SYNOPSYS

ART & DESIGN / ILLUSTRATION

How to Draw Hands - Takahiro

Kagami's Master Class
Takahiro Kagami

Publish Date: 2019/11/08

ISBN: 978-4-7973-9985-1
Size: 257 x 182mm
Price: JPY 2,200
Lengths: 144

Rights Sold: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, French,

Sample URL: http://ul.sbcr.jp/IDEA-WaqxF

Japan’s best animator, who worked as an animation director on world-famous films,

teaches you basic to advanced techniques that make drawings impressive in easy to
understand ways.

A top animator reveals everything from basic to advanced techniques.

The one and only book on how to draw hands by Takahiro Kagami, a famous animator known for his hand-
drawing skills, who is said to have created a surprising number of hand fetishists. He teaches how to think about
drawing and openly reveals how to manage the details he cares about.

Table of contents
Chapter 1 Basic drawing
Chapter 2 Advanced techniques
Chapter 3 Posing examples
Appendices

Author
Takahiro Kagami is a technically
accomplished animator. He has worked on
character design and as a supervising
animation director for various animations,
including YuGiOh, The Dark Side of
Dimensions, Zettai Karen Children, and
Death Note.

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Foreword (Author’s comment)

I have this strange feeling because I never thought I could publish a book like this. In my case, I don’t draw
based on accurate calculations of the structures of muscles, tendons, bones, and so on. I’m aware of these
structures to some extent, but I focus on visible surface areas. My priority is visual quality. So, I never thought I
could write a book on my techniques for drawing hands. But the concept— “Takahiro Kagami’s expression of
character through hands”—made me think I could do it and led to the creation of this book.

In short, this book isn’t about how to draw hands from an anatomical point of view, but about Takahiro Kagami’s
way of drawing hands, with a focus on visual quality.

A hand consists of various parts that can look extremely different depending on the situation. Overall, hands are
the most difficult part of the body to draw. I’ve been drawing for over 30 years, and I still look at my hands in a
mirror or use reference materials when I draw hands. (I sometimes deliberately draw hands that bend in a way
that bend in ways not considered anatomically possible.) When a character is stretching out his arms, pointing a
finger, or making a fist, the depiction of the hands (as well as the arms) is an especially crucial point.
Furthermore, I consider that different feelings like joy, anger, and sorrow and even a character’s personality can
be expressed by presenting hands differently. Hands are an important and interesting part of the body that can
be used to define someone’s character.

In this book, I explain how to draw difficult hands using three types of position indication lines, so that you can
draw hands in the simplest way possible. The book contains basic drawing skills and advanced posing
techniques for making your drawings attractive, including techniques for drawing wrinkles and creating three-
dimensional effects, which can be challenging when drawing hands. Just start from what you can do and then
challenge yourself. I created a lot of examples of poses for your reference. Try copying them and practicing, then
practicing some more!

Usually when I draw for animations, I also envision colors and draw shadows. For the explanations in this book, I
only use line drawings to show the hand poses as clearly as possible.

I hear that when people meet face to face, their eyes go to each other’s face first. We always have our bodies
covered in clothes, and the only parts exposed are the face and hands. Considering those two facts, though
unintentionally and unconsciously, eyes may be directed towards the hands as well. Doesn’t this mean that
clearly depicting a person’s hands as well as a person’s face will help your drawings seem closer to what you
see in that person? I don’t remember from when, but I have come to value the charm and significance of hands.
And as I continue to work, I become increasingly convinced of this fact.

I think that you chose this book because you also understand how important hands are.
In this book, I describe, as thoroughly as I can, how to draw them. Drawing perfect hands just by reading about it
may be difficult, but I hope this book can be of some help in making your drawings better.

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Overview

Chapter 1 Basic drawing

Basic drawing skills for conveying the shapes of hands and how to express differences in sex and age. How to
draw hands, the basics of hands, and how to draw position indication lines are explained.

✓ Basics of hands
Sizes, balance, and bending parts, points to note in drawing
hands. Let’s divide this up into parts and learn how to compose
step by step.

✓ Let’s draw hands

How to place three types of position indication lines. Thoughtful
use will let you draw any hand position, however complex.

✓ Bones and sinews on the back of the hand

A bumpy surface of the back of a hand looks different
depending on whether the hand is open or closed. Drawing
these differences well is the key to making your drawing
beautiful.

