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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Pages: « 9 8 7 6 [5] 4 3 2 1 » Show All
May 26th, 2009 at 11:06 am
This is helpful in a way. I want to ask if you would put up some examples of left hands.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:13 am
One never seems to find these kinds of sites and to be grateful can only be an understatment
April 30th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Your tutorials are very helpful! I find hands to be tied with proportions for hardest things to draw on a figure. I love your style though, this should aid me quite a bit.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I am not going to lie but I found this of little use. :( I think it would have been more useful if it where a step by step from the first stroke of the pencil. So I hope that that is something that gets posted.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:52 am
Good hands, I draw anime but i’m only a begginer, and I do POrtraits, I just started on a full bodt though, and was searching for some good ways to draw hands, It looks much better now.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Thank you very, very much for existing, and further more, for bringing all of your tutorials into existance with your wonderfiul talent. My paws/hands/whatevers looked absolutely… uncleaver(?) but, with your ideas, hints and walkthroughs, (and the piccies, really), I’ve drawn better anthro characters! Thanks much!
March 21st, 2009 at 2:43 pm
This was really helpful with a wolf-fox hybrid character I’m drawing. =3
But I’m having trouble with the feet. Well, mostly just the toes. Are there any good books/tutorials out there on furry anthro toes?
March 8th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Thanks for the tutorial. Even just looking at the pictures and following the basic paw design helped me SO MUCH in my first, real furry drawing. :3
January 15th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Very helpful for female hands, but the male hands disagree with my personal writing style, but still, good advice all in all!
January 5th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Um yea hey just curious.
you’re hands are well scaled and neat around the knuckles
what would you use say doing a burned or crippling hand
detail is no issue for me but my fingers have a tendency to lean towards squared edges.