[Feinam]

I'm a really new artist, but things are coming along... slowly. I came up with an idea of what looks like a dirty and wet ship hull with my personal kanji http://thumbs.deviantart.com/300W-96A096/large/indyart/tattoo/Fei_Caligraphy.jpg on it with a gloved hand smearing the water and grim away in the area of the kanji. Anyways, I've given hands a few cracks, and I was curious if any of you had suggestions, because the more I rework this position in particular the worse it looks.

Thanks. I know you're all advanced artists and my work is entry level, but that's why I'm here .
-Fei

[shawnhud]

I'm no master, but my advice to you is to just keep drawing them. Do a ton of hands on countless sheets of paper. I'd start real loose at first not worrying about reworking anything. Just capture the basic form of the hand. Then as you you get better at that, try to get it just right. Practice, Practice, Practice.
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Put a muzzle on her Turkish, before she gets bit. You don't wanna get bit, do you boy?

[see]

Drawing hands is quit complicated. Study them, draw them as often as possible. Try to unterstand the way a hand is built and the way its bones move.

Keep on practicing as shawnhud allready said

Yours


see

[Effigy]

I had the very same problem. All I did was practice, practice, practice. Just moving my hand into different positions and sketching. It took about 3 drawings a week (at an hour or so each) for about a month, before I started to see good improvement. He's one of my earlier attempts, it's not great, but illustrates my principle.



My principle, is to not draw fingers like sausages, kinda like you did above. Make sure you really look closly at the folds and creases in the fingers. It might also be an idea to take a look at the anatomy of thr hand. Anyway, hope that helps in some way. Oh, try not to use an eraser when sketching, just go over what you did (like I did above).
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Never get into fights with ugly people, they have nothing to lose...

[Awetopsy]

try to think of the shapes that make up the hands.. basically you have a bigger box with a cylinders attached to it.

I took the liberty of copying your idea of a hand to get the point across:

notice the lightblue lines underneath defining the basic shapes of the hand.

really all it is is a pentagonal shape with all these littlecylinders attached.

hope this helps.

-awe

[Gort]

Awetopsy's advice is very close (as are others on practicing) to what I would say. The sample you provided looks to me as if you're drawing with a concentration on line(s), shapes and negative shapes. The hand (and the whole body actually) is a collective of volumetrics (see Awetopsy's diagram above - cylinders, rectangles), so it's important to first establish the overall mass; that is often the purpose of gesture drawing. First try to visually establish the whole thing and it's integrated parts then start fine tuning and detailing. Also remember to consider negative space as well as shape.

And what the others said, practice, practice, practice, and when you think you can't practice anymore, practice some more.

To further expand on Mr. Awetopsy's post (mine below is not a fantastic example but functional):


_________________
- Tom Carter

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[Awetopsy]

uh.. yeah... what Tom (Gort) said.

[shawnhud]

uh, yeah, What Awe said.
_________________
Put a muzzle on her Turkish, before she gets bit. You don't wanna get bit, do you boy?

[AndyT]

Maybe start with something not that difficult?
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http://www.conceptworld.org

[Gort]

awetopsy - I meant my example wasn't that fantastic - sorry for any confusion.

Aw AndyT - it might seem difficult...because it is - drawing hands isn't easy (though some here probably make it look easy); it does require a good deal of study and focus. Hey - you have to start somewhere!

_________________
- Tom Carter

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[AndyT]

Ok then! I'll try to be more supportive.

http://www.gameartworks.com/LoomisBooks/heads/page_06.htm
(actually the site has been down a lot lately because there's sooo much traffic)

I thought I should post the link when I saw it worked again.
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http://www.conceptworld.org

[Feinam]

Thanks guys, your posts were a heap of help. It's nice having such an experienced group of people to pull ideas from. I've been doing a lot of work lately, and I'm curious whether it's best to wait for higher quality work to post, or post what I have as I grow as a new artist. Great info guys =)
-Fei

[immi]

http://www.anticz.com/handtut.htm <----- Ron Lemen aka Fred Flickstone tutorial on hands. Expands on what the other guys have already said in this thread.

[B0b]

i've always had trouble drawing feet

[Awetopsy]

Gort: no no.. I think yours is great.. I was uh.... agreeing with you.