How to draw · Challenge · about 45 minutes
Hand Holding a Pencil
You need: Paper, Pencil, Eraser. Optional: Your own hand holding a pencil, to look at, Colored pencils: skin tones, yellow, pink and gray.
Thick lines: draw these now. Thin gray: already drawn. Dashed: light guides you erase later.
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1. Draw a long, light guide line slanting up to the right. It shows where the pencil goes; the whole hand is built around it.
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2. Draw a light, slanted box for the back of the hand and the palm. Its left side is the row of knuckles and its right side is the wrist.
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3. Draw the index finger's bones as three sticks from the top knuckle to the pencil line, with small circles for the joints. Each stick is shorter than the one before.
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4. Draw the thumb's bones the same way: from inside the palm, two joints, and a short last stick that ends just under the pencil line.
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5. The thumb is nearest to you, so draw it first. Wrap its outline around the sticks: thick at the base, a bend at each joint, a rounded tip. Add its nail.
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6. Wrap the index finger around its sticks: a bump at each joint on top, a soft pad underneath resting on the pencil, and a nail at the tip.
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7. Draw the pencil as two parallel lines on either side of its guide. Stop each line where the thumb or the finger is in front of it.
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8. Finish the pencil: a sharpened cone and a dark lead at the bottom, a metal band and a rounded eraser at the top.
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9. Draw the back of the hand from the index knuckle to the wrist, the skin between thumb and finger behind the pencil, and the bottom of the palm. The arm runs off the paper.
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10. Draw the middle finger peeking out under the pencil and thumb. Its tip holds the pencil from below. Draw only the parts you can see.
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11. Draw the ring and little fingers curled under the palm: two rounded shapes, one tucked behind the other.
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12. Erase all the guides: the pencil line, the box, the sticks and the joint circles.
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13. Add the small wrinkles over the finger joints and a crease at the base of the thumb. Draw one line along the pencil: its flat sides meet at an edge.
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14. Light comes from above, so the undersides turn away from it. Shade the lower half of the thumb and index finger, the bottom of the palm and the pencil's lower side.
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15. The fingers tucked under the hand and the gaps beside the pencil get the least light: shade them darkest. The top of the hand stays white, the lightest value.
Practice here
Tip: Hold a pencil in your other hand and look at it while you draw. It is the best model there is.