How to draw a hand from the side: thickness, the wrist and the thumb

Seen from the side, a hand is easy to draw too thick, with the wrist pinched in under it and the thumb tucked out of sight behind the palm. The open hand measured here is drawn differently. It's a thin slab, about as thick at the palm as the wrist under it, the back runs almost straight, and the thumb stands out on the palm side with its tip at a height you can check. This guide measures one open right hand from hands and feet, volume 1, seen from the little-finger side and from the thumb side. The same hand from the palm, the back and in between is in how to draw hands at different angles.

Everything is measured against the hand itself: its width from the back, its thickness from the side, the fingertips and the places where the fingers start. All the drawings of this hand share one scale, so a height from one side can be checked against the back of the hand.

The same open hand from the little-finger side (left) and the thumb side (right), at the same size. On the left, the red bars cross the hand at the palm and at the wrist. In both, the straight red line follows the back of the hand. The blue dots mark the thumb tips, and the blue dashed line shows they sit at the same height. The grey dashed lines run through the fingertips.

The hand is a thin slab

From the side, the hand at the palm is about half as thick as it is wide from the back.

The wrist is where the side view and the back view part ways. From the back, the palm is about one and a half times as wide as the wrist, so the hand spreads out from the wrist like a fan. From the side, the wrist is about as thick as the palm. The hand barely widens past the wrist from this side, except where the pad of the thumb bulges out.

The back is straight, the palm side curves

On the little-finger side, the back of the hand runs almost straight from the knuckles down to the wrist. On the thumb side, it runs almost straight as well, leaning a little.

The big curves are on the palm side. The pad at the base of the thumb swells out in a long oval, and from the thumb side it hides part of the palm behind it. So draw the back first, as one long line, and build the bulges on the other side.

Where the thumb lands

The thumb stands out on the palm side, clear of the fingers, in both views. From the little-finger side, it peeks out past the palm. From the thumb side, it's the nearest thing to you, with its nail turned toward you.

Its tip sits at the same height from both sides. That height is about level with the lowest of the three webs between the fingers, the one between the ring and little fingers, and just above where the index finger starts on the palm side. Both are marked on the palm in how to draw fingers. Check the thumb against the base of the fingers, not against the fingertips.

Where the fingertips sit

The fingertips sit at the same heights from the side as from the back: the middle finger highest, then the ring, the index a little lower, and the little finger far below the others.

From the little-finger side, the little finger is the nearest finger and covers part of the others, so its tip shows well below the ring and middle tips behind it. The index finger is hidden. From the thumb side, it's the other way round. The index finger is nearest, and the middle and ring fingertips show above and behind it, with the little finger farthest away.

The fingers also lean toward the palm side. The middle fingertip sits over the palm side of the hand, not straight above its back.

How to draw a hand from the side, step by step

New lines and guides red, earlier lines grey, earlier guides blue-grey; 7 turns to the thumb side; 8 is finished, guides erased.

Draw the back of the hand as one long, almost straight line from below the wrist up to the knuckles.
Draw the wrist and the palm about the same thickness, about half the hand's width from the back.
Stack the fingers above the palm, leaning a little toward the palm side, and set the tips at their heights: the middle highest, the little finger far below. Add the nails and the joint lines.
Pick the near finger. From the little-finger side, draw the little finger in front and overlap the others behind it. From the thumb side, draw the index finger in front.
Swell the thumb pad out on the palm side, in a long oval from near the wrist toward the base of the fingers.
Bring the thumb up from the pad and stop its tip just above where the fingers start on the palm side.
From the thumb side, draw the thumbnail facing you.

Common mistakes

Drawing the hand as thick from the side as it is wide from the back. It's about half as thick.
Pinching the wrist in under the palm. From the side, the wrist is about as thick as the palm.
Curving the back of the hand. It runs almost straight; the big curves belong to the palm side.
Hiding the thumb behind the palm. It stands out on the palm side from both sides.
Running the thumb tip up to the middle of the fingers. Here it stops at about the base of the fingers.
Lining the fingertips up level. They keep the same steps as from the back, with the little finger far below.

What this does and does not cover

This is one drawing of one open right hand, seen from the little-finger side and from the thumb side. Other hands have other proportions, so take the numbers as a description of this drawing. The fingertips land at the same heights in every drawing of this hand, which shows they share one size top to bottom; that they share it across as well is taken from the way the set was drawn, not measured here. Widths come from the back of the hand and thicknesses from the side views, and they compare because all the drawings of this hand share one scale. From the thumb side, the pad of the thumb hides the palm's outline, so the palm's thickness is taken from the little-finger side. Curled, gripping, pointing and reaching hands aren't measured here.

A short exercise

Hold your own hand up, fingers straight and together, and look at it from the little-finger side in a mirror. Keep it the same distance from the mirror, turn its back to the mirror, and compare the palm's thickness from the side with its width from the back. Then check your wrist against your palm from the side. Draw what you see: the back of the hand first, then the palm and wrist, then the fingers. Turn the hand to the thumb side and draw it again. Where does your thumb tip land against the base of your fingers?

The hand in this guide is the open hand from hands and feet, volume 1, drawn at sixteen angles, 22.5 degrees apart. Its fingers are measured from the back and the palm in how to draw fingers, its palm straight on in how to draw the palm of a hand, its back straight on in how to draw the back of a hand, and the whole hand at other angles is in how to draw hands at different angles. For the same way of measuring applied to the head, start with how to draw the head at any angle.