Monday, September 28, 2015

500 Hands Challenge: Done!

http://tomsarmo.com/
I finished the 500 Hands Challenge a bit early, and it feels very good to be done. In this post, I'm going to talk about what I learned.

If you're curious about the origin of this hand challenge, click on this link for my first post about it:

http://tomsarmo.com/
I don't like to start on page one of a new sketchbook. This shows the first 4 hands I drew on a random page for the challenge, then I continued them on page one of the sketchbook. I also realized that I used number 44 twice, so I guess I drew 501 hands.

http://tomsarmo.com/
Probably one of the most important things I learned was that it's crucial to draw the gesture of the hand first, then refine it. It makes the whole process easier, and results in a higher quality, more lively hand every time. The best hands always start with a gesture.
I've never loved sight drawing (otherwise known as Drawing from Life). Thus it's not been my strong suit. But this challenge resulted in me getting better at sight drawing, proportion, and just plain looking.

http://tomsarmo.com/
At a about 250 hands, I was sick to death of them. I was complaining one evening, and a fellow illustrator said "To get better at drawing something (like hands) develop a fetish for them; fall in love with them. Fall in love with the curves, the structure, the nuances. Every time you draw a hand, be in love with it." So I took his advice. It made all the difference, and I wasn't bored afterwards.

http://tomsarmo.com/
What else did I learn? That all the great artists did not draw great hands all the time. While I fell in love with Michaelangelo's fat, blocky hands, and continued my infatuation with the skinny, sinewy hands of Arthur Rackham, I found weirdly lumpy, potato-hands that Michaelangelo and Rockwell fudged on, and a few pretty rough ones by Rackham too. I admit it, those discoveries made me feel better about my drawings.

http://tomsarmo.com/
I admit too, that in the beginning I skipped drawing the more difficult hand positions, but at some point, I quit avoiding them without even knowing when.

http://tomsarmo.com/
I also learned:
-Expressive hands are not always in proportion; proportionate hands are not always the most expressive
-If my copied hand looked too much like the resource, I found I hadn't learned as much. Somehow the act of being too responsible to the resource got in the way of my progress.
-All the great artists relied on  "stock" hand positions they found useful and thus drew over and over.

http://tomsarmo.com/
Since the worst hands were the first hands, were the last few the best? Nope. By the end, I knew I had to get them done to make time for other things, so I rushed them a bit. But I did get faster and better at drawing hands overall, and that was really the point of the challenge.
And maybe the best thing?  By the 300th hand I found I did not hate drawing hands anymore. Hatred's root after all, is fear. Drawing 500 (and one) hands has pretty much erased my fear of them. I will always find drawing them difficult, but I know I'll continue to enjoy the challenge.

Thanks for reading!





10 comments:

  1. I'm pleased to see that you got to the end of your challenge. Well done you! Lovely to see your drawings - I have always loved looking at other people's sketches. I guess you will be taking a break before your next challenge.

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    1. Thank you Ruth! I like looking at sketches too--very much. I'm not sure what the next challenge may be, but you are right about that break :)

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  2. Tom! This was so inspiring for me! Thanks for sharing!!! :)

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    1. Hi Makayla--You are welcome! Glad you found it inspiring. It was well worth the time =)

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  3. Great work! I admire the scope of the project and your sketches. I need to do something like this someday because my focus is way too random!

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    1. Thank you Laurie! Random focus is the lot of us artists :) Knowing I'd committed to a group of illustrators helped keep me on track with this

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  4. What an amazing accomplishment! It shows great tenacity and focus on your part! I admire your drawings & sketches. I always enjoy your sketchbooks. Great, great job, Tom. You should reward yourself with something good! ; )

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    1. Thank you Miss Gladys, for your continued support of my work--and me!

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  5. Very very cool. I have definitely begun noticing vastly different approaches to depicting hands in drawings, paintings and sculptures. There is a big handed Saint Mary in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for example -- almost ham-fisted. Great adventures in drawing hands -- nice work, indeed.

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    1. Thank you Erik. Yep the search for hands has become an adventure. Ham Fists!

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