How to Draw Hands
By Kelly | June 3, 2007
The three most expressive body parts, those that are key in depicting a character’s mood, are the face, hands, and feet respectively. In other words, you should spend almost as much energy on a figure’s hand as you would the face! Don’t hesitate to draw hands- many anxious young artists hide them in pockets or behind the back. It takes study and practice, but you can learn to construct a pretty convincing hand if you understand the basic forms and underlying anatomy.
This tutorial makes frequent use of Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgeman, a work in the public domain hosted by the Internet Archive.
I also recommend the following:
Check the Recommended Reading Booklist for more reference books, and tips on getting them cheap.
1. Basic Hand Anatomy
Anatomy studies by George Bridgeman
Understanding the components of the hand – bone, muscle, and tendon- will help you draw believable hands. Draw studies of your own hands, paying particular attention to silhouette and form, and with particular empahsis on change of direction in the lines of the silhouette.
Exaggerate plane changes and overlapping forms to make more dynamic hands
Do many studies of your own hands for practice. After studying, try drawing some new poses using your memory!
2. Simplified Forms
I like to think of the hand as three big pieces- the palm, thumb, and fingers. Imagine the hand as a mitten, with the fingers as one mass. Then, in your mind convert that mitten into a more three-dimensional form. The hand is long and relatively flat, it’s just the folds of the palm and joints of the fingers that make it seem complex.
The fingers have three joints- the knuckle, where it attaches to the palm, a smaller middle joint, and an even smaller joint near the tip. The natural movement of the finger’s bend goes from knuckle, to middle, to tip. In other words, the tip joint only bends in the most extreme poses, and it only bends alone if there’s pressure on the finger tip (such as poking an object).
Don’t forget which side the thumb is on! A simple ‘rule of thumb’ – palms out, thumbs in. Palms in, thumbs out. Check your pose with a mirror or get a buddy to model if you aren’t sure.
Here are some of Bridgeman’s hand studies, showing how he simplifies the form, including some very geometric plane studies-
3. Animals and Anthro Hands
Here are a couple of techniques for making anthro/furry hands:
Cartoony paws use simple, rounded forms to convey the structure of the hand. Detail is minimal, since with animated characters every line must be re-drawn thousands of times. These animated characters typically have 3 fingers and a thumb, and lack extraneous details like furry accents and paw pads.
Mid-way between animal and human, this style of hand has stubbier fingers and bigger joints, plus the animal characteristics of fur and paw pads. This kind of hand is better for more beast-like or masculine anthros.
These examples are how I’d draw hands for my Good Cheese characters. The female hand is slender and elegant, with only pointed nails (and perhaps a pink palm) to lend it some animal flavor. The male hand is more beast-like, with stubby fingers and hints of fur at the knuckles.
Feel free to experiment with different styles, and draw the hands that best fit your character’s design.
Happy drawing! 
Topics: Drawing tutorials | 84 Comments »
84 Responses to “How to Draw Hands”
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The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Animals |
 
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Drawing the Head and Figure |
 
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Cartoon Animation |
 
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The Art of Animal Drawing |
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December 4th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
This was very helpful! I always have trouble with forming the perfect hands.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:27 am
Thats awsome stuff. This helped me alot. And i mean ALOT.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
this was very helpful to me. if you have more tips on how to draw I ask of you to please send me them I would really appreciate it. thanks
November 7th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Finally, I don’t have to stare at a mirror while I’m drawing the right hand on a furry. I can just use this.
October 19th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
do you think you could show us how to draw hands holding some thing like a sick?
October 18th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Thanks, this helps! I’m trying to draw some Anthro/Furry characters and this helps a great deal! ^^
October 12th, 2008 at 10:10 am
This website really influenced me alot on my way to drawing furry artwork.I feel that my artwork owes some credit towards this site.Thanks so much!:D
October 1st, 2008 at 12:18 am
This another big help!
But I have another problem in drawing:
Hair,as in the stuff on top of my furries head :/
Can you make a tut about that?
Keep it real and furry-
TheFurFreak
July 17th, 2008 at 11:52 am
wow, this was one of my main problems, i never was good at drawing hands, thanks, this helped quite a bit! =]
July 10th, 2008 at 1:10 am
thank you so much I had almost given up hope about ever being able to draw anything let alone hands and now I can thnk you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!