Hands

[starah99]

I am working on a drawing for a friend of her and her daughters hands. I just wanted some feedback to see if it looks okay as I am going. It's a bit light, but it is still just a sketch. So far I have used a 2H, I am not sure what else I will have to use. I am not so good at shading unless I am using charcoal. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it. I have tons of drawing pencils, graphite sticks, and charcoal. I usually have to just guess at what would work right.
Thanks,
Starah

[xxbreezy]

Hi Starah99
Try using 6 HB pencils. They are darker and very easy for shading. Looks like a great start!!!! Sometimes if I get stuck, like when doing hands, take a look at your own hand to show you the roundness, detail, etc... Obviously you can't do this for a baby but there are alot of websites out there that give free tutorials on portraits, figure drawing, etc.... Take a look and see if you can find something that helps you. Best of luck and looks great so far!!!
Linda

[kcortese]

Sara,

A good start here, looks great!

Linda had some great suggestions, and I agree with her. Hands are very difficult for me to do, I always use my hand as a model when drawing them because I can never get them right from memory.

Please show us as you progress through this piece.

Karen

[starah99]

this is not the original, i changed it over to a different type of paper, but I have added some more detail. I am getting ready to try the shading with different pencils.

[BYart]

Nice start! Looking forward to more of this sketch!

[Harmonygirl]

Great start.

Try using the different levels of your b pencils.

shading is tricky, when I do the shading I look for the differences and then build up layers. i don't go straight to the darkest shading. i will do a all over blocking (for lack of a better word) and then keep building up in layers until each area seems to have teh right amount. This way it helps me from over working a area or having too much pencil in one area.

Also if you are working from a image, convert it to b& w and this will help defing the shadow areas and then it will be easier for you to see the definition....

shan