Anatomy

ANATOMY

Making Marks

ALAN MCGOWAN continues his series on expressive anatomy with a focus on the hand and how directional marks can improve your drawings

Hands are an important and expressive part of figure art. In portraiture they are often as expressive as the face, and are capable of many varied actions, configurations and poses.

They can also be the part of the figure we love to draw – or the one we most avoid. Understanding the anatomy of the hands can influence how we use our materials, and the direction and emphasis of mark making, to help us create more interesting and persuasive representations of them.

Anatomy gives us insights into how the body is structured in space and how forms meet, overlap and wrap around one another, which can be helpful when drawing. However, it must be recognised that a knowledge of anatomy is not the answer to all of our challenges.

Life drawing is a fascinating journey of exploration, not something to be ended with an easy, one-size-fits-all solution. The complex negotiation with subject, with our materials, and with our own creative intentions is what makes drawing the figure constantly interesting; it is an exchange which is expressive partly because of its elusive qualities.

Anatomy is to some extent the acquisition of – and application of – knowledge, which I would argue expands our possibilities in drawing. Nevertheless, we should be careful to also incorporate other elements that form part of our perceptions and should inform our pictures too.

It is important to keep a place for what we don’t know – for uncertainty, ambiguity, mystery, suggestion – and for the ability of the model to keep surprising us as if seen anew every time.

Our knowledge of anatomy therefore becomes one part of a negotiation with the other aspects of the subject and of picture making – elements such as ambiguity, shadow, line, colour, tone, gesture and so on. It can also contribute as a participating partner to the other things we might consider; to the way colours subtly change and merge; to the way the brush goes down; to the way shadows might dissolve and destroy form; to act as a kind of foundation upon which to build, one that can have an effect on the way we use our techniques and materials.

Anatomy informs the feelings we have as artists for the relationship of forms in space as they meet, turn, overlap, recede or project. This in turn can be helpful in influencing the kind of marks that we might put down, the emphasis that we place on them, and the direction of mark-making we may use to help explain and represent the movement of these forms.

Planes of the Hand

When we come to represent the hand, it is useful to think of it as being structured around four main planes bounded by three important margins (or axes). The important planes are the forearm (shown in yellow on the drawing on the right); the metacarpals, which are the five bones we would think of as the palm or back of the hand (red); the fingers (blue); and the unit of the thumb (green).

In placing these main planes, the axes to which we would want to pay particular attention are at the wrist (A), the knuckles (B), and the arc of the ends of the fingers (C).

Note that the finger plane (in blue) can be quite complex given the possible range of movement of the fingers, but it is useful to conceive of the fingers as if in a mitt, working together as a simple unit in the first instance, before thinking about the arrangement of individual fingers. Having roughly established this simple structure, we can move on to more complex and detailed forms.

Anatomy of the Hand Many of the muscles acting upon the hand lie outside of it on the forearm, and transmit their actions via long tendons that cross the wrist to the hand and fingers. On the back (dorsal) side of the hand these are extensor

Palm of Hand (Palmar) C B

Palm of the Hand: Surface Landmarks 1 Flexor tendons may appear at the wrist (especially if the hand is flexed or gripping) 2 The concave bowl of the palm is created by the raised masses of muscle of the thenar and hypothenar groups 3 In full extension, the middle finger is the longest, while fingers tend to close starting from the outside in (i.e. the smallest finger first) A

1

Thenar group Radius and Ulna

Carpals

Hypothenar group

2

Metacarpals

Phalange

Flexor tendons

C B A Top tip It helps to simplify anatomy – try to think of the hand as four distinct planes

tendons, and on the palm side flexors.

These tendons and the bony forms they run over are visible mainly on the back of the hand, as they are masked on the palmar side covered by a webbing of tendon (the palmar fascia), and thick skin.

We have two bones of the lower arm – the radius and the ulna. The bones of the hand fall into three groups – small carpal bones (which we won’t see individually) at the wrist; the metacarpals (palm or back of hand); and phalanges (finger bones) of which each finger has three, and the thumb has two.

The small muscles situated in the hand are organised into three teardrop-shaped masses – the thenar group (which controls the abduction, flexion and opposition of the thumb), the hypothenar (which does the same for the little finger), and the first dorsal interosseous.

Back of Hand (Dorsal)

1

Back of the Hand: Surface Landmarks 1 The ulnar styloid is an oft-visible bump at the end of the forearm, near the wrist on the little finger side 2 We have a number of small muscles between the bones of the hand, but these are not visible on the surface apart from the first dorsal interosseous 3 The abductor of the little finger is part of the hypothenar group 4 The MCP joint takes the form of a diamond or raised pyramid as the extensor tendon crosses over the knuckle

Radius and Ulna

Carpals

2

4 3

First dorsal interosseous Extensor tendons

Metacarpals

Abductor of little finger

Phalange

CASE STUDY

Mark Making

Usually in drawing there is an emphasis on accuracy of placement and proportion, but often less consideration of how things are put there – namely, the way we use our materials and the direction, weight and emphasis of the marks we make.

Whilst an understanding of anatomy brings us knowledge about what is going on under the surface of the figure, relying solely on this can lead to drawings which are dull, flat and mechanical. We risk seeing the body as a kind of machine rather than as a living, elusive, vital organism.

In order to achieve more sympathetic renderings of the figure we may need to leave a space for what is uncertain, suggested and ambiguous, which is also a part of our perception of the world.

Two simple things that we could use to help us are varying the direction of our mark making and changing the emphasis we place on edges (more specifically, trying to vary the clarity of these edges in order to suggest the forms moving through space).

In the drawing above, notice how the direction of the shading on the upper hand moves around the back of the hand, but the white chalk takes a slightly different direction at the forearm where light falls on the radius and ulnar styloid, helping suggest the change of direction in space. Similarly, on the lower hand, the depiction of light on the muscles at the ball of the thumb helps to give the sense of a sphere moving round in space and coming towards us.

Certain things can be clearly seen – for example, the profile of the MCP joints at the back of the hand shows a definite change from light to shadow, and the hypothenar at the heel of the lower hand catches a little light, bringing it forward from the shadow behind. It is useful to play these defined edges off against others that are less clear – in this instance, the margins between the middle fingers of the upper hand, which are softened by the light, or the heel of that same hand which is lost in shadow.

DEMO

Developing Hands

1Begin by roughly establishing the four main planes and three main axes, concentrating on their relative proportions and placement.

2Think about the smaller planes – the axes of the fingers across the knuckles and the spaces between the fingers.

3Move towards more detail in the forms, taking notice of anatomical features and any rhythm or asymmetry. In this example, the MCP joints are raised in bumps, especially at the index finger, while

the plane break at the knuckles effects the little finger slightly differently. Think about the direction of marks as you rough in these forms.

4As the image becomes resolved in more detail, concentrate on varying the direction of mark making to echo the changing direction of the forms and varying the kind of emphasis placed on edges.

Think about the immediate context too – try to find some edges which are less clear, destroyed either by shadow or in light. Next month: Alan shows how to draw the head, using tone to describe form. www.alanmcgowan.com