Quick Hand Sketches.

These hand sketches are examples of how to draw hands quickly but the techniques also work for more leisurely drawings. If you want to learn to sketch people this kind of hand drawing will aid you by arming you with the tools to capture the forms at some speed. You should practice this slowly to begin with before trying to accelerate your drawing. The first will be of use in drawings of females as it is a young girl's hand. The bones are fragile and the skin smooth.

1. We can think of the palm and the back of the hand as a square or rectangle, angling the lines dependent on the way the hand is positioned. This is something that only requires the practice of sketching the hand in different poses. I practice drawing my own hand and also draw it while holding it to a mirror. I also draw my family and friends who are all used to me doing this formally and informally.

This hand is face down. I sketch the back of it as a square.

2. I sketch in the fingers first concentratiing on the angle, width and placement where they will join the back of the hand. Then I sketch a semi circle at the rear of the hand where it joins up with the wrist. The thumb is a smaller semi circle and crescent. This is all very loose but the angles are important.

3. I refine the edges of the forms now. The thing to remember is that your goal is to find the edge of the palm, fingers etc. You are not drawing an outline. The outer edge of your pencil lines should describe the limits of the hand. Once you have this correct you can go over your lines further refining them.

4. I achieve this by going over the guidelines indenting, almost carving the bone structure. I add nails and a little tone. Note the skin between the fingers.

Hand Sketches 2

1. This is a male hand drawn in the same way. I use the same technique for the palm and add the wrist as a tube.

2. I sketch the thumb.

3. These shapes show me where the fingers will be. All I'm doing here is trying to get the angles.

4. I divide the fingers into their respectcive three parts. I also sketch in the thumb nail. Then I show the pad of the thumb and wrinkles on the palm.

5. I'm ready to draw the hand in a little more detail. I work on the fingers first then the thumb before sketching the wrist and beginning of the arm.

6. A final refining and the hand sketch is finished.

Go to drawing people from hand sketches.

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