How to draw hands with a pencil. How to draw hands, draw a person’s hands and fingers step by step

In this tutorial we will look at basics of drawing human hands.

Essentially, there is an invisible line that runs through the middle finger and through the center of the wrist. It must be perpendicular to horizontal line, crossing the wrist.

At the intersection of the lines, a circle is drawn around which the hand rotates freely.

Depending on the person’s hand, the location of the joints on the fingers also varies. However, to get an idea of where the joints should be, you can draw two curved lines coming out of the thumbnail. If you add wrinkles in these places, your hands will look very natural.

Moving Parts

Now we will look at how the hand moves. Once you understand these basics, you will be able to draw realistic hands.

Each area of the hand will be indicated by a color, which will have corresponding text of the same color.

Inner side

This area moves towards itself, along with the four fingers.

Outer side

This area does not move - this is very important to remember.

This area moves with the thumb into the palm.

This area moves with the little finger, however, the movement is small.

Drawing hands

Let's draw the outline of an egg-shaped hand. The top of the egg will be the end of the middle finger. Next we will draw the extension of the hand, the wrist and the circle inside.

Now let's outline where the thumb, palm and four fingers will be. For convenience, you can draw vertical line, passing through the center of the palm.

Notice how the fingers are connected to each other and how they move.

Make the outline smooth and erase the auxiliary lines.

Size and proportions

The size and shape of the hand differs from person to person: wide palm, narrow palm, long fingers, short fingers. This list goes on - that's why there are rules in proportions when drawing a hand.

Basically, the length of the hands is approximately equal to the length of the middle finger, doubled.

The middle finger is usually the longest. The index and ring fingers are approximately equal, but sometimes the ring finger is longer. The little finger reaches the top joint of the ring finger.

Hand bones

In order to understand how muscles and skin move, consider a diagram of the bones of the hand.

Note that the bones of the index, middle, ring and little fingers are mostly connected, which means they cannot move far apart from each other. The thumb has a much wider range of movement.

Male and female hands

There is a big difference between a man's and a woman's hand. A person's hand looks more masculine if it is given a more angular shape, and more feminine if it is given a soft roundness.

The hand drawing with nails looks more realistic.

The average nail is about half the length from the tip of the finger to the first knuckle.

Women's nails are drawn more elongated and rounded, while men's nails are more square and angular.

Drawing a fist

Let's draw a circle that will correspond to the basic shape of the fist. Then we will add the lines of the thumb and wrist.

If you have trouble imagining where your thumb will be, just clench your hand into a fist and take a closer look at the position.

The back and top of the hand doesn't move, so you just have to pay attention to how the fingers are connected. We mark the upper part of the hand and four fingers, usually of the same width.

As for the shadow, you can add it to create more realistic depth.

However, how detailed you draw the hand is up to you. Find your style that works best for you!

Different options for drawing a fist

This picture shows a hand clenched into a fist on the outside. The index finger is much higher than all the others.

In this drawing, three fingers are pressed into the palm, the thumb is pushed back, and the index finger is pointing to a point.

Please note that with the help of shadows and wrinkles, the index finger looks voluminous. The same applies to the fist, despite the fact that only some phalanges are drawn on the three fingers, a volume effect is created.

This picture shows a hand clenched into a fist on the inside. The index finger is also higher than all the others.

Exist various ways placement of wrinkles and shadows in order to create the effect of the volume of a fist.

Other Positions

Movement from an open hand to clenching it into a fist.

If you still find it difficult to draw fingers, imagine them as cylindrical elements that connect to each other to form fingers.

However, sometimes it is necessary to distort the fingers a little to give more depth.

For example, in the image, you see the index finger bent in an unnatural way, but it looks much more realistic than a straight look.

Translation: Prescilla

This material was prepared for you by the site team

Step 1.

Let me first remind you that we have already had a good workout, started studying, and looked at it in some detail in full height, as well as men with examples and. And now it’s time to pay enough attention to the hands. This is the always missing part of a person's drawing that can ruin everything.

First, start drawing a hand with anatomical tips! Let's try to refresh or expand our knowledge about the structure of the human body. This is very useful because most beginning artists can have a hard time with their hands. Well, let's start with anatomy and you will better understand the drawing of a human hand!

Step 2.

Here is a slightly enlarged view of the anatomy of your fingers so you can see the bones better and remember their main parts. We will always use them for the basis of the hand drawing.

