The Story of a Beginner SKIMA Staff Member Trying to Draw Their Ideal Character Part 6: Practicing Head Depth and Difficult Hands

This is a project where OLUNO, a beginner SKIMA staff member, works hard to draw their ideal character.
This time, it's the "Practicing Head Depth and Difficult Hands" edition.

Last time, OLUNO started practicing coloring.
They were having fun learning the differences between anime-style and brush-style coloring, as well as the rules of color schemes.

This time, we're going back to line art practice.
We'll be moving on to practicing body parts in the intermediate line art course!

Click here for the previous article 🔽

I want to add depth to the head

First, let's practice drawing heads with depth from various angles!
When a head has depth, it creates a sense of perspective and gives the impression of a sudden level-up, doesn't it?

We'll start drawing the head from a base circle.

Let's keep drawing more and more!

It seems they drew a lot just to get used to it.
Sometimes, improvement requires a certain amount of practice!
OLUNO said, "It looks like a row of earphones, doesn't it?"

Things I kept in mind while practicing the head

• Be conscious of the eye sockets

• The outer corners of the eyes should be at the same height as the ears

• Compress the eyes depending on the direction of the face

Also, the point that troubled OLUNO was
"When the face is looking way up or way down, it immediately starts to look unnatural..."
"I don't know what to do with the chin when looking up"
they said.

Things like the area from the chin to the neck when looking up,
or the way facial parts gather at the bottom when looking down,
it's difficult to express depth in 2D illustrations, isn't it...

When I posted about this concern on X,
I got a response from Palmie!

They said that being conscious of the "nose" movement distance makes it easier to balance facial parts.
They even taught me by including an easy-to-understand illustration.

OLUNO was also happy, saying, "I see! That's easy to understand."

Thank you, Palmie!

Doing my best to practice hands

Next is practice for drawing "hands".
OLUNO, who felt uncomfortable drawing hands in the beginner line art course, is going to give it their all.

Drawing hands from blocks

It seems that if you decide on the rough shape with square blocks before drawing, it's easier to draw natural-looking "hands"!

▼Rough shape

▼Erase unnecessary lines and refine the shape

▼Complete!

I also drew the front and back of the hand using the same method.

It seems OLUNO's favorite is the hand with the thumb up.
The part with the four fingers curled is really great, isn't it...!

Three things to keep in mind when drawing hands

I asked what they kept in mind when drawing hands.
What they kept in mind is reflected in the illustration, isn't it.

• Be aware of the direction of the fingers for the nails

• Since the fingers are all different lengths, be aware of the stair-step shape

• If you want to make them look feminine, arch the fingers.

Trying to draw hands based on photos

Next, I'll draw hands while looking at photos.
I'm taking on the challenge of a pointing pose!

It seems difficult to express the perspective where only the index finger is coming forward.

They're pointing!
The perspective is easy to understand!

They drew some fan art based on the pointing pose they practiced.

According to OLUNO, "It's easier to draw if you decide the position of the hand first and then grow the arm from there."
Also, they had a realization after trying to draw a girl character: "Making the fingers more slender made it look more like a woman's hand than when I drew it in the tutorial!"

💡OLUNO Mini Fact💡
They seem to be interested in cars lately.

They look at the cars passing by with envy.

OLUNO is now able to create a sense of 3D depth in the head and has learned how to draw hands, which they used to struggle with.

The content for the next installment is

• What is perspective?

• I want to know how to color hair

is the plan.
Look forward to the next one!

There is also an X account that OLUNO updates.
They post illustrations they've drawn, consultations and worries, daily life, and more.
Please take a look at this as well if you'd like 🔽