How to Draw Hands (Beginner + Advanced) Hand Drawing Tips (2024)

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Learning how to draw hands can sometimes seem intimidating at first. However, once you break it down it won’t seem so difficult! To learn something more complicated you just need to start with the simple elements first and build from there.

This article will help you to get a basic start in understanding everything to do with the drawing of hands. Before we delve much further though, we first need to understand the basic structure of hands and how the bones and muscles work.

Basic anatomy of hands

There are 27 bones in each hand, not counting the sesamoid bones. These bones give the hand its structure and form. It is helpful to see and understand the muscles attached to these bones as they are what form the structure that we see on the surface of the hand.

There Are Two Main Types of Muscles in the Hand: Intrinsic and Extrinsic

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The extrinsic muscles are those that attach the hand to the forearm. These muscles allow us to open and close our hand as well as move the hand from side to side. In babies and young people these tendons are hidden. However, they are much more visible in the hands of adults and the aged.

Block structure of hands

We want to simplify and understand the basic structure of hands if we are to draw them well. This helps you to achieve a realistic and dimensional quality in the hands you draw. It also helps the whole process of hand drawing become approachable and less daunting.

The basic block structure of the hand can be seen in the drawing above. You can see how it progressively builds off of a simple shaped line drawing and becomes more three dimensional. This method is a good way to start when you are learning how to draw hands.

How to draw hands from a block structure

Once you have the basic structure of hands down, it is time to start refining your drawings to make them look more realistic. As you refine a hand drawing more, continue to visualize it in terms of blocks. Notice in the drawing below how the hand is more refined but still has a strong 3 dimensional quality about it. Doing this lays a good foundation for the rest of the hand drawing.

Of course you don’t need to keep the ‘blocky’ structure of the drawing. In fact, I recommend for you to refine it even further in such a way that it feels more real but still retains a strong 3 dimensional quality. In the drawing below we can see an example of a hand drawing that is taken quite far past the ‘blocky’ stage.

Drawing hands in different positions

Now that you have the basic structure and form of hands down, you can start practicing drawing them in different positions. This is important as it helps to further your understanding of how the hand works. It also helps to increase your repertoire as an artist.

Once you have the basic form of the hand down, start refining it to look more realistic. Remember to think about the different planes that make up the hand as you draw.

Developing your hand drawing skills

As you draw hands more you will be able to visualize them mentally as a block structure and can forgo drawing the block structure out first. So you can go straight into drawing real natural looking hands. Getting to this place requires consistent and deliberate practice.

Start observing and drawing your own hands

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Hello! I'm Elisabeth Larson Koehler

Art Studio Life exists for you to be able to stay inspired, learn, and improve your skills.

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