Your Hand of Creativity

In You Can Draw in 30 Days, Mark Kistler says that our hand is our most expressive appendage (234). Our hands are used for many of the daily activities we do, so why not draw it? In this chapter Mark Kistler shows how to use the  Nine Fundamental Laws of Drawing, which include: foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading, shadow, contour, horizon, and density. 

To start, I drew a foreshortened square, meaning that the hand will be tilted away from my point of view. I then drew two lines as the wrist, using size to create dept. 

I then drew the outline of the thumb. Kistler says: "Looking at your hand, see how your thumb is shaped by the round end and the contour wrinkle line inside. Draw this round end and the wrinkle contour line" (235).

After, I drew the first finger. I drew it so that it angled away from the palm of the hand.

I then drew the middle finger and the ring finger. I overlapped the ring finger and the middle finger. 

I then drew the pinky finger, as well as lines on the palm of the hand.

To finish, I shaded shadows the light would make on the hand

To conclude, I learned that I should use the Nine Fundamental Laws of Drawing whenever I draw because it makes the drawing more realistic and artistic. I definitely think I've improved in drawing because of Mark Kistler's book. Do you think that by using foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading, shadow, contour, horizon, and/or density can improve a drawing?

Kistler, Mark. You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2011. Print.