5min hand drawing gesture

Hello,

I'm new to this community. I'm a student who would like to integrate an animation school next year. I tried for the first time some hand drawing for my portfolio, they are 5min each.

I'm not satisfied with theses so I would like some critique. I feel like something is off, maybe it's that I don't really understand how a hand work ?

Thank you in advance !

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• Kim edited this post on October 29, 2021 5:41pm. Reason: mod edit: Just removing one broken image, since it was meant to be links by the OP :)

Hello! Your hands are looking pretty good so far! I can see that you're doing a good job observing the bones underneath, such as the head of the ulna (bump near the wrist on the pinky side in that first image). I think that there could be some improvements to the gesture and anatomical structure that will give your hands and arms a more natural look.

For gesture:

While it may be counter-intuitive, I recommend using references that include more of the body than just the arm. The arms are vital for balancing the entire body and inherit their motion from the body, which follows all the way down to the fingertips. You don't need to do a neat drawing of the whole body, but perhaps draw a rough gesture of the body leading into the arm to see how the flow of the arm and hand comes directly from the pose of the body overall. This can help make the gesture of the arm look more natural, since what you are drawing is "in context" of a full pose.

For anatomy:

Also, while I can see that you have good observational skills, learning about the different bones and muscles in the hands/arms would put you at a great advantage in your applications to schools. It is a bit time-consuming, but the more you know, the easier everything beccomes from there on and I have never regretted putting the extra time into learning fundamentals. I highly recommend this course by Ariel Olivetti which does a fantastic job introducing the study of anatomy and how to use it in your art and emphasize proportions to your advantage. Anatomy books are also a great help, or if you can't spend the money just creating a document with googled references on the muscles and bones in the body. I keep a word doc with different scientific images of bones and muscles and their names for reference :) Observe how the bones in the forearm twist around each other, and how the muscle sculpts the shape of the body. A little knowledge goes a long way!

When I'm feeling stumped with hands, I often draw a simplified version of the skeletal structure first. If you can get the internal structure correct, the rest comes naturally.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Dokki,

If you would like to get an excellent reference for hands, and for that matter, the rest of the body, I would suggest you purchase or look for in your collage library: Classic Human Anatomy: The Artist's Guide to Form, Function, and Movement

The illustrations are fantastic, and she breaks down the anatomy of the hands from what we as artists can and can not see and how pointers work.

On your last drawing, it is essential to remember: When the had is stretched out with thumbs nearest your navel, the radial and ulna cross making an X. But, If you are open-handed,- thumbs away from the body, so that someone can put something in your hand those bones don't cross. But if you push way or palms down, so you can not receive something, the bones will make an X.

The best way to remember is X=No.

Since you are interested in animation, I thought you might find this little body betrayer exciting and use it to further your figures.

Knowing how the bones interact It think will help you become better in your studies. Take 2 hours a week and study all kinds of anatomy human and otherwise. Or better yet study 15 minutes before each time you draw and focus your drawings on how those parts of the body move and interact with the skeletal structure. Then draw them. Eventually, with enough practice, you will draw them in without even thinking about it.

I hope this helps you.

If you would like a study buddy, feel free to email me: Michellercusack@gmail.com I feel it is always nice to have someone to study with because it keeps you more honest and on task with your goals.

All the best,

JCML Fine Art

Wow these are allreally great, the wrinkles are a detail I'm always too lazy to add in. I think the biggest step you could take to improve your hands is to shade them. Shading is essentially the "free realestate" of form. Your gesture is really good but for example in the third image the "ok" hand has a squished index finger becasue its pointed towards us in space, so if you had shaded it instead of makeing the shiluhette do ALL the work it would have ""reached" foreward more. I hope you get into animation school!

Hey there! Good stuff trying new things, and you are right, something is off and you dont understand how the hand works, but that is to be expected! You just said this is the FIRST TIME you tried drawing some hands, you are learning and that is great!

I reccomend really studying the planes that make up the hand first, just some simple constructions of boxes, rods and balls is a good place to start and to begin thinking about the motion of the hands.

Since videos are helpful, here is a link to a nice introductory method of drawing hands, I like this guy Mark Brunet, there are pleanty of people that will show you the same technique.

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But, after you watch that you can also watch him punish himself for 12 hours doing nothing but drawing hands, practice makes better!

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Good luck! Practice and draw and love drawing!