Category Archives: How to Draw Hands

One of the problems with drawing hands is that there is a lot of ground to cover. Four fingers, a thumb, a palm, back of the hand, knuckles, nails. It can seem as if there is as much to draw in one hand as there is to draw in all the rest of the figure.

When we first start learning how to draw figures we can spend a lot of time on the hands, and so it can seem like they are really difficult to draw. We can spend too much time on hands and overdraw them. We can spend too much time trying to get the hand right and have that area of the drawing overworked, fussy, and out of keeping with the rest of the drawing. Or, we can focus so much on a hand that we forget to work the rest of the figure, so the hand can become out of proportion.

The first thing to remember when figuring out your approach on how to draw hands is to think of the figure as a whole. This is a general rule of figure drawing. If you find yourself working on any part of the figure for too long, you should move your eyes away to a different area, and start drawing that different area. Do not become fixated with a single spot, whether it is hands, feet or anywhere else.

Another thing to consider is keeping your mark making simple. This can help to prevent a single part of the drawing, like the hands, being overworked. Less can be more.

In this first example the hand does not match with the rest of the figure very well. The foot at the forefront of the picture is large compared with the rest of the figure, as it should be to show the perspective. But the hand is too small. If you look at the detail of the hand you can see other inconsistencies: the index finger is too wide, the thumb too narrow. I do like the way the knuckles have been represented with those rough, incomplete lines, but overall the hand doesn’t help this drawing.

In this second example I think the hands work well with the rest of the drawing. The whole drawing is completed with line only. As the hands are drawn this way too, they do not seem overworked, or inconsistent. The drawing of the hands is also sparing. The choice has been made to minimise the level of detail. The fingers of the figures right hand are not distinguished with there is just enough detail to suggest the positioning of the fingers. The knuckles of the left hand are indicated with brief dashes of line. It could be argued that the hands are too small given the pose of the figure. Because the hands are close to the foreground they could be larger to help to represent the perspective the observer would see.

By now you might be able to guess which of the two hands in the third example I like the most. That’s correct – the figure’s right hand (seen on our left) which is just hinted at, while the other hand is overworked.

In this example the hands are again kept simple. The fingers of the left hand are only suggested. The lack of shading helps to keep the view of the hands simple, and helps to balance the picture by supporting the overall composition.

And finally, simpler still. There is not always a need to show every detail of the hands. Especially if you are working in a life drawing class where you will have limited time, but still want to complete a balanced drawing.

So, don’t focus on the hands for too long. Keep it simple. Suggest detail, but don’t draw the detail. Keep it simple and remember that one view of how to draw hands is that less is more.