Hands are expressive. Renderings of hands are among the oldest art forms. You can get in on the trend with these hand-drawing ideas with step-by-step tutorials.
16 Easy Hand Drawing Ideas
Hand Covering Face
You might cover your face out of embarrassment, sadness, or frustration. Sketch this woman's portrait, paying special attention to the back of her hand.
Praying Hands
A number of religious traditions "fold" their hands in prayer, placing the palms together as you see in this picture.
Holding Hands
To hold someone's hand is a gesture of trust, friendship, love, or protection. As you draw, notice how the fingers of the one hand fit well between the thumb and fingers of the other.
Anime Hands and Hand Gestures
This tutorial will walk you through a simple upraised hand with its palm toward you. Then, you can explore other gestures, such as pointing or the sign language letters for "e" and "v."
Hand Holding a Sword
Our fingers and opposable thumbs are uniquely designed for grasping objects - in this case, the hilt of a sword.
Fist
A fist is a hand that is "balled" or clenched. The fingers are drawn into the palm with the thumb over them.
Finger Heart
With a snap of your fingers, love can appear! Learn to sketch the common gesture of snapping one's fingers. Like magic, a heart appears above the snap.
Hand
This simple hand is a great starting point. You can not only get a feel for the shape of the hand but also the contours of the palm and joints of the fingers.
Pinky Promise
A pinky promise is a handshake made by locking one's pinky finger around another's. This gesture is made to secure and affirm a promise.
Heart Hands
Perfect for selfies or for framing distant loved ones, this gesture uses the curled fingers of two hands to outline the shape of a heart.
Handcuffs
There aren't any hands in this drawing, only the cuffs that police use to restrain them. Can you add the hands from another tutorial on this list?
Cartoon Hand
You will notice that this simple hand is rounder and fleshier than the realistic hand above. That's because it belongs to a cartoon character!
Washing Hands
Washing your hands not only takes care of your hands; it takes care of your whole body. Draw this sketch as a helpful reminder to scrub with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Skeleton Hand
Bones lend structure to the hand and fingers. Explore this cartoonish sketch of a hand sans its muscles and skin.
Laughing Emoji with Hands
This emoji has the gloved hands common to cartoon characters. You can master this simple, classic style.
Thumbs up Sign
A thumbs up says "Good job" or "We're good to go." This gesture is similar to the fist with its curled fingers. The difference is in the placement of the thumb.
More About Drawing Hands
Many gestures are nearly universal in meaning. Many people recognize that a fist indicates anger and hands with palms together communicate prayer or supplication, for example.
In fact, people who can't speak with their voices speak with their hands, using sign language.
Some of the world's oldest artwork includes handprints on the walls of caves. Thousands of years ago, these artists left something of themselves for us to find.
In the millennia since, statues and paintings have included hands. The positioning of the hands and fingers can convey meaning. But you might think that hands are hard to draw.
After all, it's easy to get the proportions wrong, ending up with unwieldy hands that are too large or too small.
These easy, step-by-step drawing guides are here to help. First, you can learn about the hand by drawing the skeletal structure or a simple open hand.
Then, you can draw hands in action - covering the face, holding another hand, making a promise, and other common gestures.
You can even explore emoji characters whose hands make up a sizable portion of them. Soon, you will feel comfortable drawing these delicate and expressive appendages.
See a Google Web Story of this Hand Drawing Ideas Blog Post.