Help with Hands

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French, 1780 – 1867); Study of Hands (1842)

Hold my hand and we're halfway there.

Hold my hand and I'll take you there,

somehow, someday, somewhere...

- Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story

I spend a lot of time looking at my hands.

I am dealing with a tremor and arthritis in my fingers and it’s made me very conscious of how much I value my hands and rely on them for everything. As I tend to my aching fingers and try various remedies to turn back the clock on this situation I am aware of how exquisitely designed my hands are. 

Hands define us as humans. Our opposable thumbs give us access to tools that delight and design a wondrously intricate world. The many small joints and ligaments allow countless complex poses enabling us to communicate in gesture almost as fluently as in words. 

Gustav Klimt; Detail from Giuditta II

Of all the subjects available to draw hands are notorious for their difficulty. Even AI can’t quite get them right. So why are hands so challenging?

Drawing hands should be easy. You look at your hands hundreds of times a day and any time you’re in the mood to draw the visual reference for hands is right there at the end of your arms.

As a teacher, I have come to understand that drawing ability comes from extended close observation. You can only draw what you “see” and much of your frustration with drawing comes from “seeing” incompletely.

It takes work to break through the reducing valve your brain creates over your vision to limit overwhelm. The more highly educated you are the more your brain has been trained to think symbolically using representational symbols as shortcuts instead of detailed maps of everything available to see. This is why most people can only draw stick figures instead of likenesses and your own familiar hands are like strangers when you get out your pencil.

Today I’d like to introduce some detailed guidelines for drawing hands that will aid you to more closely observe what you “see” at the end of your arms. This is probably more detail than you ever wanted to know about drawing hands, but if you bear with me some of the information in this essay will help you break through your resistance to drawing hands. 

Structure of a Human Hand

The human hand is comprised of bone, tendons, lots of connective tissue as well as muscle and fat. It’s a strong and flexible appendage.

There are 27 bones in each hand. These bones give the hand its structure and form. It is helpful to recognize and understand the muscles attached to these bones as they form the structure that we see on the surface of the hand. 

Simplifying the information above the diagram below shows in blue, the 8 carpal bones, in purple the 5 metacarpal bones, and in pink, the 14 phalanges.

The hand has two types of muscles - intrinsic and extrinsic.

Intrinsic muscles are found within the hand itself and attach to the bones of the hand. These intrinsic muscles allow us to move our fingers in a very precise way when we are doing delicate tasks such as threading a needle. Fortunately for the artist, most of these muscles are not visible on the hand surface.

The extrinsic muscles are those that attach the hand to the forearm. These muscles allow us to open and close our hands and move the hand from side to side. In babies and young people, these muscles are hidden. However, they are much more visible in the hands of adults and the aged.

As artists, we need only be concerned with the parts of the hand that are visible from the outside. Since many features of the hand are hidden from us we can simplify the basic structure of the hand for drawing.

A simple way of drawing the hand is to start with the basic form of the palm and then attach the fingers. The palm is not quite square, it is more like a squishy pentagon or a bread slice shape.

Remember that hands are three-dimensional and not flat like paper. You can move them through space more easily as a combination of blocks and cylinders.

The height of the palm is about the same as the length of the middle finger. If you divide the palm into quarters the base of the thumb is an egg shape in the bottom quarter. The tip of the thumb will reach about the middle of the first phalange of the index finger.  

The four fingers are all the same width but have different lengths. The entire hand from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger is about the same height as the face from chin to hairline.

Here are four simplified hand proportions:

Fingers

I will be abbreviating the fingers as follows: 

TH = Thumb, 

FF = forefinger, 

MF = middle finger, 

RF = ring finger, 

LF = little finger

Fingers come in a variety of shapes - regular, thin, thick, tapering, square, spatulate, bony

 The first phalange of each finger is equal to the last two phalanges of that finger in length. Each segment of the finger is slightly smaller than the last. When the fingers bend they form a golden section.

Suppose you have a hard time drawing fingers, it's helpful to think of them and draw them as a stack of three cylinders. The bases of the cylinders become the joint folds. Drawing cylinders takes away much of the headache of drawing fingers in perspective.

