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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Drawing tricky subjects--hands!

We were talking about drawing hands the other day, and I remembered someone suggesting you think of the hand shape as a mitten, first, simplify it to that form, THEN add fingers and thumbs and details.  So I decided to do a couple of quick demos.  (And yep, I turned over my mug of coffee, but I don't like to waste paper!  These are leftover sheets from my bookbinding project, cut to handy demo size. 

Most of them are still coffee-free...


 

I was able to see the foreshortened forms easily this way...but my thumb's still a bit short too!
More playing with mitten shapes and tricky hand positions...





You can see where the "mitten" lines were...and also see that I've got a bit of arthritis!

Tweak as you need to, nobody says you HAVE to stay within the lines if you see you need to correct a bit, but it DOES give you good guidelines...
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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2011 at 3:01 PM

    Perfect! I needed this. I've been taking Life Drawing, and my bodies tend to end up with non-hands and mangled feet. I love the added touch of the coffee splashes. Brings it home. I can relate to messy life.

    Carolyn

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  2. Kate (Cathy Johnson)February 26, 2011 at 3:14 PM

    Glad to help, Carolyn! Simplifying shapes really does help, but somehow that "mitten" image stuck with me all these years...

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  3. MaryOFebruary 26, 2011 at 3:39 PM

    Waste not want not! LOL! I have some very similar coffee *splats* on some of my old sketches, but that just gives them character, right?
    I really like this mitten aspect for drawing hands, thanks, Kate.

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  4. Kate (Cathy Johnson)February 26, 2011 at 3:45 PM

    Glad to help, Mary! And yeah, character...exactly...

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  5. ShirleyFebruary 26, 2011 at 4:02 PM

    Thanks Kate. Since I wear mittens all winter, I should take lots of photos and then see what I can do with this technique at my figure drawing sessions.

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  6. Kate (Cathy Johnson)February 26, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    Great idea, Shirley, I'd love to see what you do with them.

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  7. Dan KentFebruary 26, 2011 at 4:13 PM

    Very nice - I can't wait to try!

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  8. JaneneFebruary 26, 2011 at 5:20 PM

    This is timely--one of my recent goals is to get better at hands and feet so I will try this technique.

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  9. Kate (Cathy Johnson)February 26, 2011 at 5:24 PM

    Let us know how it goes!

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