✓ Shapes of fingers
Fingers aren’t simple columns; rather, they have unique cross-
sections. Focus on the shapes of the fingers when you’re
drawing up-close to achieve a more realistic effect.

✓ Wrinkles
Too many wrinkles make hands look old, but some wrinkles are needed to create a sense of solidity. I’ll
show you how to add wrinkles naturally.

✓ Sense of solidity
I often hear about drawings seeming too flat and lacking in solidity. Here I’ll show you how to use wrinkles
and swelling to make hands look three-dimensional.

✓ Differences between men and women

Differences between men and women appear not only in the body and overall build, but also in the hands.
Imagine a square for men and a circle for women when drawing.

✓ Differences in age
When you become old, you lose body fat, and your skin grows slack. Joints stand out and become bony
regardless of gender.

✓ Differences in size
What to include in a drawing depends on whether you are drawing up-close or from a distance. I’ll explain

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how much you can leave in or out depending on size.

✓ Differences in drawing patterns

Different patterns also require different drawing techniques. Here I’ll show you examples of patterns and
how to adapt to them.

✓ Step up your level! Examples of poor work

You can draw, but you think something is wrong with your drawing. Here I’ll use examples of poor work to
explain what you can do to fix your drawings.

Chapter 2 Advanced techniques

I’ll explain how to direct a hand, which is important in creating a pose. We need to make hands look natural in
different states or performing different actions, whether at rest or when gripping something. Even for the same
pose, the personality of the character or situation may require different approaches. Let’s look at various
patterns.

✓ Directing hands
If you learn how to direct hands, you can express a lot with them. I’ll explain the basics of direction.

✓ Expression of hands in a natural state

Understanding only exaggerated expressions won’t extend your range of expression. Learning the ordinary
states and movements of hands is also important.

✓ Expressions when clenching your fist

The force with which you clench your fist creates different looks.
Here I’ll explain how hands or wrinkles look different when kept
tight.

✓ How to make hands look powerful

Thrusting your hand forward is a standard pose. I’ll explain how
to give power to this standard pose.

✓ Expression of softness
Expressing softness is indispensable when drawing the hands of
women and children. You can create a gentle, elegant, or
comfortable impression.

✓ Expressions of feelings
Directing hands to adopt certain poses can add nuances that
facial expressions alone can’t convey.

✓ Step up your level! Expressions of shading

The use of shading helps produce a sense of solidity, which is hard to accomplish with line drawings. It also
helps broaden your range of skin textures. Let’s step up your ability to draw hands through the use of
shading.

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Chapter 3 Posing examples

In Chapter 3, I created various poses for different situations and introduced tips for each. I hope you make use of
them when reproducing the drawings.

✓ Basic poses
The basic poses are all the fingers spread out; all the fingers bent;
and some fingers spread out and the rest bent. Let’s look at these
basic poses from various angles.

✓ Casual movements
What do your hands look like when making casual movements—for
example, when you place your hand on your waist or cross your
arms.

✓ Lacing fingers
Lacing fingers can be done by two people including a handshake and
holding hands. In this section, I’ll introduce a pose of the right hand
and the left hand lacing fingers together by one.

✓ Poses in daily life

We use our hands constantly in daily life. Try to observe the movements of your hands in various situations.

✓ Putting on clothes
The act of putting on clothes includes many casual everyday movements. Many poses are suitable for
fashion magazines.

✓ Meal scenes
Meal scenes are indispensable to depictions of daily life. Let’s look
at how a hand holds chopsticks, a knife, a fork, and a spoon.

✓ Holding objects
There are standard sizes for most objects. It’s important to see and
be aware of the sizes of the things you draw.

✓ Actions
A collection of poses related to offensive actions such as punching
and slapping or preparing for a fight

✓ Poses with weapons

Among action poses, ones with weapons are especially popular.
Let’s look at poses involving guns and swords at various angles.

✓ Musical instruments
To draw hands playing musical instruments, make sure to check the right chord and the correct way of
holding the instrument in order to create an authentic impression.

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✓ Business situations
A collection of poses in business situations—for example, when wearing a necktie and suit or doing
computer work.

✓ Poses by duos
Poses between two people such as handshaking or holding hands can express aspects of their relationship,
the distance between them, and so on.

