How to draw anime hands, step by step

Why hands are hard, and how to make them easy

Hands are scary, so they end up in pockets or behind backs. Yet they say almost as much as the face. A hand has a palm, five fingers and endless poses, so drawing its outline directly is a guessing game.

The solution is the same as for the rest of the body: a hand is only a box and cylinders. Once it is reduced to a few volumes, it becomes much easier to build from any angle, and the simple outline on top is the easy part.

Anime hand proportions

Check these landmarks on your own hand: they hold for almost every style, from realistic seinen to cute shojo. Manga simply slims the fingers or squares the knuckles to suit the character.

• The whole hand nearly covers the face, from the chin to the forehead.
• The middle finger is the longest, about as long as the palm is tall. The index and ring fingers stop a little lower, and the little finger reaches the last joint of the ring finger.
• Each finger has three segments, shorter and shorter toward the tip.
• The thumb starts low on the side of the palm, near the wrist, with a fleshy pad at its base.
• The wrist is narrower than the palm: show that change, it keeps the hand from looking like a glove.
• On the palm side, the fingers look shorter: the skin between them starts higher than the knuckles.

How to draw anime hands step by step

Start with an open hand seen from the palm or the back, the easiest views. Draw everything lightly: the construction will be covered by the final outline.

1. Step 1Draw the palm as a box

   Draw a flat box, about as long as it is wide or a little longer. Give it some thickness right away: it tells whether you see the back of the hand, the palm or its edge, and it gives the hand its direction from every view.

   

2. Step 2Draw the knuckle arc

   The knuckles do not line up. Draw an arc across the top of the box that rises to the middle finger, then drops toward the little finger, and mark a small circle for each knuckle on it. The arc bends more as the hand closes.

   

3. Step 3Add the fingers in segments

   From each knuckle, draw three small cylinders that get shorter toward the tip, with the middle finger the longest. Fingers are never perfectly parallel: they spread as the hand opens and converge toward the base of the palm as it closes.

   

4. Step 4Add the thumb on its own

   The thumb does not start on the line of the fingers but low on the side of the palm, near the wrist. Draw the big pad at its base first, then two segments. It folds toward the palm and works across from the fingers, not next to them.

5. Step 5Bend the fingers for the gesture

   Fingers bend only at their joints, toward the palm. In a relaxed hand, each finger bends a little more than the one before it, toward the little finger: that staircase looks natural. Group the fingers by two or three rather than spreading all four apart.

6. Step 6Draw the outline

   Round off the cylinders, add a crease at each joint and simple nails, and stop there. Erase the boxes and cylinders, and press harder on the outer outline than on the creases: the fewer the lines, the more confident the hand looks.

   

The hand from four views

The same hand changes completely depending on where you look from. Keep the palm a box from every view: it gives the hand its direction.

• The palm: palm creases, the pad of the thumb, fingers narrowing at the tips.
• The back: knuckles in an arc, nails, flatter fingers.
• From the side: the palm becomes a thin box, and the fingers hide behind one another.
• Fingertips first: the fingers point at you as very short cylinders, almost circles.

How to draw a fist and other gestures

Four gestures cover most manga panels. Always start with the box of the palm, then bend the fingers from the knuckle arc. For the fist, fold the fingers onto the palm: you only see their first segments, as blocks, and the thumb closes on the outside, over the index and middle fingers. A thumb tucked under the fingers is the fist of someone who has never thrown a punch, handy for a shy character.

• The relaxed hand: the fingers bend slightly, a little more with each finger toward the little one.
• The fist: the fingers folded onto the palm as blocks, the thumb closed over the index and middle fingers.
• The pointing hand: the index stays straight, the other fingers fold like a staircase and the thumb rests on them.
• The hand holding an object: draw the object first, then wrap the fingers around its volume.

How to draw a hand pointing at the reader

It is the most spectacular hand in manga. Start with what is closest, big: the fingertip or the fist. A finger seen head-on is no longer a long cylinder but an ellipse, so stack ellipses that shrink toward the palm, and let each shape cover the next one: these overlaps create the depth, not the details.

Dare to exaggerate: the near hand can be as big as the head, or bigger. Always check the wrist: it must stay in line with the forearm, even half hidden. The anime poses tutorial shows how to build a whole arm coming at you.

Male, female and stylized anime hands

The construction is the same for everyone; the proportions and the number of lines change. Slim, tapered fingers make a delicate hand; squarer knuckles and a few more lines make a strong one. In manga, keep details to a minimum: two or three creases at the joints are enough.

Children's hands are small and soft, with short fingers and a round palm, and chibi hands become simple mittens. Skip the nails and the palm lines on small hands. Whatever the style, keep the thumb low on the side of the palm: it is what makes a hand read as a hand.

Common mistakes when drawing anime hands

If your hand looks flat, the palm probably has no thickness: go back to the box before you touch the fingers.

• A flat palm: without thickness, the hand cannot turn. Draw the box first.
• A straight knuckle line: the knuckles form an arc, highest at the middle finger.
• A thumb on the line of the fingers: it starts low, near the wrist, and folds toward the palm.
• Straight, parallel fingers: they spread, converge and bend in a staircase.
• Hiding hands in pockets: a habit that stops you from improving. Draw them, even badly, every day.