How to Sculpt a Hand

hello i'm mark and this is in the round today i'm going to show you a simple way to sculpt a hand for this method we'll mostly be relying on additive methods constructing the hand from its constituent parts with only a little bit of carving to separate out and taper the fingers i think this approach tends to work best for beginners because it gives a clear sense of the structure and proportions of the hand to build the base hand take a mass of clay somewhere between 2 and 3.5 pounds i'm here using 3.5 which makes for rather a large hand i prefer to work a little bigger for hand studies because that way it's easier to get in between the fingers divide the clay into thirds then divide one of the thirds again into one third two thirds sections from one of the larger thirds shape the wrist this will be a slightly tapered column with a rectangular cross section thinner through the wrist and thicker across it take the second of the larger third and shape the palm this will be roughly square or very slightly rectangular for longer thinner hands it will taper in cross section from its fattest point of the wrist down towards the fingers compress an angle into the leading edge of the palm from the base of the fingers back towards the knuckles this corresponds to the angle of the membrane between the fingers and is a vital detail if you make the space between the fingers flat your hand will look like a monster hand from the two-thirds section shape the fingers first make a rectangle that tapers slightly in its cross-section from the base of the fingers to their tips next round off the arc created between the tips of the fingers the base of the fingers compressed in an angle that corresponds to that at the front of the palm that is from the base of the fingers back towards the knuckles finally from the smaller third shape the thumb start with a cone then flatten the base at an angle to form what will be the ball pinch out and shape the thumb itself define the flatter slightly turned up nail side against the rounded pad side of the tip keep the back of the thumb angular with distinct turns at the joints assemble the parts positioning the thumb at the base of the palm the thumb is very mobile and can be placed either to the side on the edge or fully on top of the palm note as you rotate it the changing relationship between the direction of the thumbnail and the fingernails assess the proportions of the hand if any of the parts look too small or too large now is the time to adjust separate out the fingers cutting just shy of all the way to the base of the finger section this will make the attachment to the palm section stronger and minimize the likelihood of the fingers falling off as you shape them at first the fingers will look like terrifying sausages don't be alarmed this will soon change first you will need to thin the fingers out by trimming between them and tapering them towards their tips adjust their relative lengths use the clay you trimmed off to build up the knuckles on the back of the hand mark the joints of the fingers at the knuckles the first will be a little under half the total length of each finger say between 40 and 45 the second will be about three quarters of the first and the third three quarters of the second the curvature of the line created between each set of knuckles will become more pronounced towards the tips of the fingers put a little flat oval pad of clay at these points to mark them mark the creases on the front of the fingers these are more evenly spaced than the knuckles note the angles created between the crease and knuckle at each joint in profile the first will angle back following the membrane between the fingers the second will be evenly aligned the third will angle forward from crease to knuckle shape the cross section of the fingers which are full bellied on bottom and taper up to a flatter top plane map out the creases of the palm build up the three pads out from the ball of the thumb at the base of the fingers and along the pinky side next shape the curvature of the palm through to the back of the hand in a relaxed pose this curve will be gentle on the pinky side and steeper on the thumb side it may be necessary to add a little bit of clay to the back of the hand at this point develop the thumb which consists of one metacarpal and two phalanges as opposed to the three phalanges of the fingers the tip will be full and fat sometimes even thicker than the first phallics on the palm side the thumb may insert slightly into the ball build up the tendons of the back of the hand make any small additions or subtractions to the primary structures as may seem necessary then do a unifying pass with abrasives sponges and or brushes to bring everything together compressing the nail beds these vary in shape but will typically be about one half of the length of the final phalanx of each finger articulate the head of the ulna and the tendonous ridges of the flexor's carpi and the palmaris which strangely not all people have working from observation build up the finer details including the creases of the fingers these articulate in two folds over an interior depression almost like an eye closing define the fingernails in their beds making sure that they're rounded and inset into the finger not flat or laid on top of them add the wrinkles at the knuckles and the wrist add veins to the back of the hand then do another more delicate refining paths with abrasives and brushes use a needle tool to carefully remove any cat hair that you may find this is the basic hand from here you can start experimenting with different hand types and more dramatic poses you

Channel: In The Round

Views: 49,264

Rating: 4.9541545 out of 5

Keywords: Art, Sculpture, Sculpting, Human anatomy, anatomy, how to, Demo, demonstration, clay, ceramic, ceramics, sculpt, figure, figurative, howto, In The Round, InTheRound, Mark Stafford, Mark Nathan Stafford, hand

Id: VTXkHa4FKiU

Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 17 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/postitsam]

Massively helpful video. Thanks for taking the time to make and share it

[u/natronmooretron]

Again, great job! I'm going to watch it again with my own clay and try to follow along.

[u/2greeneyes]

nice