The Simpsons & Futurama Fanworks Central

[Casper]

I did'nt really see this coming, but I need help. I cant draw thumbs. Well, hands in general, but I just need help with thumbs for now.

My thumbs end up too fat or out of socket. Is there anyway to tell when the thumbs are the right size or in place?

Any advice?

[Archonix]

The general rule is to draw a blog or square thingy for the hand, depending on your mood. Add the wrist, then add the fingers, and finally add a line from near the wrist to make the thumb.



Always make sure that the back of the thumb blends in to the arm at least al ittle bit. It also helps to stare ar your hand for ages before trying, at least the first few times.

[Black_raven]

I can't draw hands alltogether! o_0 so I'm sure this is going to be usefull ^^ thanks

[Binky]

If you're talking specifically about Simpsons style hands, then here's something that may help:

http://www.bringbackfuturama.com/misc/s ... hands1.jpg
http://www.bringbackfuturama.com/misc/s ... hands2.jpg

[Orange Box]

Great resources, guys; here's some more guidelines:

- the tip of the thumb should align with the the first joint of the index finger.
- the two "halves" of the thumb should be roughly the same length.
- when you spread your fingers, the finger tips should lie on a nice smooth semi-circle (a parabola, to be precise)

I made a sketch of a realistic hand, but these rules also apply to cartoon hands.


Orange Box

[Casper]

Thanks guys! Those help alot! Now, I got some sketching to do...

(Thank you! )

[Marco]

Well so far i always sticked to stubby, short, sausage like fingers... but i'm sure these guidelines will help me too Thank you guys for the tutorials!

[Morpheus306]

woa, casp, don't go off of orange's drawing.  First of all, the thumb doesn't reach all the way up to the 2ND! pointer finger joint, it goes just beyond the top of the palm.  Unless of course you have abnormally long thumbs, but the average thumb reaches to where I said.  The pointer finger and the ring ringer are the same length with the middle finger being slightly longer...duh.  And the tip of the pinky lines up with the 3rd joint of the ring finger.  Now the thumb itself is broken up into three parts.  It starts with the palm muscle, which is also where the 1st joint is.  yes, the thumb has three joints.  Then a middle section, then the tip.  Everybody's thumbs are different , many people, like myself, have what's called "hitch-hickers" thumb, which is where the top section of the thumb can arch backewards.  Anyway, if you want me to do some diagrams let me know, I'd be more than happy to show you the RIGHT way to do it.

[Wilde Gray Yonder]

@Morpheus: I don't take issue with your artistic or anatomical know-how, but when I hold my thumb straight, it goes just about up to the first joint of the index finger, as shown in Orange Box's drawing.

[Marco]

Morpheus, i agree with your pointers, such as the thumb not reachign that high and all the rest, but argh, can't you be a bit less drastic in our commenting?   You're a pro and we're just newbies who do this for fun and mostly self-taught...

This said, yes i'd love to see the RIGHT way to do it, if you've got a bit of time to spare. Pretty please.

[Archonix]

Now I know that we're a bit more forward than most places when it comes to crit, but there are times when youhave to hold back with the angry and pretend to be nice. Constructive criticism is about striking a balance between complementing, poiting out errors and maintaining the confidence of the artist. I'm not an amazing artist, but I know that I'm better than I used to be, largely because of the crit I got from my tutors at college; they pointed out my mistakes but they did it in a way that implied I could fix them.

Of course it's hard for this to come across in a text-only medium, which is why we have emoticons. Remember, always smile. It makes everything seem nicer.

* Commisar Geranovich realises he has abnormally long thumbs

Anywaym I second Marco's request. But, like he said, only if you have time.

[Casper]

Jah... I admire you trying to help. But even if I was trying to draw a little more realistic, I'm a sketch artist that draws Simpsons. Unlike Graham, my drawings have features that are much less realistic and more 'cartoony'.
I just wanted to see what the Simpsons hands looked like close up, but since this post I got a copy of that 'drawing the Simpsons' thing by Matt Groening that everyone has. Its got a few hand gestures in there that I use when I'm in a pickle.

But yeah, I wouldnt mind a lil tutorial.

[Morpheus306]

ok so here is a diagram of a realistic hand.  I didn't bother using any shading or whatever, but what you see here is what the average human hand looks like.  I'm not going to repeat what I said in the earlier post, but I showed you the different joints and what not.  In orange's defense, he was most likely going off of the Burne Hogarth book Dynamis hand drawings, who is an artsit that purposfully elongates features through out the body in order to emphasize emotion, not reality.  Also like I said early, people are differnet so some features may be longer or shorter.  Again, this diagram is the average.  I also threw in Homer's hand for you Casper because you said you like to draw Simpsons.  Anyway, I don't know what you people's problems are, but critique's of art work was never meant to be smily and happy, I understand that not all of you are pursuing proffessional career's, but you have to learn not to take these so personally.  You have to take critiques' as ways to improve yourself no matter what was said.  I'll try and lighten up but nobody got anywhere be hearing, "oh wow that's so good" all the time when it's not. 

[Dagdamor]

Morpheus306

nobody got anywhere be hearing, "oh wow that's so good" all the time when it's not.

I disagree. First of all, "good" and "bad" are subjective estimations; especially in art. For example, I may like a picture, even if it wasn't technically good, and say "meh" about the picture which has perfectly on-model characters, but doesn't have a nice idea in it. Second, talking about the "RIGHT way to draw hands" sounds very strange to me; a hand is one of the things which differs a lot from person to person, leaving aside Simpsons characters. For example, my hands doesn't resemble your diagram at all; I have longer fingers and much longer and thicker thumb. Of course you could say that your drawing is right and my hands are wrong, but...

Oh, and besides, I'm one of the most stupid and gushing art reviewers here (yay!), but even I never allow myself simple phrases like "oh wow that's so good". I always try to explain what I liked in the picture, and what I didn't.

So please, be less harsh in your opinions.

[Archonix]

Weyhey, professional stuff! Personallyt I reckon drawing hands is one of the most difficult things to master, because we see them all the time, so people tend to notice little proportional problems very quickly.

Anyway, I don't know what you people's problems are, but critique's of art work was never meant to be smily and happy, I understand that not all of you are pursuing proffessional career's, but you have to learn not to take these so personally.  You have to take critiques' as ways to improve yourself no matter what was said.  I'll try and lighten up but nobody got anywhere be hearing, "oh wow that's so good" all the time when it's not. 

I have, ironically, used exactly the same arguments in the past. The problem comes from the fact that some critiques are too harsh. It's a case of mdoerating yourself depending on the skill level of the artist and how fast they're progressing. I for one wouldn't want to hear "oh wow it's good!" all the time about my art - whenever I post it that is. But a newbie needs to hear more encouragement, alongside the critical stuff, and slow developers need to be coaxed, not beaten. I mean, look around; we don't do exclusively gushing praise. We're a highly critical bunch at times.