Some areas of the figure are complex enough to warrant special attention by the figure artist because they are more difficult to draw than the rest of the figure. These areas are the head, hands, and feet, and they merit special attention from the artist who really wants to master figure drawing. In this chapter we will take a closer look at each of these aspects of the figure. Hands The human hand is probably the most versatile tool ever created. It is capable of great strength, yet it can perform the most delicate operations. Its design allows people to lift, hold,. | C H j ER 4 Hands Feet and Head Some areas of the figure are complex enough to warrant special attention by the figure artist because they are more difficult to draw than the rest of the figure. These areas are the head hands and feet and they merit special attention from the artist who really wants to master figure drawing. In this chapter we will take a closer look at each of these aspects of the figure. Hands The human hand is probably the most versatile tool ever created. It is capable of great strength yet it can perform the most delicate operations. Its design allows people to lift hold mold rip manipulate caress build squeeze sense and rearrange objects of all types. It can be used as a weapon or to give comfort. We use our hands to greet others and even to communicate. The hand is the very definition of the all-around instrument. With all that our hands can do is it any wonder that it is one of the more complex parts of the body to draw There is no quick and easy formula for drawing hands. To draw the hands well the artist must know the hands. He must take time to study and understand how the hand works so that his drawings become more believable. Often the beginning artist will be intimidated by the complexity of the hand and will avoid drawing it by hiding it in a pocket or placing it behind the figure. Many otherwise good figure drawings will omit the hands or they will just indicate the hands without any real attempt to draw them correctly. Part of the frustration that artists have in drawing the hand is that it is the most flexible part of the body. It can assume almost infinite positions. It is full of moving parts. There are four fingers and a thumb each jointed with no less than three 51 Figure Drawing with Virtual Models joints. The fingers and thumb are each capable of independent movement. Because of this extreme flexibility there is not one view of the hand that is adequate for learning to draw it. It has to be studied from many angles and in .
