Draw It Step-by-Step
In drawing the hand, the tendency is to concentrate on the fingers. After all, they're the most important part of the hand, right? Actually, in terms of illustration, the key to drawing a good hand is between the fingers and the wrist. From the front, it's called the palm, and from the back, it's called the dorsum. In either case, it's the best starting point when drawing a hand. Consider it another application of the “draw large to small” rule discussed in Chapter 4.
Start by drawing the palm/dorsum as a square. When sketching this shape in, consider any flex or angle of the wrist. Add about a quarter of the height to the top. This indicates the row of padding beneath the fingers. In a cupped position, this rectangle will disappear. Now, modify the sides so they flare out near the base slightly.
A sure way to draw awkward hands is to add accurate fingernails. If you want to avoid this, indicate the fingernails only as a curved line where the very front of the nail (the part you clip) would be. Extend a very short line back along the finger on the side (or sides, if the view is from the top). This also makes the finger itself more three-dimensional.
Next, sketch in the fingers as simple lines. There's no reason to be exact here, just indicate the general curvature of each finger. Remember the relative lengths of each finger. Add the thumb. Remember, the thumb has three segments, just like the fingers — the segment that connects it to the palm is hidden by the large muscle at the base of the thumb.
Firm up the lines, breaking them into three linear segments each. The segments of each finger are not of equal length. In each finger, the segments near the palm are long, the middle segments are shorter and the tip segments are shorter yet. If it helps, you can envision these lines as the bones of the hand you're drawing.
Now it's time to “flesh out” the fingers. Each segment can be considered a separate cylinder. Of course, these cylinders get more and more narrow toward the tips of the fingers. The only segment that is different is the base segment for the thumb, which is indicated as a rounded muscle extending from the base of the wrist to the top of the original square you started with.
Now you can finish the drawing. Unless you're working on an extreme close-up view of the hand, don't obsess over every wrinkle and fold of the skin. Hands are best described by accurate shapes — not by details like knuckle folds and fingernails. Keep in mind that the muscle at the base of the thumb gets pulled over the palm area when the thumb crosses over into this region, leaving the palm only slightly bowed out on that side.
Drawing a hand step-by-step
Masculine and Feminine Hands
Typically, men's hands are drawn somewhat squatter, with shorter fingers and blunt fingertips. Feminine hands are usually drawn with longer fingers that are very narrow at the tips. Avoid the mistake of drawing women with pointed fingertips. Even characters with long fingernails should not be drawn as if they have claws. When drawing a hand with long fingernails, resist the urge to draw the entire fingernail. The rules for drawing nails remain the same, even though the nail extends past the fingertip.
Male hands (on the left) tend to be more compact and blunt, whereas female hands (on the right) are longer and more slender.
