Video:How to Draw Hands

Transcript:How to Draw Hands

Hello, I'm Irina, this video is for About.com and I'm gonna to teach you how to draw a hand.

Recognize Basic Shapes in Hands

Well, the thing about drawing anything, not only hand, is to imagine a basic shapes that fits the thing you want to draw. For example, the hand could be a big matchbox. I find it's easier to draw the fingers shaped like little boxes first, because you understand the movement a lot easier. You don't have to worry if the drawing doesn't look o good at the start because you always correct it as you go on.

Draw Hands with Relevant Lengths

The thing about drawing is that you always have to compare everything with everything and check if you got the lengths right. For example the middle finger. It shouldn't be longer than the palm. Let's see. I think I made it longer than the palm. That means that I need to shorten it. And if I do that, I need to shorten the other fingers too. Drawing is a constant checking of sizes and proportions. You will start drawing the thumb. The thumb is a little more tricky. Draw a little triangle here. The thumb is bigger than the other fingers. You always have to check how much bigger. You should always draw these lines that help you measuring, position of the fingers.

Correct the Rough Drawing

So, once you have this rough raw shape you'll start to correct the things you think you've done wrong. You can pay attention to the things happening under the skin. For example you can see traces of bones here. You can draw them, they will help you. When you start the shading it's better if you have lighting from one side because you can see the shades and the contrast clearer. To get a soft gray, you don't have to use a lot of pressure to the paper. The greater the pressure is, the darker the line is.

Well, this is how a hand should look like and thank you for visiting About.com