Hey guys, welcome back! You made it to the Part 4 of the Proko Hand Series. We're gonna
dive into some specific poses and then we'll end it off with a fun lesson on “How to
Draw Cartoon Hands”. I'm assuming you've already seen Parts 1, 2 and 3.
You should be familiar with the basic anatomy of the hand and process I taught in the last lesson.
In this demo you'll learn all about drawing fists. This is a tricky pose that really requires
a good understanding of the underlying anatomy. It's a lot of information crammed in a small
space, which can get messy and confusing. Let's do it.
The Basic Forms
As you know, I always start my drawing by establishing the gesture, which indicates
the movement of the pose. But a punching fist isn't dynamic. It's rigid. It's solid.
The wrist is locked straight, so that it doesn't break on impact! If you're drawing a superhero
fist, you want it to feel strong, like a brick. It's hard to give a brick a dynamic rhythm.
It's just a straight line with a sudden end. But, that's not a bad thing.
Don't think that everything has to be dynamic. Some things need to feel blocky and heavy.
A fist to feel like jello. The rest of the body including the arm, can and should be
dynamic. The fist, is a brick.
There is gesture in some of the secondary forms, the subtleties of the fingers as you'll
see later… But the big gesture, isn't flowy. It's a bunch of built up energy inside of a box.
So... From the very beginning, think about the big boxy shape.
One of the main anatomical rhythms is the rhythm across the knuckles. The middle finger
knuckle sticks up the highest. We're going to draw the overall arc that describes the
knuckles, instead of a wobbly line trying to get all the details right off the bat.
Let's do the same for the second set of joints at the bottom. We already know that the middle
finger knuckle is the highest. But what about at the bottom edge? In a relaxed fist, you'll
get the opposite curve. Same reason - middle finger is longest and pinky is shortest. This
shape is inactive and kinda boring. But watch what happens when I squeeze my fist tight.
The pinky and ring fingers move down, and we get a straight line across the joints.
That's a much more interest shape. Curve on top, straight on bottom.
You can push it even farther for a fist like this. It's a bit more dynamic, but it kinda
loses some strength and stability. I wouldn't draw it like this for a punching fist.
Maybe just if it's squeezing something really hard.
The pinky and ring finger rotate down when viewed from this angle too. That big drumstick
of the thumb prevents the index and middle fingers from moving down, but the pinky and
ring fingers have all this free space. They'll flex more to close the fist fully.
If you're starting a revolution and you're gonna use the power fist as your logo, look for this
downward curve through the knuckles to suggest a strong, clenched fist.
We've already identified the top and bottom edges. Now we'll finish the front plane of
the box with the side edges. Then get the top and side planes in and we have a simple
boxy fist. This will help us keep all our details in perspective, because we have angles
to relate them to.
If you're drawing a fist bump coming right at the viewer, the top and side planes won't
be visible. So, you'll just need to draw the front plane. Remember that the fingers are
not parallel. They converge inward toward the middle finger. Add the thumb and the details
of the joints and skin. You know, all the stuff we learned in the previous episodes.
In this 3/4 angle, let's indicate the box of the palm. It'll help us attach the thumb and fingers
We'll start the thumb by establishing that triangular base. Extend that cylinder
and trowel shape. As you draw the thumb, look at the angle of the nail and notice how the
thumb is twisted. It points downward at about a 45° angle.
Alright, let's get the boxes in for the finger segments. Remember what I said about the pinky
and ring finger rotating into the hand. From this 3/4 angle, the index and middle fingers
stick out a bit. The ring and pinky angle back.
We can only see the other segments on the index finger… The others are hidden inside
the fist which makes it a lot easier on us.
Details
What we've been doing up until now is all underlying structure… The primary and secondary
forms. The invisible stuff that people might not necessarily notice when they look at the
drawing, but that's what holds it all together. Now let's address the surface of the hand.
The details of the tertiary forms
Let's start with the knuckles. Sometimes it helps to think of the knuckles as little knee
caps. But let's look at the subtleties of the anatomy there. There's 3 layers of stuff.
First there's the bone. If you remember from the hand bones lesson, the top plane of the
metacarpals is a flat trapezoid shape. Under it is a ball with which the first phalanx
articulates. On the surface, you'll see that flat plane on top with a rounded protrusion
in front. It'll taper down to a triangular shape, but that's caused by the addition of
the second layer - the tendon. This tendon travels over the bone and softens into the
front plane of the first phalanx.
And then there's the third layer - the skin. It'll do two things. It'll soften the forms
at the knuckles and it'll create a concave dip between the knuckles. It's not just a
dip down along the top plane. It's also concave inward at the front plane. A recessed plane
between the knuckles.
Now that we know the anatomical layers there, we can design the knuckles with context.
With the tendon shifting around and the skin softening things, there's a lot of ways the knuckle
contour can look. And we're artists, so we can emphasize and change things however we
want. I look to add variety to the shapes. For example I can design a taller triangular
shape for the middle finger knuckle, a boxy shape for the index, and smaller boxes or
balls to the ring and pinky.
The creases between the fingers will start at the level of the bottom of the knuckles.
Now, something interesting about these fat pads on the fingers. When you squeeze your
fist really tight, the fat pads spread out out sideways, actually making the fingers
wider. That will make this hand look even more masculine.
Don't leave any air pockets in this area. In a clenched fist, this fat pad on the top
of the palm and the fat pads on the bottom of the fingers get squeezed together very
tightly.
The skin creases are pretty intense in a fist cause everything is bending. When drawing
skin creases use them to echo the gesture of the fingers, and really create a sense
of clenching. This hand has lots of energy - we want it to look as action-packed as possible.
We're capturing a second in time and we want the drawing to look like that: immediate,
energetic, real. Not like someone was holding this pose for an hour and their hand got tired.
At this point, we're ready to map out the shadows,
fill them in,
add some dark accents,
and the half-tone details.
The hard part was all the linear, structural stuff we just did.
Shading a fist, is no different than shading a ball.
Just gotta know the laws of light.
Okay, so that's a wrap. In premium, I have a lesson where I take you through the process
of shading and adding details to the hands. I'll also show you how to draw a hands
holding something, foreshortened hands, and female hands.
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