How to Draw Joints

Hands and knees are joints that require some thought to draw.

Knees, elbows, ankles, hips, shoulders and fingers are the common joints that may require consideration when drawing a realistic-looking human body. The first step is locating the position of each joint and with respect to the muscle, bone and tendon structures that surround them. The joints have tendons that connect them and muscles above and below that make them function, but parts of the joints have no muscles, and are drawn as skin-covered bone.

Instructions

1. Locate the joints of the fingers. Hands vary in size from person to person, but you can use a guideline that the palm of the hand is a little bit longer than the middle finger. Draw a spread hand, with the middle finger directly in line with the middle of the wrist and the other digits to either side. Locate the joints of the middle finger by using average proportions. The top of the finger is about 1/3 shorter than the middle part of the finger and the part of the finger that connects to the hand is slightly smaller in length than the middle part of the finger. The distance between the middle finger knuckle located on the hand to where the finger connects to the hand is about the same length as the tip of the finger.

2. Sketch an arc from the top of the thumb across the fingers that intersects with the top knuckle of the middle finger. Sketch another one that intersects with the second knuckle. The arcs indicate the places where the joints of the other fingers should be. Sketch tiny lines that have a horizontal oval look to them to indicate the wrinkles of the knuckles.

3. Erase the arcs. Use only several small lines to indicate the wrinkles of the knuckles on the backs of the hands, and deep horizontal lines at the bend of the thumb.

4. Draw larger joints, such as elbows and knees, by sketching the bones which abut each other that create the joint. Sketch a knee-joint as an upper leg that is wider and disconnected to a smaller lower leg. Add a connecting ball to represent the knee and then add the lengths of tendons over the sides of the ball, connecting the upper and lower leg. Draw bulging thigh and calf muscles to make the leg look realistic. Erase guidelines. Shade sides of the leg to create a rounded appearance, and then add horizontal shaded lines for skin folds at the knees. Some people's kneecaps bulge out, so shade or wrinkle the skin on top of the kneecap, accordingly.

References

• How to Draw Manga: Getting Started -- finding the Joints
• Explore Drawing and Painting: Learn how to draw hands more effectively using your knowledge of anatomy
• Artist Anatomy: Muscles of the Lower Extremity