The Human Hand

Whenever people compliment me for my art projects I've done in my Commercial Arts class, I only laugh, because if they saw my drawings of humans they would think it was done by a five-year-old. Though I've done quite a few drawings of objects and landscapes that I'm quite proud of, my absolute weakness is drawing humans. Details, proportions, shading, everything seems different when I attempt to draw people. Compared to my other drawings (which thus far have been exclusively objects or landscapes), my attempts at drawing people are rather laughable.

My very first project done in Commercial Arts! I'm quite proud of the shading, even if it could use a bit more contrast.

For my very first post, I decided to draw something that sounds very simple, yet is actually quite difficult: hands. Many artists agonize over drawing hands, due to the amount of precision and detail that goes into it and how hard it is to get the structure of the hand just right. Going into this book, I'd thought that it would just include helpful hints to drawing anatomy, yet the author emphasizes many important aspects I hadn't even stopped to think about.

One of the main points the author made is that you can't simply draw something you have no understanding of. In order to draw anatomy, you must know where the bones and muscles are located and how they tend to react when you perform certain movements. If you had no knowledge of human anatomy and were to simply draw a hand that is not based off of a picture, it would be difficult to draw because you wouldn't know the proportions of the hands, how the parts of the hand are related to each other, if muscles will tense or if bones will pop out in a certain position, and so on (Bridgman 6).

Bridgman also emphasized the usefulness of construction lines. These are basically lines to guide where things are located, and when drawing, I relied on them quite heavily. Bridgman explains how to take note of the placement of details when he says "the inaction construction line runs straight down the arm to the base of the little finger. The action construction line runs down the arm to the base of the thumb at the wrist, from there out to the middle joint, at the widest part of the hand; thence to the knuckle of the first finger, then to that of the second finger, then joins the inaction line at the little finger." This is an example of how to use the construction lines, and following his advice was highly helpful.

The construction lines I decided to create in order to help
guide myself on the placement of the fingers,
bone outlines, knuckles, etc.

How I used the construction lines, to get a very basic
shape of the hand using only straight lines. I focused mostly on getting the placement and size accurate.

It took me quite a few tries for me to become satisfied with the proportions. Another issue I've struggled with when drawing hands is keeping the palm and fingers proportional to one another. However, when I used construction lines, I didn't have too many issues with that!

I added smaller details such as the knuckles, the wrinkles
in the finger where there are joints, nails, etc.

Here I've started to define the contours of the hand and
strayed away from the straight lines in order to give the
hand a natural curvature.

Another technique I utilized from the book is implied lines. Implied lines are when you draw a figure, and in the outline you leave a blank space between lines, yet your mind will easily picture the line there. This is prominent at the top of the ring and pinkie finger, where I elected not to draw in the upper half of the fingers. I find that implied lines give the drawing more character, and the technique worked surprisingly well.

Here it's seen that I've gone back and shaded in some
of the parts of the hand, such as the space between the
fingers and areas on the knuckles and wrist.

After erasing the guidelines (which, looking back on, I should
have drawn a bit lighter), this is the finished product!

You may also have noticed I also added some lines that are seemingly random, but I put them there intentionally in order to show the bones and muscles that lay underneath the skin. For example, the shading along the right side of the wrist is meant to show the bone underneath the skin and to give the hand more depth. Though I am satisfied of the drawing, I'd admit that I'm not totally happy with it, mainly because I'd normally shade and fill in the hand more (which I did try, though it didn't turn out very pretty).

I found that using construction lines, something I had previously disregarded as "too much work", is actually quite helpful when I don't feel comfortable placing details through judgment alone. It's a helpful tool when you're unsure of where to place things.

A detail I quite liked about this process is how it went from such a flat sketch of straight lines to an body part with depth and character. In my opinion, that's one of the charms of art: watching a few straight turn into a detailed, realistic object, and looking at the end result and seeing how you've progressed since the start.

What's your favorite part about art, whether making or viewing it? What is, in your opinion, the best form of art (painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, etc.) and why? What makes art aesthetically pleasing to you?

Bridgman, George. Constructive Anatomy. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2016. Print.