You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less (55 page)

4. Looking at your hand, see how your thumb is shaped by the round end and the contour wrinkle line inside. Draw this round end and the wrinkle contour line.

5. Keep looking at your left hand. Are you getting tired of holding it up? You can always take a digital picture with your phone or camera and draw from the screen or from a print. However, it’s a really great exercise to draw from the real world of light, shadows, and true depth. Looking at your left hand, notice how your index finger angles away from the palm of your hand. Notice the three sections of your index finger defined by the overlapping contour wrinkles. Draw this index finger with these overlapping curved segments.

6. Looking at your left hand, see how the middle finger bends down in two distinct angles. Look at how the segments are defined by the overlapping wrinkles. I’m hoping this brings to mind our practice of contour lines in Lesson 15. Remember we defined the direction of the tubes with the direction of the surface curves. We are doing exactly the same thing here; fingers are basically small 3-D tubes with defining curving contour lines.

7. Look at how your ring finger is tucked behind the other fingers. Notice how the fingers are getting relatively smaller as they move away from your eye. Draw this ring finger tucked under the other fingers. Define where the ring finger tucks into the palm with an overlapping wrinkle.

 

8. Look at your little finger. Notice the overlapping, the tapering, the segments, the wrinkled contour lines defining each segment. Now, draw the little finger.

9. For this step, take a very close, careful look at your left hand. Take some time to really see how the room light hits the top of your hand, causing the shading to blend up from the bottom. Notice the dark nook and cranny shadows between each finger and how these shadows really define the edges of each finger. Look at how the wrinkles on the palm wrap around your hand to give it shape and volume. Now, from these observations and with application of the Nine Fundamental Laws of Drawing, complete this sketch of your hand.

In your sketchbook, practice drawing your hand in three different positions. To inspire you, take a look at these student sketches of three hands. This is a perfect visual icon to bring our thirty-lesson journey to an end. Your hand of creativity! Your hand, your imagination, your sketchbook . . . enjoy your continuing expedition into this inspired world of drawing in 3-D!

I
want to thank you for sharing this time with me during these thirty lessons. What an accomplishment you have achieved! For three years, writing this book was an intense labor of creativity. At times thrilling, at times (during the 17th edit phase) similar to a root canal procedure, but as my friend McNair Wilson (
www.mcnairwilson.com
) says, “It’s supposed to be hard. IT’S ART!”

I trust you have found this journey to be as rewarding as I have. Please take a few minutes to e-mail me at
www.markkistler.com
, and let me know your thoughts and experiences with this book. Please e-mail me scans of some of your favorite drawings (300 DPI or less). I look forward to seeing your creative work!

This is just the beginning of an amazing life-enriching journey of creative discovery and visual expression! I am honored that you chose to ignite your passion for drawing with me. Keep drawing every day, twenty or thirty minutes; doing so will continue to nourish your heart, mind, and soul.

Houston, Texas