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How to draw Hands

by Valentart_
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Bones

To draw the hands correctly and solidly, it is necessary to know what is

underneath, especially in the hands, which are mainly made of bones.
It is not important to know all the individual names, but it may be useful to divide
the 3 main elements: Wrist, palm and fingers, also called:
Carpal bones, Metacarpal bones and Phalanges.
The metacarpals are formed by a single long bone, while the phalanges are
divided into 3 parts (except for the thumb that divides into 2).

Introduction
If drawing the human body is difficult, perhaps one of the most complex
elements to draw are the hands; and the reason is clear, drawing them involve
skills of perspective, proportions, nuance and anatomical knowledge of high
level.
In this PDF we will try to divide all the parts of the process to understand how
the hand is structured , then we’ll move to the movement, and finally, to the
synthesis. Let’s get started!

To know the location of these joints you can divide them in half as shown below:
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Remember that this method works with the back of your hand, because from Wrist: can be synthesized as a semicircle. Seen horizontally it will be higher than
the palm, your fingers will look shorter. the rest of the hand, and will also help in the gesture.

Also the fingers follow an arched gait, to find the knuckles, as well as the height Palm: Think of a curved box with a triangle attached to the side, where the thumb
of each finger, you will need to draw a bow sits. Remember that the box is not rectangular but curved at the point where
you attach your fingers.
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Fingers: Fingers can be seen as cylinders of different lengths that can move Laterally, when relaxed, the fingers tend to bend slightly to the center and then
together or separately. With your open hand you will see that the fingers have rise towards the end.
different heights but once bent, they are aligned.

Also, they do not push outwards but rather, are slightly curved inside.
That’s the reason why when you draw the structure of your fingers you do not
draw a rectangle but an arch.
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Muscles

Our hand consists of 3 fat pads.

On the fingers instead the muscles are in the inner part of the hand, creating the
The thumb muscle is the one that changes shape depending on how the thumb
finger fat pads, however, have different sizes, since the first and the last occupy
is be positioned because it can be stretched or compressed by the hand; also on
more room than the one in the middle.
the back it can be visible if the thumb is flattened close to the rest of the hand.

The hypothenar eminence, a side bearing that not only makes the hand more
curved laterally, but (with the thumb pad) creates a space called
“depression of the palm”. Be careful to don’t draw butt chicks on your hand.
Similar thing is for the thumb; one day I saw an artist (which I don’t remember the
name) who said: a simple method to draw the thumb is imagine
the head of a dog.
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Draw the hand

Now that you know how the hand is made, let’s move to How to draw it.
The first thing to do before you start drawing is to understand the position that
your hand has to take, take a reference from the internet or take a picture of your
hand, now you can start drawing.
The error I see often in drawings is to draw all the fingers in the same way,
forgetting that they not only have different shapes but are also oriented
differently. Also, the contrast of curved against straight lines will make the
difference in your design.

Think that the hand and the fingers can work alone or together.
A common mistake is to draw your nails straight when they, instead, hug your
What I like to do when I want to draw a hand, is to start with the gesture, and find
curved fingers with them.
the lines of strength that will help me draw everything else.
It is important to push the pose to make it more interesting to look at.
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Practice!

A good trick to easily draw the pose of a hand is starting from To draw and synthesize a hand you need to know perfectly a realistic hand, this
the little finger and the index finger. way you will also be able to draw from your imagination, but this will first require
a lot of practice.

Draw from photos, and the next time you draw your character, do not hide your
hand in the pocket or behind your back, challenge yourself and do your best, if
you have trained sufficiently you will be able to draw your hands easily!
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Assignment

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- 10 poses drawing ONLY the structure
- 10 complete different poses
- 5 finised poses with detalis, lights and shadows
Go to smash it!!!
by Valentart_

Next tutorial: HAIR

it will be available only for patreons of 2nd and 3rd level