Basic Hand Drawing

Basic tutorial on how to draw hands

Basically, someone asked me how I draw hands.
It's alway better when you can actually see how we do it, words are quite useless without visual sometimes.
So, I will show you step by step how I draw them.

1. You have to draw a basic form for your hand.
First, you have to know WHAT you will draw.
Different positions demand different initial forms for the drawing.

If you have difficulties doing so, you can either watch hand pictures, other drawings or your best friend in this case: your own hands. You will always be sure to have a model if you do so.
If you are drawing a dynamic pose that doesn't really permit you to see how you are about to draw your hands, you can always use a mirror. Not only will you see your hands, but the entire pose you want to draw. Otherwise, you can always ask a friend to help you.

2. Draw some lines to give you an idea where to put your fingers on the drawing.
now that you have your basic form, don't go drawing the fingers right ahead... You could mess up the fingers many times before getting something similar to what you had in mind. Add a line at each place there will be a finger, that will serve you as a guideline. Try not make those lines too close from each other, too far apart won't do the job either. Just try your best to do something realistic.
If your shape is simple, you can already draw the general shape of your thumb.
You can also add some palm lines if it helps you.

3. Add some other basic shapes in order to draw your fingers.
No need to be fancy, just draw the general form your fingers are going to have in your drawing. The lines you drew before were guidelines, you don't need to respect them at 100%.
For example, in my case, the line for the little finger wasn't positionned to my taste, so I decided to draw the form without having it following the line drawn before.

4. Give the form desired to the hand.
Now is the time to add more details about the shape of your hand. You may draw the fingers and palm as you wish.

5. Clean up your sketch and add some details.
Now that you have done most of the work, it's time to clean up the useless lines. Just keep those necessary.
After you've done that, add your details.

Voilà! Now you have a hand!

Your first hand may not be satisfying, but it really comes with practice and observation. Don't give up and I hope this little tutorial helped you!