Appendices

1. Professional workplaces

What points should we note when depicting hands in an actual workplace setting? Presented here are examples
using characters from Zettai Karen Children (a TV animation for which he worked on main character design).

What is Zettai Karen Children (Psychic Squad)?

Psychics grow increasingly common as the 21st century progresses and play increasingly active roles in various
fields. Three psychic girls, Kaoru, Aoi, and Shiho, are known as The Children and occupy the highest rank, Level
7. This is an action comedy about these psychic girls and how they grow together as individuals with their
trainer, Koichi Minamoto, a genius scientist. Animations for elementary school episodes were broadcast in 2008
to 2009, mainly on TV Tokyo. The original work has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday.

2. Discussion meeting for animators

We present Ms. Hiroko Utsumi and Mr. Hidekazu Ebisu,

animators who are close to Mr. Kagami. They discuss
Kagami’s remarkable depictions of human hands.

Hiroko Utsumi: Animation director, animator, director

Her debut as a director was with Free! and Free! Eternal
Summer.
Directed BANANA FISH; worked on original pictures, design, and direction for Keion.

Hidekazu Ebisu: Animator

Worked as animation director and on the original pictures for YuGiOh (both the TV series and the movie).
Worked as chief animation director and on monster design and
original pictures for Fate/Apocrypha.

3. A collection of hand pose photos

Kagami’s own hands, which he refers to when drawing, are perfect
references that clearly delineate sinews, bones, and veins. Mr.
Kagami prepared 79 photos with challenging poses, including ones at
difficult angles or holding objects. You can download these
photographic materials.

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Readers’ reviews

✓ Get one if you’re a hand fetishist.

The book describes how to draw and express hands. I was impressed with his deep thought process when
drawing hands. Differences in patterns in drawing manga are also mentioned. Overall, I learned a lot from
this book.
A lot of books have lots of illustrations but no actual content. This book provides appropriate explanations
and illustrations that are easy to understand. What most impressed me is that the book contains drawings
that aren’t necessarily excellent. And next to these are excellent ones. It gives you a useful perspective on
your own drawings, which are closer to the not so great ones. I compared them with my drawings and
noticed some points that good drawings had but mine didn’t. That was a revelation. The next part is
personal. I am a hand fetishist, so just looking at the drawings in the book was soothing to me. Mr. Kagami
also worked on the original pictures of Sailor Moon, an animated feature. Sailor Moon turned me into a hand
fetishist. I realized I’m one of hand-fetish people created by Mr. Kagami.

✓ This book made me realize the effects of hands.

Indeed, hands are always exposed, unlike arms and legs, so we should definitely consider differences in
gender and age when drawing them.

✓ My drawing of hands improved more than I expected.

I wasn’t good at drawing hands. When I drew manga, I drew by looking at my own hands or tracing them for
each panel, which takes a lot of time. I wanted to finish small panels without referring to anything. I
purchased this book in hopes of learning the general forms of hands. But the book helped me improve my
drawing significantly, though of course not even close to the level of Mr. Kagami. And the samples provided
with it are types I often draw. I think I’ll be able to use the samples for a while even after I finish practicing.
Tips like how to draw a rough sketch appear here and there in the book, and I even worry that giving
attention to such details might disturb my personal life. But I admire his attention to such details, the mark of
a true professional.

✓ I recommend this book for everyone who draws.

Mr. Kagami has been working on the original pictures of famous animations everyone knows, including
Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Death Note. This book is by Mr. Kagami, who has been working on the front
lines as an animator for 30 years. He puts everything he has into this book. I started drawing only recently,
and this is the perfect book for me, because I find drawing hands much more difficult than drawing
landscapes or portraits. If you try drawing hands on a piece of paper, you will realize Mr. Kagami’s
extraordinary drawings skills. I’m amazed someone with God-like drawing abilities published a book like
this. A drawing instruction book of this quality is rare.

✓ This is a luxurious book.

Each example in this book radiates beauty. It makes you feel like you can improve your drawing skills just by
reading. In particular, the chapter on basic drawing gives examples of the hands of babies, children,
men/women, and old men/old women to show how different they are. I’m glad that such excellent examples
are available and classified in such detail. The book also mentions how to draw hands depending on their
movement, something only Mr. Kagami, who has been working on the front lines, could explain.

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