Arms and Hands

In drawing the human figure, nothing is tougher for me than drawing hands. Arms are a little easier, but when we get to the end of the wrist ... ah, then we have a problem set before us. All of those tapered fingers wrapping, folding around each other and somehow working together effortlessly. Then those parts join onto this veined and muscled structure called the back of the hand. Turn it over and find the hollow of the palm. Just an incredible organic "build."



These studies were drawn with Koh-I-Noor woodless colored pencils, and I built the flesh tone up out of six or seven colors - brown and violet were the most basic. Red, red-orange, orange and yellow rounded out the colors used for for the flesh. Just as in my painting, I've found that browns and purples blended together in colored pencil create some deep, nuanced darks - something that vibrates with life in a way that a black pencil just wouldn't in this circumstance.