Step 3.

It may not seem important, but when you are drawing hands in larger sizes you will need help choosing the type of nails. You can choose the best ones for your character in the drawing!

Step 4.

Here's some extra help in the drawing so you can clearly see and compare the differences for your character's age and gender!

Step 5.

Here are some hand sketches to give you an idea of the style of drawing realistic hands! You should start in any style based on their real appearance.

Step 6.

And now options for hands from comic books or fairy-tale characters. These are just a few examples. You won't notice too much difference between realistic and comic book or fantasy style.

Step 7

The cartoon style has more noticeable differences from realism. It's always helpful if you look closely at that particular detail in the cartoons you're watching, and then you can pick a style you like and start creating your own for that part of the drawing.

Step 8

If you have animal characters, these examples will come in handy! Basically, when your animal character walks on two legs, his/her front arms or paws look more like real arms and hands, so you should draw them like human hands, just with some animal specificity and style.

Step 9

And now, the last part of preparation for drawing the hand. This possible options, angles and positions of the hands and fingers. First, let's look at simpler options and understand the basic principle for the joints and proportions of the fingers and palms. For a woman's hand, you can increase flexibility, and for a man's hand, you can increase angularity.

Step 10

Now the drawings are a little more difficult, from a different point of view and angle! This is an expression of emotions, gestures accompanying words and actions.

Step 11

This part of the preparation will be really difficult, but not impossible! When you start drawing hands more difficult than these, you will remember with a smile. We're looking at just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the base and shapes, and will start to build up to shading, shading, and color grading and editing. And now we are still just warming up!

Step 17

The next step is unnamed. The fingers are becoming less and less visible. But the joints line up and the proportion and beauty of the lines are noticeable.

Step 18

And now your last finger in the basic shape is a drawing for the small finger - the little finger! And you did everything quickly on the basic shape of the hand from the first step!

Step 19

Now draw your fingernails as you can see them in yourself or in photographs.

Step 20.

Draw small details of kinks in the joints and folds of the skin. They are on both sides. A hand in a relaxed state tends to clench.

Step 21

Here are some small details that you also need to draw to make the drawing more realistic/

Step 22

You did it! Now you have to apply the shadows and highlights yourself. In the following lessons we will pay more attention to this when drawing with pencils first. I hope you liked the lesson and you will leave me a positive review and comment at the bottom of the lesson. Good luck to you!

People who try to draw human hands for the first time face a number of difficulties. How to understand the shape of the hands? How to learn the patterns in their structure? Plastic anatomy for artists helps to understand these issues. In this article, I have made a series of anatomical drawings, sketches and diagrams that will help aspiring artists understand the basics and pay attention to key aspects. I tried to present this material as simply and to the point as possible. I don’t rule out that I might have made some minor inaccuracies somewhere, but that doesn’t change the essence.

1. Main titles

Hands consist of three main parts:

shoulder;
forearm;
brush.

The forearm consists of two bones:

ulna (thickening at the elbow);
radius (thickening at the wrist).

Main muscles:

deltoid muscle (raises the entire arm);
biceps or biceps brachii (flexes the arm at the elbow);
triceps or triceps brachii muscle (extends the arm at the elbow);
muscles responsible for the movement of the hand, fingers and rotation of the forearm with the hand (pronation-supination).

Two main muscle groups of the forearm:

on the side of the external epicondyle of the humerus there is a group of muscles (a), which includes extensors of the hand and fingers;
on the side of the internal epicondyle of the humerus there is a group of muscles (b), which includes the flexors of the hand and fingers;
these two muscle groups are clearly visible and clearly separated by the ulna.

2. Anatomical structure of the hand. Core muscles

The shape of the hand depends on the shape of the bones and muscles. Therefore, in the process of drawing a person, you need to pay attention to the anatomical structure of the hands. It is important to “see” which muscles are located where. For understanding plastic anatomy The following drawings of the skeleton and musculature may help. In each such drawing, I added a diagram in which I highlighted the key, clearly visible muscles in color. These muscles are clearly expressed, so they should be visible in a person’s drawing. Of course, the muscles of women's arms will be more refined and miniature than men's. In addition, there are overweight people, and there are thin and “wiry” people. This means that their muscles will also be different. But the main muscles indicated in the drawings will be visible to one degree or another in each person.

