Larry MacDougall - Faerie Tale Illustration, Comics and Animation.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Getting Warmed Up - Part 2 - Hands
Hands are hard to draw. Much continued practice is required. That's all there is to it. I'm always looking for good hand reference. I can find it in magazines or my wife's crafting and gardening books and of course there are the ones I'm using to type this post. There is no shortage of hands around here, only a shortage of the drawing of hands. In fact, I should probably do some more tomorrow !
It used to be feet for me; the foreshortening of feet seen straight on drove me spare! Foreshortening in general isn't a friend o' mine but hands will have to be next on the "oh-bugger-how-do-I-draw-this-then" list
JD - I wish there were a shortcut to learning how to draw our hands but I have yet to find one. You just have to practice and gradually increase your understanding of the way our hands work and how best to draw them.
I hear you O.D.. I think it's often a good idea to take a peek at the old masters and see how they solved these problems. Minds much greater than ours have been tackling these drawing dilemmas for centuries. Rubens was pretty good with feet.
Funny you should say that, I was thinking that earlier and then followed up (cos I'm weird like that) 'People sort of frown on Michaelangelo's methods these days...' *boggle*
One thing I have GOT to sort out is trying to get African skintones sorted. I WILL realise my dream of actually putting black-folks into fantasy art! *shakes fist* Because it NEVER happens, which used to gut me as a fantasy-geeky-multicultural kid...
Flickrs got tonnes of hands. You also have a pair of your own! I sometimes take pictures of mine in various positions then draw them. Hands are something I have real trouble with, they can just twist and turn in so many directions! I pretty much always need to use reference for them. Sigh..
A.A. - another thing I like to do is have a small mirror on my table that I can put my left hand in front of and draw it from the opposite point of view. Thanks for the flickr tip, I haven't tried that yet.
Drawing hands has always been a struggle for me. It's really sort of odd considering there's one at the end of each of my arms.
ReplyDeleteIt used to be feet for me; the foreshortening of feet seen straight on drove me spare! Foreshortening in general isn't a friend o' mine but hands will have to be next on the "oh-bugger-how-do-I-draw-this-then" list
ReplyDeleteJD - I wish there were a shortcut to learning how to draw our hands but I have yet to find one. You just have to practice and gradually increase your understanding of the way our hands work and how best to draw them.
ReplyDeleteI hear you O.D.. I think it's often a good idea to take a peek at the old masters and see how they solved these problems. Minds much greater than ours have been tackling these drawing dilemmas for centuries. Rubens was pretty good with feet.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say that, I was thinking that earlier and then followed up (cos I'm weird like that) 'People sort of frown on Michaelangelo's methods these days...' *boggle*
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have GOT to sort out is trying to get African skintones sorted. I WILL realise my dream of actually putting black-folks into fantasy art! *shakes fist* Because it NEVER happens, which used to gut me as a fantasy-geeky-multicultural kid...
O.D. - You can't go wrong with the Old Masters. The answers you're looking for will be found there and Michelangelo is a great guy to start with.
ReplyDeleteFlickrs got tonnes of hands. You also have a pair of your own! I sometimes take pictures of mine in various positions then draw them. Hands are something I have real trouble with, they can just twist and turn in so many directions! I pretty much always need to use reference for them. Sigh..
ReplyDeleteA.A. - another thing I like to do is have a small mirror on my table that I can put my left hand in front of and draw it from the opposite point of view. Thanks for the flickr tip, I haven't tried that yet.
ReplyDeleteAlways the inspiration, Larry.
ReplyDelete