{"id":25954830,"date":"2026-06-10T10:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/?p=25954830"},"modified":"2026-06-10T10:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:14:25","slug":"how-to-draw-stylized-hands-sketchbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/how-to-draw-stylized-hands-sketchbook\/","title":{"rendered":"How to draw stylized hands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The feature image for this blog post was access via Burst<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Every artist struggles with different things. Some find it hard to draw backgrounds, some struggle with drawing clothing, lots of people have a hard time with clouds, and for some mastering perspective itself seems impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But nearly every artist agrees that one of the hardest things to draw is hands<\/strong>! And while drawing realistic hands is tough, drawing stylized hands can be very difficult as well. Luckily, the experts at Sketchbook<\/a> have created the resource below to help you with this classic drawing challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, did you know that a free 30-day trial of Sketchbook Premium<\/a> is included with every purchase of a Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 portable Android drawing tablet<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Sketchbook<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Part 1: Start with Reality!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Always use real anatomy as the starting point. Make sure to identify the bony landmarks and the major forms! All styles need to consider construction, but some will simplify it in favor of style!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Form and Flow:<\/strong> Exaggerating the major Forms<\/strong> is one approach to stylization. Focusing mainly on Flow<\/strong> and gesture is another approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrast: <\/strong>Clear changes in form and using straights vs. curves can help keep posing clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 2: Blocky & Angular Style<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Forms use sharp angles and have hard edges. Edges are offset to get some straight vs. curves feel. Bony landmarks are exaggerated! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheat forms when posing to highlight the angular edges. Group fingers to keep posing clear. Use different shapes at different angles to keep forms legible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sketchbook<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Parts 3 and 4: Photo Reference Can Be Used For Posing Any Style! <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hands Can Be Styled in Various Ways<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flowing<\/strong> styles should focus on clear straights and curves. Pose<\/strong> fingers with clarity in mind. Don't worry about matching the reference 100%. For Blocky<\/strong> styles, look for areas you can exaggerate to be more<\/em> blocky or sharp. Cartoon<\/strong> styles should focus on maintaining a feel of roundness, volume and flow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aim to simplify<\/strong> shapes and changes of angle into smooth curves. Clear changes of angle<\/strong> at the wrists and knuckles makes the pose much clearer. Identifying the large forms <\/strong>can help you anchor details. All forms should flow together following the gesture<\/strong> of the pose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sketchbook<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Parts 5 and 6: Finger Grouping and Finding The Flow<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finger grouping is very important when posing hands. The grouping can change depending on the style! Finding the flow of a pose is important, though each style will interpret the flow differently. For example: Long flowing lines<\/strong> with minimal angle breaks. Hard angles<\/strong> and concave shapes on the bottom against curved shapes on the top. Angles on the bottom flowing up<\/strong> and angled forms of the finger pads pointing forward. Or all lines and curved shapes pointing in the direction<\/strong> of the gesture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Sketchbook<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Part 7: What do styles focus on?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some focus on flow with some angle breaks<\/strong>: clear finger groupings, delicate finger tips. Others focus on highlighting changes in angle<\/strong>: offsetting straights and curves. Some focus on adding hard edges<\/strong> with minimal curves and blocky \/ square shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Want to learn more about Sketchbook<\/a>? Check out this blog post<\/a>, where we go into a bunch of the details, check out Sketchbook's website<\/a>, and follow them on social media<\/a> for more resources like this one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellen Su is the former Head of Artistic Recruiting at Titmouse. She recognized that she could help young and beginning artists with advice for how to prepare their portfolios, so she created this guide!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":25954831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2338,2317,2554,2333],"tags":[796],"class_list":["post-25954830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","category-digital-drawing-painting","category-learn-drawing-painting","category-partners","tag-sketchbook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25954830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25954830"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25954830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25954886,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25954830\/revisions\/25954886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25954831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25954830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25954830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25954830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}