3. Pronation and supination

If you stop and pay attention to how your hand moves, you will notice that it is capable of rotating. That is, we can turn our hands with our palms up, or we can turn our palms down. If upward, then this position of the hand is called supination. And if downward, then pronation. In this case, the radius bone of the forearm moves around the ulna. For clarity, I made a schematic drawing showing how this happens.

During the drawing process you need to constantly compare sizes. This helps to convey proportions correctly. Hand drawing is no exception. If we talk about the forearm, then the belly of the muscles is concentrated in its widest part, and the tendons are concentrated in the narrowest part (although there are some muscles there too). Knowing this feature, it will be easier to draw human hands.

5. The shoulder and forearm are located at an angle relative to each other

When a person holds his hand straight, the hand will still not be absolutely straight. This is explained by the fact that the shoulder and forearm are located at an angle to each other.

6. The connection of the shoulder and forearm is similar to the connection of chain links

The chain example is very helpful in understanding the shape of the hands. How is the widest part of the shoulder rotated relative to the widest part of the forearm? This can be clearly seen in the schematic diagram. If you remember this feature of the structure of the hand, then further drawing of hands will be much easier.

The elbow joint provides a movable connection between the humerus, ulna and radius. The principle of its operation is clearly visible in the schematic diagram. The head of the ulna is like a wrench. The joint between the radius and humerus resembles a ball and cup because the radius rotates around the ulna and also moves up and down like the ulna to allow flexion of the arm at the elbow.

8. Three visible points in the elbow joint

Some novice artists may ask: “Why do you need to know the structure of a joint if it’s not visible anyway?” The answer is simple - the joint affects the shape of the hand, its movements, and its three elements are also visible. Internal condyle, external condyle and head of the ulna. While the elbow and internal condyle are visible to a greater or lesser extent in any position of the arm, the external condyle is visible when the arm is bent. When the arm is straight, he hides in the hole. These nuances affect the appearance of the hand, so they are important in the drawing.

9. Pencil drawings of hands

After studying the anatomical features, you need to be able to apply knowledge in practice. Therefore, in concluding this article, I give as an example pencil drawings in which human hands are depicted in various positions. Pay attention to the shading. It seems to follow the shape of the arm muscles, bending around the surface. This important point in the technical side of the drawing. If we talk about chiaroscuro, then both on the entire hand and on individual muscles you need to learn to see light, penumbra, shadow - just like in the drawing of a jug or geometric shapes. However, in order for your drawing to become confident and professional, you need to practice a lot. It takes time to gain drawing skills.

Apart from the face, hands are the main transmitter of people's emotions. Human hands are flexible, so they can convey emotional condition better than many other body parts. If you have a desire to learn how to draw brushes correctly and naturally, then this lesson will teach you how to draw a human hand step by step. The lesson will go from simple elements to complex ones. To be able to depict people's hands, their portraits, figures correctly and realistically, knowledge of how to correctly depict a hand is required. And in order to learn this, you need to know some rules and practice a lot.

Proportions

To be able to draw hands correctly, you first need to know the proportions and apply this knowledge in your work. It's not as difficult as it might seem. By learning a few rules, you can improve your drawing skills. The drawn hands will look natural, giving away emotions. To draw a brush correctly, you need to know a little anatomy, or more precisely, the structure of the hands.

General Similarities

Fun fact - the hands are similar to a scapula, consisting of the metacarpus and fingers. The length of the fingers coincides with the length of the metacarpus. This ratio must be remembered and be sure to be able to apply it in practice. You can start your drawing with a schematic symbol. Draw the diagram in the form of a hand and divide it into two identical parts.

The length of the hand can be depicted in different ways, since people have both long and short fingers; both square and oblong in shape.

Fingers

The fingers are long and flexible due to the joints. The bones of the metacarpus are longer and larger, and the finger joints are attached to them. Each subsequent phalanx is built more finely. The proportions of the phalanges in the image should be 2/3 the length of the previous one.

In the image, the first phalanx is marked in red, the second in red, and the third in yellow.

The four fingers (thumb excluded) consist of four joints. The thumb is placed to the side in relation to the remaining fingers. The length of the finger, as a rule, reaches the first phalanx of the next finger. The length of the little finger reaches the length of the last phalanx of the previous finger.

Directions

If you make observations on different people, you can notice an additional feature that must be used when drawing. If you draw a line over your fingers, you will end up with a semicircle. The apex of this semicircle is the middle finger.

