Sketching-People

HANDS
Our hands are designed to be useful tools for grabbing and
manipulating objects, but when they don’t have work to do
they become powerful agents of expression. When someone
is angry, hands may clench, ready to fight. When someone
gets excited, hands may gesture about with enthusiasm. How
someone positions his or her hands also reveals character;
an aristocratic woman may daintily flair out her pinky when
drinking from a delicate coffee cup and would be totally different
from a short-on-time mother grabbing a mug of coffee
on her way out the door. Depict your subjects’ hands in a way
that enhances their body language and strengthens the clarity
of their emotions.
FACE TOUCHING
People often touch their
faces, particularly when
they are thinking or are nervous.
The hand becomes
part of the facial expression.
In this drawing,
notice how the finger
reflects the arch in the
eyebrow, enhancing
the expression.
HANDS AND BODY LANGUAGE
The arms drawn across his front and his averted gaze
show a closed body position. His hands reflect this larger
pose—closed off, almost trying to hide. Additionally, both
his pose and his hands are relaxed, telling us that he may
be reticent but is not fearfully shy.