Hands and feet: tasks of the month
The most expressive parts of the figure after the face, and the hardest to draw. Construction, angles, the gesture of the hand and the foot taking the weight.
Tasks
29 March — 4 April
Your own hand from three angles
Three drawings of your own hand: the palm, the back, and from the side. Your free hand is always at hand — no need to look for a reference. Start with the mitten: the overall mass of the hand, and the thumb separately. The fingers come later, and as a group, not one by one. Pencil or tablet — whichever suits you.
5–11 April
The hand in action
A hand doing something: holding a mug, gripping a pencil, leaning on a table. Three different actions. Look for how the form changes under pressure: the pads squash, the knuckles stand out. A motionless "anatomical" hand looks like a dummy. Small format, 20 minutes each.
12–18 April
The foot and the weight on it
Draw the foot from both sides: from the outside and from the inside. And separately — a foot standing under load. The arch is higher on the inner side than on the outer, and that difference is exactly what makes a foot a foot and not a boot. Watch how it spreads out under the weight. Any medium.
19–25 April
The knee and the elbow
Two joints on one sheet, each one bent and straight. A joint is not a hinge: when it bends, the whole form around it changes. Find which volumes ride over each other and which get stretched. Better to use your own references, from photos of your own leg and arm.
26 April — 2 May
Hands and feet: eight sketches
Eight quick sketches — four hands and four feet, five minutes each. The task is to get the overall mass into your hand. Details of the fingers aren’t needed at all right now. All eight on one sheet.