Drawing Hands

I've been drawing a lot of hands lately, and I wanted to share some methods which I have found helpful! Let's get into it...

The hand can be divided into two nearly even sections-- fingertip to knuckle and knuckle to wrist. 

No matter what position the hand is in, this is a good measurement to start with. If your model differs from this rule, or the hand is foreshortened, then it is good to establish this irregularity in proportion early on in the drawing process. 

After measuring the distance between fingertip to knuckle and knuckle to wrist, I generally map out the envelope. An envelope, unsurprisingly, does exactly what a physical envelope does. It is like a geometric shape which contains the drawing. To begin, find the furthest top bottom, right, and left measurements that your hand will fit in. Then, measure the major lines and angles which enclose the hand. To explain this, I've marked up a drawing below. The green lines indicate the envelope. 

If you have the tendency to make a finger longer or shorter as you draw, marking out the relationships between the fingertips helps. 

Think of fingers in terms of rectangular planes, rather than cylinders or sausages. 

Below, I've marked up a drawing of mine which illustrates this concept. I began drawing the wrist and top of the hand, then went on to the fingers, using straight lines. 

After establishing my general proportions, I drew each finger starting with the knuckle.

I drew the top facing plane (marked in green), the part that was being hit with direct light.
Then, I went on to the side plane (red), which was in shadow. Here, I tried to pay close attention to the angles and negative space between the fingers. Next, I drew the inner parts of the finger (yellow) which was visible to slightly different degrees from finger to finger. Then, I added value and rounded out some of the forms. Lastly, I suggested the fingernails. 

"There is no mystery in the method of drawing hands. It is a matter of fitting pieces together proportionally, block in the approximate area of the whole hand, fitting each part as it appears"
Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing for All It's Worth

Thinking of the hand in geometric terms helps me to forget to draw what my brain thinks of as "hand" and shifts my attention to drawing what I see.

It takes a lot of practice, and I am still learning, but I've seen significant improvement since starting to draw hands this way.

Andrew Loomis suggests drawing a hand a day as practice. I've also found that in addition to working from life, copying some Bargue plates or master drawings is essential.

Suggestions for further reading

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth Andrew Loomis

Charles Bargue Drawing Course Charles Bargue

The Human Figure JH Vanderpoel

Happy Drawing!
-Isabel