It is also worth paying attention to the inner and outer sides of the palms. If you draw a comparative line at the fingertips, you will get an arc that starts at the index finger and ends at the little finger.

In the image below, all marks are highlighted in red. You can start the image with a diagram in the form of a mitten. Gradually you need to mark the necessary directions. Over time, you can add additional details, turning the diagram into a drawing.

The protrusions on the inside have one direction, namely, they go down from the index finger to the little finger.

Fist

A little additional information about how to draw brushes correctly and naturally. For example, the image should show a clenched fist. Equally bent fingers should also form a semicircle.

Look at the smallest hand in the image. In the diagram you can see that the width of each subsequent phalanx narrows. It is worth taking this into account and remembering to apply it in your work.

In the clenched fist, under the little finger on the outside, there is a fold, which is emphasized by the green line in the image above. By adding this fold to the drawing, you can more accurately convey the image of a hand squeezing something.

Important Additional Details

The figure below shows an image of a skeleton hand. At the junction, the joints are thicker. You need to know this in order to be able to convey the image more realistically. This particularly applies to thin or elderly people. At the bend, the finger should always be slightly thicker than along the length of the flank.

Notice how the curved brush is shown in profile. The instructions above show in red how the first phalanx is attached to the metacarpus. Green The membranes that are located between are designated; they are usually considered the beginning of the first phalanx.

If you pay attention to the hand in profile, you will notice that the outer side is flat, only the knuckles protrude. The inner one, on the contrary, is soft, the protrusions are evenly distributed.

Step by step drawing of a hand

Before you start drawing, decide on the location of the wrist and forearm. To practice, it is advisable to start with your hand. Try redrawing it.

1. First you need to lightly outline the outline of the brush. Then you need to highlight the shape of the thumb without adding details. Lines should depict the position of the remaining fingers.
2. First draw the index finger, then indicate the shape of the rest.
3. Now you can add details: knuckles, pads, nails, etc.
4. By applying strokes, the drawing can be made voluminous.
5. If desired, you can add colors and shadows under the brush.

Drawing with brushes constantly requires improvement and development. Due to the fact that the hands are quite flexible, positions and angles can be completely different.

Angles

If the brush is in a difficult angle (unusual location), it is much more difficult to depict it. There are ways to help get rid of possible errors.

The most popular and effective option for creating a brush in its original position is to mark the lines of each finger separately.

There are times when using lines alone is not enough. A solution to the problem may be additional shapes, such as a cylinder or parallelepiped. Using auxiliary objects you can designate the phalanges.

If you decide to create an original hand position, then first you should test this position on yourself. Place your hand and place your fingers as they should be in the drawing. If the brush looks natural, you can paint on it. The hand and fingers are interconnected, so it is worth considering that by changing the position of the fingers, you may have to completely change the position of the hands.

For example, you can try to bend your little finger while trying to keep your hand straight. Is there a result? Hardly. There are a lot of similar examples, so before you start drawing, you need to think carefully and draw up a preliminary image in your head.

This is quite a difficult lesson, so it may take you quite a lot of effort to repeat it. If you didn’t succeed in drawing hands the first time, don’t despair and try again. Try your best to complete this lesson. If it still doesn’t work out, you can try to complete the lesson “”. But I believe that you will succeed.

What you will need

In order to draw hands we may need:

Paper. It is better to take medium-grain special paper: beginning artists will find it much more pleasant to draw on this kind of paper.
Sharpened pencils. I advise you to take several degrees of hardness, each should be used for different purposes.
Eraser.
Stick for rubbing hatching. You can use plain paper rolled into a cone. It will be easy for her to rub the shading, turning it into a monotonous color.
A little patience.
Good mood.

Step by step lesson

Different parts of the human body and organs should be drawn with a certain degree of realism. Academic drawing requires this. Also, he strongly recommends drawing hands from life or, in extreme cases, from a photograph. This is the only way to achieve high realism and elaboration.

By the way, in addition to this lesson, I advise you to pay attention to the lesson “”. It will help improve your skill or just give you a little fun.

All complex drawings must be created using forward thinking and vision. The subject must be more than just a form on a sheet of paper. You must draw it three-dimensionally, that is, creating it from simple geometric bodies as if they were on top of each other: here is a ball on a cube, and here are two balls next to each other. All living and non-living things on earth consist of these primitive forms.

