUN.

Someone linked it somewhere once, but I can't remember who. Still, good stuff.

Jetbunny · Post by **Jetbunny** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 4:51 pm

Thanks a billion, guys! The tutorials proved to be sufficient help in getting started, but I still have one problem...

The Accursed Pinky!

Yes, that one tiny finger always seems so out of place. Lookin' so craaaaazy.

...So, for that reason, I'm debating whether or not to give them all 5 fingers. What are your personal opinions about characters with less than the norm when it comes to digits? Does it work better than 5 fingers with some art styles, or does it look simply lazy? What should I think about if I decide I want to use that shortcut?

Blagh, all this information just for some pathetic hands...o_O

Townie · Post by **Townie** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 10:16 pm

I love drawing the pinky, actually. The thumb, index finger, and pinky have the biggest acting potential. Really, if you're drawing them as mittens first, you should be getting a rough idea of where the pinky sits. (That lovely shape where the middle finger is the tallest and the heights go down on opposing sides.)