Drawing Hands

Carl Cheek

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486465975
• eBook ISBN: 9780486141909
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

An indispensable and easy-to-follow companion for the intermediate art student, this concise guide focuses on how to capture the natural representation of the human hand in all its forms and motions.
Over 100 clear and expertly rendered drawings help artists discover:
• The subtle but crucial differences between hands of young and old, male and female
• How to accurately draw hands engaged in a variety of activities
• Skeletal and muscular depictions, which help reveal how to naturally draw the workings of the magnificent human hand
Educated in England at the Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art, the works of Carl Cheek were widely exhibited in Europe throughout the 1950s. His artwork is included in numerous private and public collections, including Britain's important and often-visited Government Art Collection.

LATERAL WRIST MOVEMENT

As can be seen from these diagrams, the lateral movement of the hand at the wrist in either direction is more restricted than the forward and backward movement shown on the following page.

Observe the angle of the fingers, shown by the dotted line, relative to the wrist. The movement shown is restricted, and the angle formed is thus obtuse (more than 90° ) .

This movement (toward center of the body) is less restricted than the other. The angle formed by the fingers and wrist is less obtuse.

Figure 1

In this wrist movement the fingers tend to extend and straighten themselves.

Figure 2

In this position the fingers tend to close over the palm.

 

In the backward movement the angle of the wrist and hand is more obtuse than in the forward movement (shown in figure 1) where the natural angle formed is about 90°.

The movements shown on this page are the same as those on the preceding page, but the hands are viewed from different angles.

Notice how cushioned and fleshy the palm looks in comparison with the boniness of the back of the hand.

OBSERVATION

In the Introduction I drew your attention to the fact that no specific rule or recipe for drawing any particular object exists. There is, however, a discipline or method of observation applicable on any and every occasion and which is modified only by the length of time during which the object drawn remains stationary.

This method is explained on the next two pages, but here I should like to state that it may be employed in the most painstaking way in the actual building up of a drawing, or it may be used in a more summary fashion in a free drawing, or it may be used as a check on a completed drawing that was drawn quickly.

For the purpose of absolute accuracy you may find it imperative to know the exact position in distance of a part of a drawing from other parts of it. You may, for instance, need to determine the exact distances from the tip of the thumb to the tips of the small and middle fingers. By using this method absolute certainty is assured. To determine the exact distance away from two known points of an established but uncertain point, try this. From the highest known point (Point 1) drop a vertical line and from your other known point (Point 3) draw a horizontal line. Extend these two lines beyond their 90° angles of interception until they pass the points where they meet 90° angle lines drawn out toward them from your unmeasured point. Now, by measuring the last two lines, you can discover how far to the left or right of the vertical, and how far below or above the horizontal, Point 2 (the hitherto unmeasured point) falls.

certain angles of importance to the drawing as a whole are more easily understood and visualized when they are related to or compared with verticals and horizontals that form 90° angles. See the lines marked D on this page.

 

The vertical and horizontal lines have been drawn heavily only for the purposes of this book. In ordinary practice they would be much fainter and not necessarily drawn with a ruler. In drawings meant to exist in their own right, such as illustrations, there would remain no trace of any construction lines.

CHILDREN

Th...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• BONE STRUCTURE
• SIMPLIFIED CONSTRUCTION
• LATERAL WRIST MOVEMENT
• OBSERVATION
• CHILDREN
• MALE HAND
• FEMALE HAND
• ELDERLY PEOPLE
• THE ARTIST AS MODEL
• PULLING
• NOTES ON THE USE OF WASH
• LIFTING
• PUSHING
• MISCELLANY
• EMOTIONS AND MOODS