How To Draw Hands

Step 1: Wrist and palm

Looking closely at where your hand meets your wrist, draw the end of your wrist. Now look at the size of your palm, and draw a circle as a guideline for the outer edges of your palm. Draw the guideline faintly so you can erase it later. Draw the curve of the palm between the wrist and the thumb.

Step 2: Thumb and fingers

Draw the outline of the thumb, looking closely at the shape of the knuckles beneath the skin. Where the top of the first knuckle is, draw a half circle, concentric to the first circle. This is a guideline which will be erased later. Draw another concentric half circle where the top of the second knuckle is. Then draw a final half circle at the tip of the thumb. Now draw guidelines emanating from the centre of the circle for each of your four fingers. Draw them along the furthest edge of each finger, not down the middle. Continue by drawing the outline of your index finger. You'll see that the tops of the first two knuckles should fall roughly where the circles are. The tip of the finger will fall on, or slightly beyond, the last circle. Continue drawing each finger in this way. It's helpful to also look at the gaps between the fingers, known as negative space, to judge where each finger should be.

Step 3: Finishing off

Continue the line forming the edge of the pinkie around the first circle to represent the outer edge of the palm, adjusting the size of the circle if necessary. Now that you've drawn the outline of the entire hand and fingers, erase all the guidelines and corrections you've made. When you're confident that the proportions of your hand are correct, you can use shading to finish off areas like the nails and the creases in the knuckles.