Hand Reference, Part Four

Another reminder to students who are finishing up this week's assignments; when art directors look at figure studies in portfolios, they always check to make sure that the artist has not avoided drawing Hands, Feet, and Heads/ Faces. If the AD gets a sense that the artist is avoiding structured drawings of those areas, it sends up a red flag. Don't allow your portfolio to end up in the wrong pile; include hands, feet and well structured heads and faces on as many figure studies that you include in your portfolio as possible!

To help you with this, here are some notes on drawing hands from Walt Reed's book "The Figure; An Approach to Drawing & Construction".

 

 

Hand Reference, Part Three

The first set comes to us from the 1999 Warner Brothers film "The Iron Giant" and belonged to the lead character, a young boy named Hogarth, though I feel that they would work for a stylized male character of almost any age. The second set of sheets come from the soon to be released Disney animated Feature film "Tangled" and were created by the celebrated Disney animator Glen Keane. Remember that portfolio reviewers will almost always look for how you handle the faces, hands and feet of your characters, as avoiding any of those three areas sends up a warning flag about an artist's overall competence as a draftsman.

Hand Reference, Part Two

This selection of reference hands comes from Andrew Loomis, Milt Kahl, Jeff Smith, and Jim Macauley. The bottom sample, from Jeff Smith's epic graphic novel series "Bone", shows how a hand can add greatly to the body language and expression of a character. Note how Thorn, the young woman, goes from nonchalant to focused, baffled, curious and quizzical and how her hand helps to project those emotions. I've known Smith for many years and can recognize his wife Vijaya's hand gestures in this series. When drawing your character, think of a friend or famous actor that has a similar personality, then observe how they use their hands to express themselves. The more realistic and natural your hand poses are, the more convincing your character's emotions and gestures will be.

Hand Reference, Part One

"They talk with their hands"; it's true, hands say so much! And drawing clear, well formed hands can add an enormous amount of expression and personality to your character, whether it's a beautiful young girl or a brooding lizard man. Here are just a few pages of hand samples (most by legendary Disney Animator Milt Kahl) to download and print out as reference. Keep them close at hand, and banish vague fingers from your drawings forever!