Our hands are extremely expressive and can form endless amounts of gestures. These gestures can convey many emotions such as fear, anger, sadness and happiness. No wonder they’re so difficult to draw!
I’ll admit I used to draw people with their hands tucked away in their pockets or hidden behind their backs. I would always find ways to hide them because drawing hands was one of my biggest weaknesses. Don’t let it be yours! Tuck your fears away, take your pencils out and let’s practice drawing some hands together!
The easiest way to learn how to draw hands is to first understand its proportions and bone structure. This tutorial will cover how to construct a hand and help you understand it’s proportions but the bone structure is abstract. If you want to see a skeletal diagram of a hand, please click here. I will soon be making a part 2 covering nails, skin and wrinkles. You can follow me on Facebook to get an update whenever I post a new tutorial!
Update: Click here for How to draw hands part 2!
New!! For more detailed instructions, checkout my new video tutorial! https://youtu.be/j739xyYn0fE
How to Draw a Hand Step by Step
Step 1: Shape the palm
Step 2: Draw five circles
Step 3: Measure and draw the fingers
Step 4: Find the joints for each finger
Step 5: Draw circles at each joint
Step 6: Draw the thumb
Step 7: Make outlines around the hand
Hand Images for Drawing Reference
Feel free to download and use the hand images below for your reference! You may find that it is difficult to use the measurement system for certain gestures. In this case, eye the approximate measurements and remember to implement the use of curved lines when drawing fingers. If you practice enough, you should be able to sketch them without the use of guidelines or better yet, be able to visualize and draw any gesture! Understanding muscles, tendons and fat tissue will help add a layer of realism to your hands. Click here for an interactive 360 degree model. You can view different layers by clicking on the thumbnails at the top.
**Click here for the second part of this tutorial: How to Draw Hands Part 2: Beyond Structure
Have any questions or requests? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
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😊 Thank you for sharing!
Here is your PDF download link:
Click here to download the PDF version of this tutorial :)
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Darlene created RFA In 2013 with the goal of sharing simple yet detailed drawing tutorials with other artists on the world wide web. She is a self taught pencil portrait artist and Youtuber.
Thank you for trying to help me but i dont think i will ever be a good drawer
Dear Ms.Nguyen,
I am an art teacher and this page on drawing hands is wonderful! So many students ask me about drawing hands and this breaks it down in such a manageable way for beginners! I will be referring them to your wonderful website and videos from now on!
Great tips on drawing. I really appreciate what you are doing. Thank you so much.
Amazing work! But theirs one question, Can you like make the links of the pictures above because i really want to draw them. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your talent. I love your works. Great blog as always.
thanks this is really helpful and you are really good at drawing