The three cylinders are not the same height. If the first cylinder or phalange of the finger is one then the next cylinder/phalange is 2/3 the size of the first, and the third cylinder/phalange is 2/3 the size of the second. The first cylinder is equal in length to the other two added together.

Finger Joints are not aligned on straight lines. They fall on concentric arches. 

The tip of the LF barely reaches the top knuckle of the MF.

The FF or RF is sometimes almost as long as the MF.  

The line of the wrist separates the thumb from the fingers.

From the back or dorsal side, the lines of the fingers extend down below the limit of the palm. The fingers appear longer. From the inside of the palm, the lines appear shorter because the top of the palm is padded.  

Fingers bend slightly towards the space between MF and RF. Showing this even subtly gives life to a drawing. 

Finger Range of Motion - 

FF is usually separated from the other three fingers. LF has the strongest tendency to curl and FF is the most free. RF and LF like to bend together. The other three fingers generally move together.  

LF frequently “runs away” and stands isolated from the other fingers – another way of making hands look more natural. 

FF and MF, or MF and RF, will often pair up, “sticking” together while the other 2 remain loose. This makes the hand look more lively. RF-LF pairings also occur, generally when these fingers are loosely bent.

The fingers can bend in one direction only. They have very little sideways movement and mainly bend forward, parallel to each other. Their only sideways movement comes at the knuckles and not the joints. 

The fingers can curl and move with a certain degree of autonomy, but never without some effect on the nearest fingers; try bending your MF or RF alone, and see what happens to the rest.

Fingers can bend slightly backward at the middle joint. When the fingers are extended, their shape has a backward curve. Incorporating this backward curve when drawing hands with fingers flaring out will make your drawing look natural.

When the palm is curved the fingers follow the palm structure.

Open Hand Proportions

Using the length of the FF as a base unit (1). The maximum opening between TH and FF is 1.5. The maximum opening between FF and RF is 1. MF can move closer to either without affecting the total distance. The maximum opening between RF and LF is 1  

The maximum angle between TH and LF is 90 degrees taken from the very base of the TH’s articulation. The fully extended LF is aligned with it.

Fingernails

The fingernail starts halfway up the top joint. The point where the fingernail detaches from the flesh varies. Some people have it at the edge of the fingers and others very low so their fingernails are wider than long.

Fingernails are not flat but shaped like roof tiles with a curvature ranging from extreme to very slight.

Fingernail shapes

Square base, round base, spatulate

Thumb

Range of motion: TH

The TH alone is completely independent of the other fingers.

TH can fold in as far as the root of LF but this requires tension and becomes painful. The center of movement for the TH is at the base of the wrist. TH can also move above and below the palm.

The natural relaxed position leaves a space between the TH and the rest of the hand.   

Palm

The most visible lines inside of the palm are where the skin folds when the palm is cupped. They are the heart line, the headline, and the lifeline. Do not confuse the lifeline with the contour of the thumb muscle.

The knuckles sit above the heartline or first horizontal fold of the palm and below a layer of fat. The palm is padded with fat and muscle around the edges and concave in the center. 

The appearance of the palm changes a lot depending on the position of the LF and TH.

Major Muscles of the Hand

Most of the muscles that control your hand are located in your forearm (these are called extrinsic muscles). But there are some muscles on the hand itself that you should know about. Called intrinsic muscles, these create three squishy masses on the otherwise bony surface of the hand. All three are shaped like teardrops, so they're not hard to capture. 

The biggest one, (thenar eminence) which runs from wrist to thumb, creates a rolling hill when the thumb is out, and gives the thumb a pot belly when the thumb is moved towards the palm.

The other palmar mass (hypothenar eminence) runs from the base of the hand to the pinky metacarpal. It actually wraps around the outside of the bone, which is why the pinky edge of your hand is kind of soft and squishy.

​​The third major muscle mass can be found on the back of your hand. It fills the space between your thumb metacarpal and your index finger metacarpal. It’s easy to see when you tuck your thumb up against your index finger since it creates a big, round egg form. When the thumb is out, it stretches thin. 