Tip: create a sketch with as thin strokes as possible. The thicker the sketch strokes are, the more difficult it will be to erase them later.

The first step, or rather the zero step, is always to mark a sheet of paper. This will let you know where exactly the drawing will be located. If you place the drawing on half of the sheet, you can use the other half for another drawing. Here is an example of marking a sheet in the center:

Well-drawn hands always enhance the entire illustration. Some artists specifically include hands in their subjects.

Anatomy

The most important fact is that the hands are concave on the palm side and convex on the back. The bulges are so located around the circumference of the palm that you can even hold liquid in it. The hand served to primitive man cup, and by cupping his two palms in the shape of a cup, he was able to eat food that he could not hold with his fingers alone. The large muscle of the thumb is one of the most important in the hand. This muscle, in interaction with the muscles of other fingers, provides a grip so strong that it allows you to hold your own weight in suspension. This powerful muscle can hold a club, bow, and spear. It can be said that the existence of animals depends on the muscles of their jaws, and the existence of man depends on his hands.

It is worth paying attention to the powerful tendon attached to the base of the hand and how the tendons of the fingers are grouped on the back of the hand. These tendons can control both all fingers together and each one individually. The muscles that pull these tendons are located on the forearm. Fortunately for the artist, the tendons are mostly hidden from view. In children and young people, the tendons on the back of the hand are not visible, but become more noticeable with age.

The bones and tendons on the back of the hand are close to the surface, but those around the palm and inside the fingers are hidden from view. There is a pad at the base of each finger. It protects the bones lying inside and creates grip on the object being held.

Hand proportions

The next important thing is the curved placement of the fingertips and knuckles. Two fingers lie on either side of a line drawn through the middle of the palm. The tendon of the middle finger divides the back of the hand in half. Also important is the fact that the thumb moves at right angles to the movement of the other fingers. The knuckles are located just in front of the folds underneath them on the inside of the palm. Pay attention to the curve along which the knuckles are located and that the curve becomes steeper the closer the knuckles are to the fingertips.

The middle finger is the key finger that determines the length of the palm. The length of this finger to the joint is slightly more than half the length of the palm. The width of the palm is slightly more than half its length on the inside. The index finger is almost level with the base of the middle finger nail. The ring finger is almost the same length as the index finger. The tip of the little finger is almost level with the last knuckle of the ring finger.

The figure shows how to correctly determine the position of the palm socket. Also pay attention to the curve of the back of the hand. The hands will not look natural, capable of grasping, until the artist masters these details. The hands in the picture are depicted as if they were holding some kind of object. The loud sound of applause is produced by a sharp compression of air between the hollows of the two palms. Poorly drawn hands will look incapable of clapping.

Women's hands

Women's hands differ from men's mainly in that they have smaller bones, less pronounced muscles and greater roundness of the planes. If the middle finger is made at least half the length of the palm, the hand will be more graceful and feminine. Long fingers, oval in shape, will add charm.

Man's hands

Babies hands

Children's hands are a good drawing exercise in themselves. The main difference from the hands of adults is that the palm is much thicker compared to small fingers. The muscles of the thumb and the base of the palm are very voluminous, even small children can support their own weight. The knuckles on the back of the hand are hidden by the flesh and are visible by the dimples. The base of the palm is completely surrounded by folds; it is much thicker than the pads under the fingers.

Hands of children and teenagers

The proportions remain basically the same. Aged primary school the difference between hand and is small, but in youth big changes appear. The boy's hand is larger and stronger, showing the development of bones and muscles. Girls' bones remain smaller, so they never develop large knuckles like boys. The base of the palms also develops more in boys; in girls it is much softer and smoother. Boys' nails, like their fingers, are slightly wider.

Children's hands are a cross between the hands of a baby and the hands of a teenager. This means that the muscles of the thumb and base of the palm are proportionally thicker than those of an adult, but thinner in proportion to the fingers than those of an infant. The proportions of the fingers to the palm are the same as those of adults. The hand is smaller overall, a little fuller, more dimpled, and the joints are of course more rounded.

Hands of elderly people

Once you have mastered the design of hands, you will enjoy drawing the hands of older people. In fact, they are easier to draw than young hands because the anatomy and structure of the hand is more noticeable. The basics of the design are still the same, but the fingers become thicker, the joints are larger, and the knuckles protrude more strongly. The skin becomes wrinkled, but this wrinkling needs to be emphasized only when viewed from a close distance.