How Handy

The first goal I wrote on The List was:

001. Fill a sketchbook with artwork/studies of only one subject

In a moment of absolute madness, I decided the subject would be hands.

Because I'm rubbish at drawing hands.

I've been working on this goal since towards the end of 2014, though I didn't initially get much further than a few half-hearted scribbles, and the picture above!

Though I've posted some other hand drawings, until now I haven't shared any more, so here's my progress so far...

Wanting to avoid spending hours at the computer to draw from on-screen references, I cut hands from magazines instead. Some of the results turned out pretty good, and mostly I switched between pencil and biro.

But I got bored of that, and decided to draw from on-screen references again, using some different materials (in the above instance, oil pastels, and below, pastel pencils).

Finding reference pictures online was starting to become a little annoying, as I couldn't always think of poses to search for.

But my problem was soon solved...

I read online about a website, Line of Action, which aids practise in drawing. Deciding to check it out, I discovered - hooray! - they have a whole section for hands.

There are several different settings on the site, which allow you to have timed sessions to draw from the picture on the screen.
I opted for 5 minute sessions, but found I was often racing to finish before the site moved on to the next picture, which is why some of these sketches aren't complete!

I'll probably use this site again, as it turned out to be pretty fun to sketch against the clock, and some of the poses were fairly challenging. I drew 18 pictures from references on Line of Action, across two sessions in just one day. Considering how long it took me to draw just a handful before then, I'd say that's a vast improvement--the timed sessions force me to make quick decisions, and not get hung up over complete accuracy of details.

Though I'm still rubbish at drawing hands and keeping them proportionate, I think I'm getting better at drawing from references, at least!

(For the record, here's what it look like when I don't use a reference... eeeeek! )

Despite all these hands, I'm only about 1/4 of the way through the sketchbook...this is going to take some time, isn't it....