Dorsal (Back) Side of the Hand

The back of the hand is a flat bony plane that doesn't move much when the hand moves. You can represent this characteristic by drawing the dorsal contour with straight lines and corners. 

Tendons run along the back of the hand with one following each finger from the base of the wrist. When drawing tendons, make sure you keep them secondary to the larger form of the hand. Shading each cylindrical tendon with dark lines and sharp edges will create funny-looking, distracting chasms in the middle of the hand. A subtle indication is all you need unless you’re drawing a character that calls for pronounced tendons.

The back of the hand also has veins meandering in the spaces between the bones. These veins run along the back of the hand like tendons do, but appear in the spaces between bones where they’re safe. You should keep the difference between tendons and veins very clear: tendons are straight, and veins are curvy, like lazy rivers. Veins also have a darker, cooler local color.

Fingers are flat on the back side and curvy and padded on the inside. 

The length between the knuckles and the tip of the fingers on the dorsal side is longer than the distance from the base of the fingers and the tip of the fingers on the palm side.



Fingers appear longer when looking at the back of the hand, compared to the palm side. When drawing the back of the hand, do not place the knuckles right up against the edge of the palm. Draw the knuckles lower than the webbing between the fingers. Splay your hands out to notice the webbing between your fingers. 

Hold your hand with your thumb pointing to you and your little finger pointing away from you, bend the palm, and observe the location of the knuckles as you bend your hand backward and forward.

Notice the elliptical shape of the skin around the knuckles on the back side of the fingers. Notice how the direction of these ellipses changes on the knuckles under the back side of the palm, especially when forming a fist.

Fist:

When the hand closes into a fist the fingers bend together and the whole of the hand closes into a cupped shape.  

The second joint is the first to bend and has the biggest fold.

When the fist is closed, the 1st and 3rd fold meet creating a cross. The second fold becomes an extension of the finger. The tip of the FF is covered by the flap of skin between the FF and the thumb, a reminder that the whole thumb structure is outermost. You can make your FF slip outside and cover the flap of skin, it's anatomically possible, but it is not a natural way to form a fist.

TH can remain independent of the fist motion as in a “Thumbs up” gesture. When clenched into a fist, the TH does not stretch beyond the second finger.

Observing the fist from above the knuckles fall away from the MF’s knuckles so that from this angle the parallel fingers are visible from the outer side but not the inner side of the fist. 

When the hand makes a fist, the knuckles protrude and the "parenthesis" are visible.

Extended Hand

Unless it's pressed against a flat surface, the hand is never flat, always slightly convex or concave.

When the hand is fully extended the fingers are either straight or bent slightly backward, depending on flexibility.  

Often the FF and MF or MF and RF will pair up “Sticking” together while the other two remain loose. This makes the hand look lively, the RF-LF pairings occur when the fingers are loosely bent.

When the hand is relaxed the fingers curl in slightly. More so when the hand is pointing up. In both cases, the FF remains straightest and the rest fall away gradually with the LF being the most bent.

Side View Hand:

There is a change in the shape of the form from the forearm to the hand. The hand steps down from the way it attaches to the arm. Hold your hand out in front of you as in the diagram below, and observe this shift in planes. Make sure to indicate this in your hand drawings.

From the side, the padding at the base of each finger and thumb appears as a series of curved, parallel bulges.

When seen from the outer side the palms show another new contour line. It starts at the wrist and as the hand turns more, joins up with the LF line until it covers up the TH base.

1. Outside, the wrist line curves out into the palm base, so the transition between the two is marked by a gentle bump.
2. The bottom of the hand looks flatter from the outside than it does from the inside, although the thumb base may still be visible.
3. From the outside, the RF’s last joint is fully exposed because the LF is set well back.
4. From the inside, a little or none of the MF can be visible, depending on the FF’s length.
5. Inside, the wrist line is covered by a thumb base, so the transition is more abrupt and the bump more important.

When seen from the outside, the palms show another, new contour line. It starts at the wrist and, as the hand turns more, joins up with the LF line, until it covers up the Th base:

Hand Holding an Object

The gradation in the fingers makes the outer two or three peek out between FF and TH. Since the fingers are not the same length they always present a gradation. When grasping something the MF wraps the most visibly around the object while the LF barely shows.

