How to Draw Manga Hands

The biggest challenge many artists face when they draw a manga character's hands is making them look realistic. The hands are one of the body features that will help the reader of the manga story distinguish the gender of the character. Read on to learn more.

Things You'll Need

• Mirror
• Drawing table
• Pencils
• Erasers
• Paper

Instructions

1. Study your own hands before you start to draw. Look at where the joints and knuckles are and what shape the nails are. Use a mirror to see how another person views your palms.

2. Gather the materials you will need and arrange them on your drawing table. Have several sheets of drawing paper, sharpened pencils and erasers handy.

3. Draw a slightly rounded, vertical rectangle on your paper. This will represent the palm of the hand. Add four small circles, spread out across the top of the shape, to act as knuckle joints.

4. Put three arcs, as if you were drawing a rainbow, above the hand shape. The arcs will help you form the joints of the fingers.

5. Start at the circles at the base of the palm, and make ovals between the arcs, making one oval for each joint. The last oval for each finger should extend up to the highest point of the arc. Try to make all the ovals the same size.

6. Begin to create the thumb by drawing a triangle to the left of the palm. The triangle should extend from the middle of the palm down to the bottom, near where the wrist would be.

7. Add two small circles in the triangle. One will be at the base of the palm. Place the other circle at the point of the triangle.

8. Draw two ovals to represent the thumb joints.

9. Use the ovals as guides to make the outlines of the fingers. Erase the ovals, and draw curved lines across the fingers where the joints are.

10. Draw palm markings if you want the hand to be palm up. Draw in fingernails if you want the hand to be palm side down.

Tips & Warnings

• Looking at pictures of people holding objects can help you see how hands look in different poses. Magazine ads may be a good source for this type of study. Most often in a manga series, characters' hands will be performing an action. They are not just drawn flat.

• Distinguish gender by the shape of the fingers and fingernails. Female fingers are more tapered, and the nails are almost triangle shaped. Male fingers can be drawn more bony looking, with squared-off fingernails.