June 15th
Piccillo leans against his desk and says, "The time is now 12 noon, time for class to begin."
You say, "This week will be about hands, more precisely how and why they are drawn that way."
You say, "First off, we will discuss the hows of a hand - and how it applies to an anthro picture."
Sslaxx raises a hand.
You say, "Yes Sslaxx? A question? Or are you just modeling? :)"
Sslaxx chuckles. "Q, actually. Will you be talking about the difference between a four-finger/thumb hand and a three-finger/thumb hand in this lesson?"
You say, "Yes, I will - it will be one of the first things we'll be discussing actually."
Piccillo continues. "The hand, next to the face, is probably the most complex thing an artist will be called upon to draw. It is, in it's own way, as expressive as a face can be. It has a lot of poses it can assume."
Piccillo continues, "The hand is one of the largest collection of bones in the body, giving it great flexibility and a range of motion."
You say, "While this allows you to draw, it also makes the hand a difficult study - even though you have a nice model right in front of you. :)"
You say, "Now before we go further, let's discuss the rather endless debate - why do some poeple draw hands with one less finger than the standard human hand."
You say, "When you look at an animal's paws, you will notice that they do, in fact, usually only have 4 toes visible."
Kuri hmms, "I think the reason, I sometimes draw them with one less finger, atleast for me is if trying to draw the full five is it just looks....well....wrong for some reason." She grins, "Then again, I bet Michellangelo looked at the art on the chapel and said, "Buggerit, lets start again." ^_^
You say, "This is because a paw isn't like a human foot. A paw is actually what is the equivalent of the human finger-tips and toetips which he is walking on..."
Lessani mews, purring, and raises a paw to demonstrate. Normal animals normally don't have opposable thumbs.
Piccillo continues, "...the 'thumb' on an animal's foot is there. It's a small thing, very regressed. It's normally called the Dewclaw, and can usually be found after the bend of the wrist in most mammals."
You say, "It's probably something you've seen on your pet cat or dog, and just never thought of as anything but a small bump."
You say, "So in this case, there are actually only 4 fingers on the paw - which can lead to some people only choosing to draw 3 fingers and a thumb, as if the thumb developed from an existing finger rather than the dewclaw moving back down the arm over time and becoming more dominant."
Lessani smiles, and 'paths, <>
You say, "Now, the second reason one might only draw 3 fingers is ease. Like I've said, the hand is a hard subject to draw. And unlike the face, where leaving an eye or a nose out is pretty obvious, leaving one finger out doesn't terribly unbalance a picture."
You say, "It cuts down on drawing time for the hand, makes it easier to work with, and (as Lessani said) was also a habit of old that animators used to cut a few corners."
Kaylen says quietly, "plus, you dont really need a fourth finger anyway, you can get by with three quite happily. Least I think so"
You say, "Now, which is right? The answer, of course, is neither is right or wrong. Every artist has their own style and way of drawing - and as long as they enjoy their work who am I to fault them?"
You say, "Drawing 4 fingers or 3 is a personal choice for each artist. I've drawn pictures using both methods myself."
Lessani projects timidly, <>
Piccillo nods, "Yes Lessani, but the magic word is 'consider'. It's their opinion and not a stated fact that 3 fingers = anything specific. They are entitled to it, just as the artist is entitled to draw their pictures as they want to. :)"
Kuri barks, "Not pertaining to paws, but regarding anime eyes. Like the big eyes with that 'sheen' to them....how the does one do that?" she laughs sheepishly. "I mean, I've tried and just looks....well wonky at best" ^_^;"
You say, "Hrmm...well today's class is on paws...but we can schedule a class for facial features later on if you want, and include anime styles in that. Is that acceptable to you Kuri?"
You say, "We shall see next week about it, if we can slip that in with ways to draw paws I've found.
ShadowWalker would note, that he's got some prints done by artists he considers the tops in the furry community (which doesn't mean there isn't others :) and they *all* use 3 fingers. I don't have any with four, or even 5.
Mozes smiles, "Wasn't that long really. Well, I'm came in late, so I don't know if you brang thing up yet, But I was told a little secret on hands. They're like a shovel. Or at lesat the motion of it. That really helped me grasp hands, somewhat.
Piccillo nods to Mozes, "Yes, we'll be going over that more in our drawing tips for hands next week. But thank you for bringing it up now - it's a good point."
You say, "Now we shall go over some ways to examine the flexibility of your hand and fingers using models you can try."
You say, "Now before everyone jumps up and says it, we all *know* we have hands. They are right there on the end of our arms. We're all aware of them being there, so there's not point in going over the fact that they are *there*. :)"
You say, "What we are going to discuss are models that are useful for understanding how they function under the skin, so you can draw them better."
You say, "Now I like to keep my models basic for study, as well as cheap. So when we build a model, we have to think of what best represents it and what we need to study."
You say, "Now the big problem with hands is their joints. If they stayed nice and flat all the time, they'd be a peach to draw. But they have these pain-in-the-tail joints that just flex all over."
You say, "Now, what I found to best represent fingers are straws. Specificly, those 'flexi-straws' that have the little accordian-bend in them so you can bend them about the rim of your cup and such."
You say, "Each finger has 3 joints you must represent (look at one of your own a minute). The first two are in the finger itself, and are easy to see and notice. The third is the knuckle that joins the finger to the hand proper - and is often forgotten as a flexible joint. While it doesn't move as much, one should be aware that it is still pretty flexible."
You say, "Now we can clip a few of those straws to make the joints. The back of the hand, however, is *not* a solid peice of bone or flesh. It is actually more of the fingerbones leading to the wrist. If you look at your hand, you can cup it about and bend it somewhat. This is because the fingers go in a long line to your wrist - they are just more securely connected with flesh, tendon, and supporting cartalidge as they go past your fingers."
You say, "As I've said, the hand is a complex collection of bones and muscles, and you have to think of it as more than just something with fingers attached to it to draw it properly."
Piccillo nods to ShadowWalker. "Yes, an anatomy book can be a useful reference - but a bit too detailed for the beginning artist. It tends to overwhelm them, when simpler illustrations would do."
Yasha-Myr subtitles... "I had a fur friend show me, that the hand can be drawn as a rrectangle, with a corner angled off wrist, is that ok to draw?"
Piccillo nods to Yasha. "Yes it is, and is something we'll be going over with next week. This week is more 'inspiration' week, to get you thinking about the project at hand and to let you come up with your own solutions with it."
Piccillo asides a moment. "The reason I tend to teach like this, for those who are newer to the class, is that I want you to develop your own style of drawing. I *could* show you how I draw it of course, right off the bat - but then you wouldn't be learning to draw, but learning to draw like me."
You say, "I'm sorry if it seems a roundabout way of teaching at times, when sometimes you just wish he'd spit out the answer already - but I really think it's best for you in the long run. :)"
Yasha-Myr actually preferrs this way of teaching... anything else will seem too rigid and dull, like DC and Marvel comics...
Piccillo nods, "Next week we will go over the fundamentals (as well as some facial features for various styles, if we have time) - but for now I'd like you to try and come to your own conclusions as to how to solve the problem.
You say, "Now, if there are no other questions I beleive I'll sum up and wrap up the class for the week."
You say, "Okay, to sum up then. The hand is a complex organ - but isn't something to be intimidated by. By approaching it properly and understanding it's function, we can start to study it and learn how to draw it."
You say, "Next week, we will go over techniques to draw it, as well as look at a model I will make from straws so you can better understand how a hand is built - plus go over a few different styles of drawing anime, since it was requested."
You say, "Now, since we are all wrapped up...class is dismissed. :)"
