Posing of the Drawing Hand

Problems with the posing of the drawing hand usually arise when the draughtsman is sitting.

When writing normally the lower arm is put on the table and the pin is moved with the fingers. That means, that predominantly the fingers are moving and doing the main work, the hand is only moving little and mainly in the wrist. The same pose is often taken, when drawing at a table. That is usefull for small details and for small section lining, but it is nearly impossible to draw a straight line in this way.

Please try to draw a 20 cm long, straight line with your lower arm resting on the table – it’s impossible. If you make nevertheless a long line, it will appear as a bending. This bending is a segment of a circle with the centre in the wrist.

To draw successfully a straight line you have to draw it “from the shoulder”. That means, you fix the wrist, you are not moving hand or fingers relative towards the lower arm and then you move the whole arm (incl. the elbow-joint) to draw the line. But also other longer lines are drawn with this method. The reason is, that drawing in this way will give you most control over the pen.

Of course, you have to respect §1. There are a lot of experienced draughtsmen who are dashing and dotting lines or who "writes" them.

For exercise simply imagine that you could not move wrist and fingers any longer. You could e.g. fix a stick with adhesive tape at the outside of your lower arm and wrist and then try to move the fingers any longer. If you try to draw now, you will automatically move your whole arm.

Particularly when using a brush a constant pressure is important in order to get a evenly strong line. Therefore some draughtsmen are using their small finger to support the floating hand and to control the distance between hand and paper. In this way it is easier to draw with smooth and continuous pressure.

Anyway, don’t worry, you will get the "correct" hand pose automatically, when drawing frequently enough.

Picture 1:
With fixed lower arm, e.g. because it is resting immovably upon the paper, it is nearly impossible to draw a longer "straight line". The result will be a n arc, because the hand can only swing around the wrist.

Picture 2:
For drawing controlled lines you can support the hand by basing it on the small finger.