Jacquelin Vanderwood
December 2004
I want to first explain why I am teaching on learning to draw one finger. Since the hand is a difficult part of the anatomy to learn to draw, breaking it down into it's simplest format I feel is the best method, therefore I think this lesson will be very helpful to all who are wanting to learn to draw the hand. I want you to use your own index finger for this lesson. In the picture below the finger is turned outward showing us the inside. As you know the finger is divided up into three parts. If you think of the parts as boxes, it will be easier to learn to draw them. So, using your own index finger, draw what you see.
Here we have the finger turned sideways. Again, draw your own finger as you see it.
In this picture the finger is turned in a 3/4 direction so that you see the front as well as part of the back. Draw your finger in this position.
Here we have the finger in full frontal view with the complete nail showing. Look at your own finger and then draw it.
In this drawing we see something different. We see the finger beginning to close backward. Therefore the first joint is in the action of bending. Try drawing your own finger now.
Now here we can see the finger completely bent backward leaving us only the third part of the finger showing from the knuckle up to the joint. Look carefully at your own finger and then try drawing what you see.
Now here the first two joints are beginning to press inward on the third joint causing the third section of the finger to bulge because pressure is being put on it. How hard is that to draw?
Turning the finger pointing towards yourself, take good look at the finger doesn't necessarily look as though we are seeing a full frontal view. In fact, the finger is turned 3/4. Also, because the finger is pointing to self, we will not see the actual full view of it at all. The finger then should be drawn in a perspective view or foreshortened.
Here we see the finger in full frontal view but bent inward from the second knuckle. Because it is squeezed inward, the third joint looks fat.
In this picture the finger is bent half over. Bend your finger and look at it. Look at where the joints are and how the finger reacts to the bending process.
Finally, we see the index finger from the side view bent completely inward. Notice how the skin over the knuckle stretches and how the skin on the inside of the finger is squeezed tightly. Take note of the shadows on the finger and where they hit. The light in these pictures come from the right.
As you can see, if we break down the hand and learn to draw one piece at a time, then it is much easier to understand and draw.
Copyright (c) 2004, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved
