Hands and feet

I've not posted any of my own art even though i am currently working on it. I have been drawing with a mixed style of anime and Marvel comic style.

I seem to get most of the body right and foreshortening is getting easier. But i seem to have a little trouble with hands and feet.
I've used photos and other artwork to help with the technique but perhaps its time to ask if anyone has any tips.
I'm primarily a sketch artist working with pencils and pens.

Any tips or comments welcome.

Get a buddy to model and draw from life. Draw from photos. Learn to draw what you see and not what you think you remember. Spend 3/4 of the time looking and 1/4 of the time drawing. Pick up a copy of the classic Gray's Anatomy and learn the underlying structures of bone, sinew, and muscle that lie under the skin and make parts look and move as they do. Learning to see comes first, drawing is the result.

Thank you for that. Am using various books at the moment and am working with photos. Not tried using a friend to help me yet. I'll get there.. maybe i should just start posting some and get people to visually see what needs adjusting or work.

C.A.B. said:

Get a buddy to model and draw from life. Draw from photos. Learn to draw what you see and not what you think you remember. Spend 3/4 of the time looking and 1/4 of the time drawing. Pick up a copy of the classic Gray's Anatomy and learn the underlying structures of bone, sinew, and muscle that lie under the skin and make parts look and move as they do. Learning to see comes first, drawing is the result.

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Dude - your words sound quotable - inspiring! As an inspiring Graphic Designer, it makes me want to pick up the pencil and draw.

thanks!!

I cannot draw hands either. I've tried drawing from photos but the proportions always look wrong.

Anida said:

I cannot draw hands either. I've tried drawing from photos but the proportions always look wrong.

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One possible reason for this is the distortion phenomenon that occurs if one draws flat on a table and one is sitting upright - the sharp angle from your eye to the flat paper causes a elongation and distortion, which becomes evident when you pick up the drawing and hold it perpendicular to your straight on vision. This is why you see drafting and drawing boards and easels are at an angle to correct this.

However, when drawing on a tablet, since the monitor is usually upright and perpendicular to your vision, this distortion really doesn't occur.

Another skill to add to your quiver is to learn to measure the parts of what you are drawing against each other to keep things relative to each other. And of course the golden rule is learn to SEE and not what you think you see. ie: Don't look at a reference, get a gist, and then attempt to draw the whole thing without looking at your reference constantly. It is not 'cheating' to draw from life or photos. Drawing well from memory comes from decades of repetitive study of the human form, and even then, the pros have no issue turning to draw inspiration and models from real life.

~ C.A.B.

Hands and feet are just plain tough to draw in general.

One key thing to remember is that no matter what position a person is in, their thumbs and their big toes will always face inward, closest to the body's center, when their hands are palms-down. (Big toes will pretty much always face inward closest to the center, since it's not possible to turn your foot over (without a ton of stretching/discomfort) the way you can turn your hands over ) When their wrists are turned so the palms face up it will be the opposite, thumbs facing out...but you will need to show their wrists are turned this way. If you see their palms, generally, you'll also see the inside of their elbows. You won't generally see the inside of the elbow, or only a hint of it from the side, when the palms face down. Both the palms of hands and soles of feet have a sort of "meaty" area just below the fingers/toes that will look slightly raised. Then with feet there's the arch and the heels will also look more "raised", same with the "heel of the hands", on the palm just above where the palm of the hand attaches to the wrists. The base of the thumbs where they attach to the palms is part of the meatier-looking "heel of the hand" on the palm.

Hands and feet probably give me a more difficult time to draw semi-accurately than anything else. They are really hard to draw, keep practicing!