need a hand

**fyip** · 24 March 2006, 02:24 AM

Hi! Still very very new! I'm trying to do a fairly realistic illustration of a hand. Egg's recent mini tutorial on the cat's ear helped quite a bit. I traced a photo of a hand and then filled it in. It still looks pretty 2D and I know the shading is not quite right. I'm happy with it as it really is my first time doing this outside of following a tutorial/workbook!

But I'd love some advice on how to make it better and what I'm missing. Help!

**Soquili** · 24 March 2006, 03:19 AM

Hi Fyip,

I think you only need to add some details by using some lines. Just a few lines added for an example.

**fyip** · 24 March 2006, 02:25 PM

Yeah, I knew I needed lines, but didn't know how to make them look "natural!"
Thanks so much for your help!

**-=Drifter=-** · 24 March 2006, 02:46 PM

Wow! I'm totally impressed! Excellent hand/arm, both before and after the lines!!!!!

**amoore** · 24 March 2006, 02:58 PM

Pretty good for a newbie.

Your highlights are too white. As I look at my hand, the "highlights" are my skin color, and the various mounds and the palm side of my thumb are darker (in my case, more pink) with the deepest shades being on the tips of my fingers.

A couple of years ago, I played "color compare" with some African friends. For all of us, where the lighter and darker areas were was sometimes surprising. Also, for them there was more contrast between the lighter and darker areas than there was for me.

Instead of thinking where highlights and darker areas should go, look at your own hand and go from there.

Also, Soquili's lines are in the right places, but they're too smooth. The lines in most hands are uneven (a number of mine are braided). They're definitely not smooth. So take a look at the styles in the Line Gallery, and see where they take you.

**fyip** · 24 March 2006, 03:27 PM

Thanks, Drifter!

Thanks, Amoore - you're right about the highlights being too white. I was using named colors and should have picked a darker tint. I'm trying to get the shading down with fills and transparencies ... so this was a start! (it took me ALL day to just do that!

)

I'll keep playing around and see if I can improve the darker/lighter areas and add some rougher creases.

I just wanted to know if I was on the right track, so I appreciate your answers! I'll keep chugging along ...

**Albacore** · 24 March 2006, 04:46 PM

Hi Fyip,
You are certainly on the right track! To inncrease the 3D look try the light source off centre so that you have one edge darker than the other this gives any drawing a stronger sence of reality.

**fyip** · 27 March 2006, 01:35 AM

Thanks, Albacore. Your suggestion is my next step. So far, I've only added the palm lines. Whew! Took me awhile (I have been busy with other things, too, but I'm still very slow at this ...)

I also tried to alter the highlights so they're not so white, but I'm not sure I succeeded.

Do the lines look natural?
Any advice/suggestions/constructive criticism is welcome! Thanks!!

**Charles Moir** · 27 March 2006, 12:33 PM

Drawing faces or any part of the human anatomy is known to be one of the most difficult things. What struck me was fractal nature of your real hand so I experimented for a while adding fractal textures to try and give it some more realism. I've concentrated on the left thumb area mostly (and the base hand object was given a fractal texture as well). I think it works, and shows how fractal textures can enhance the realism of almost any natural object. Oh and I added a drop shadow (always helps add depth) and a bit more shading on the wrist and a few other minor tweaks, about 20 minutes in total. A Fascinating experiment.