When holding a pen MF, RF, and LF curl back towards the palm if the object is held only between TH and FF. If more pressure is applied, MF participates and straightens up as it presses against the object. Full pressure results in all the fingers pointing away as shown

Expressive Hands

The hand and wrist are remarkably articulated, each finger almost having a life of its own, which is why hands tend to stump the beginning artist. 

Yet, once the hand starts to make sense we tend to fall into the opposite trap which is to draw hands too rationally - fingers carefully taking their places, parallel lines, careful alignments. The result is stiff and simply too tame for a part of the body that can speak as expressively as the eyes. It can work for certain types of characters, ( such as those whose personality shows stiffness of insensitivity) but more often than not, you’ll want to draw lively, expressive hands. 

For this you can go one of two ways; add attitude (Add drama to the gesture, resulting in dynamic hand position that would probably never be used in real life) or add natural-ness (observe the hands of people who aren’t thinking about them to see the casualness I’m referring to.) Here are a few examples of constrained vs. natural/dynamic hands.

Hands play a primary role in non-verbal communication and therefore can carry a lot of expression in drawing. There are a lot of variations and styles of drawing hands, and it seems as if each art period through the ages has had its style for drawing hands. Each artist also draws hands differently. Observe as many different styles of hand drawings will help identify what you find appealing.

Egon Schiele, Hand Drawing

Hands vary individually just as much as facial features. Male hands differ from female, young from old, and so on.

Character is a good word because it's most useful to draw hands as if they were characters with their own personality: delicate, soft, dry, callous, uncouth, and so on.

Gustav Klimt, Detail of Adele Bloch Bauer Portrait

Has some of the mystery around hand drawing fallen away for you? We are incredibly fortunate to have access to many resources to draw from. I frequently pull a resource photo from the internet with the expressive gesture I am considering and add it to the figure I’m drawing.  Of course, there’s also the appendage attached to your arm which you can pose and photograph or draw at any time. 

Spend some time appreciating how remarkable your hands are, how beautifully designed and expressive they are. Perhaps you will begin to see them more clearly and be less fearful when it comes to drawing hands in your art.

Here are a few additional resources you might want to try in your quest to draw expressive hands.

• https://gvaat.com/blog/how-to-draw-the-hands-a-simple-step-by-step-guide/
• https://mymodernmet.com/how-to-draw-hands/#Draw_with_Jazza

Whether you’re an established artist seeking new horizons or a budding creative looking to elevate your work I hope I have given you some ideas to quickly improve your hand drawing skills. If you’d like to dedicate more time to becoming proficient at drawing hands I’d love to support your artistic development. If you would like my mentorship, guidance, and advice in exploring your own artistic path please reach out to me. It makes me happy to share my insights and my knowledge with you.

If someone shared this newsletter with you and you'd like to subscribe, please reach out to me below with your email address. I promise, no spam, no overloading your inbox, just the good stuff.

 I welcome the opportunity for connection, conversation, cooperation, collaboration, and commissions. 

With Light and Delight

Susan Convery

My resources for this month's newsletter were:

https://gvaat.com/blog/how-to-draw-the-hands-a-simple-step-by-step-guide/

https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/human-anatomy-fundamentals-how-to-draw-hands--cms-21440

https://www.creativebloq.com/art/how-draw-hands-51620226

https://artstudiolife.com/how-to-draw-hands/

Quote:

Sketchbook Prompt:

Draw your own hands in various positions and, using a mirror, from various angles, making sure to deconstruct them into the simplest possible forms (the equivalent of drawing a stick figure and then fleshing it out). You can also start with the energy sketch and build on that before finally refining the details.

Title: Hanging by a Thread

Media: Mixed Media

Size: 22"x 15"

Frame: Gold

Price:$444

.

Title: Something to Crow About

Media: Mixed Media on Arches

Size: 15" x 22" framed 22" x 28"

Price: $555

Frame: Gold

Watercolor, ink, gouache, stencils, so many marks and so much fun! A celebration of the Chinese year of the Rooster.

Want to see past issues of my newsletters? Visit this link on my website.