Hey everyone! Welcome to my workshop. :) Please post ALL questions related to Lesson 1: Drawing Your Hand, in this discussion so I don’t miss anything. I can't wait to hear from you! -Kelly Foss

Hi Kelly, So happy to see you back. Took your prior Strathmore workshop and was so inspired/learned so much that I got going in an entirely new (for me) medium: graphite. Due to my work schedule, I likely won't get to actually doing the exercise until the weekend (argh!). Just watched the video--excited to get to it! Thanks, Lisa

I'm assuming it's okay if we don't use the exact materials that you do? For example, I have the Conte set that comes with the same type of pencils that you use for the trois crayon technique. SLC

Hey @Lisa, I'm so happy to be back! And I'm thrilled you're back too! Getting into drawing is such a great thing for any creative. I'm looking forward to hearing how you did, once you get a chance to do lesson 1! -Kelly

@SLCarr yes- I'm a big supporter of simply using what you have- and just get drawing! :) Different materials will have differing results, but we feel it out, roll with it, and just have fun! And maybe in the future you'll want to try out the items I use. I hope you enjoy lesson 1!

Just saying hello and thank you - watched your lesson a few days after trying my own hand (not a picture), on white paper, using only sanguine pastel, in the middle of the night LOL I will certainly try the 3 pencils technique in future insomnia hand drawings ;) Looking forward to your next lessons!

Thanks Kelly, for an excellent lesson as always. I used watercolor pencils, red, white, and black. Why is it that photos don't look the same as the drawing? Maybe I've been staring at the page for too long LOL

Good morning, I am usually very illustrative in my art. I called my art "cheap colouring book style" to give you an idea of how I draw. Here's my first attempt at your hand in realism. Please help. I will like to be Critique.

Good Afternoon Kelly, I decided to redraw the hand exercise using my own references and in my own style.not caring too much about realism and just enjoy drawing. Here's my attempts

Hello Kelly, So nice to have you again. I thoroughly enjoyed your last workshop and am looking forward to the rest of this one. I spent too long trying to take a good photo of my hand and in the end just used your reference photo. My confidence in drawing has increased and I approached this weeks lesson more relaxed. As I worked I didn't think about using the red pencil as this is quite different for me. I could appreciate the use of the graphite with the red and it was like magic watching the drawing emerge in 3D like depth. It was interesting how you can go from red to graphite and back to tweak tones. I deliberately left some white pastel as scratchy lines for interest in the drawing. This I learned from your lessons. I smudged them in places but not all over. I would love your feedback on my drawing. I tried to do it in a more relaxed manner and I feel that some of my angles are off. Also the thumb was too long and I tried to erase and lower it but this wasn't the best idea. I had a couple of breaks away from the drawing process and I wondered about the angle of my work surface and the angle of my eye to the laptop reference. I would think that would make a difference to the overall perspective of the drawing. The real drawing looks better than the photograph of it. Is that because the photo actually shows the hand looking a how it is ..a bit hideous or is it that my eyes on the real one move around and I don't notice? Lotus

Hi Kelly, Thanks for the video and very detailed instructions! I used the reference photo of your hand for this assignment. This was my first time using the 3 colors method and my first time working on tan paper.. I really enjoyed it! I had some trouble balancing defined edges/lines against fading shadows. I would love a critique if possible. Thanks, James

I finally stirred myself to follow and complete part 1 of your lessons Kelly. Hands have always been difficult for me and I usually chicken out. I enjoyed the lesson and think I achieved an ok result. I might try again with a picture of my own hand, although they are rather wrinkled. Cheers from Australia (very warm today)

Thanks Kelly. This was an interesting, if challenging exercise; for me anyway as it is the first time I have tried anything like this. I didn't have exactly the same paper or pencils as you and I seem to have turned your elegant and young hand into a rather arthritic one. I had terrible trouble with the slightly bent index finger, and had endless goes at it but decided I had to stop somewhere.

It seems to have chopped the tops of the fingers off and I can't seem to fit upload the full picture.

Hi Kelly I did a drawing of my own hand. I had trouble getting rid of the red. I enjoyed doing my drawing. If possible I would love a critique for this one as well. I hope that you can see an improvement from my first one.

I didnt know how that I could put two photo sat once onto the post. here is my drawing and the refernce is in previous post

Had great fun with this. Thanks for providing any feedback. Absolutely love that the lessons can be done in a quick session.

It didn’t add my photo to my post above so here it is

Rats, showing sideways. But here it is! Amazing what you can do with just these three pencils. This was a lot of fun, I want to try some more. This one got a bad start, I was trying to sit with the paper in my lap, and because of the angle, the hand started way too wide. Fixed that. If you have a chance, I would appreciate a critique, thanks! Lisa

Great to see your drawing @Genevieve , using only sanguine pastel. Thanks for sharing! Isn't it funny how insomnia can be put to good use? :) Can't wait for you to eventually try it with tan paper, and red, white, and black!

Here's the requested visual critique for artist fantinepantine. Left image is the original, and right is the slightly adjusted. The text that's in the image: Beautiful drawing! I would encourage you to push the values a little more. Unify the table shadow to the shadow on your hand. See in my pic here, if you squint, the value of the hand shadow and table shadow are pretty much the same? Along with darkening the shadows a tad, I lightened some the detail lines on the hand, since they were reading darker than the actual darkest area (the shadow from hand to table). Black cools, so I warmed things up with more red. I also pushed the light side with more “white pencil”. White charcoal or white pastel can help achieve stronger whites. I LOVE that you drew this from life! Keep at it!

Hi Kelly, This is my completed drawing of my hand. The photo I used will follow this message. Your critique would be appreciated. Thank you for the lessons.

Photo I used for drawing Tom

:) Repost of my critique for Fantinepantine (website is cropping all images square).

Requested visual critique for Dawn: A fun hand pose you set up! With lots of nice angles. As you see in this pic, I encourage you to look at the shape of the space around your hand. When we think of hands, we often focus on fingers, but the base of our hands (the palm/back of hand) is about half of the overall hand. It's great that you did 3 hand drawings already! Keep up the good work!

This is the visual critique that Lotus requested. It was great seeing the "lost and found" edge, and the variety of pencil work (some smooth areas/some rough)! Here is what is written on the image: Great work! My adjustments was to the pointer finger: shortening the tip, and making the finger have less if a bend. I moved up the base of the thumb. I gave the shadow on back of hand more of a definite shape, and more darkness to the shadow cast on table. Lightened light facing side of wrist. Defined areas where fingers connect. A beautiful trois crayons drawing, Lotus!

Can anyone please advise what size/ratio the picture needs to be for uploading so it doesn't get chopped off? I have tried several times and the whole picture does not appear. Thanks.

Hey AJ Ledgerwood, I've put in a request for the webmaster to hopefully fix the image cropping issue. But until then- I believe posting square images is the way to go! :)

Kelly, Thank you so much for the critique! I have made a note, and will draw a few more times, till I can achieve a standard as good as yours. Muchly appreciated!

This is the requested critique for James: I hope this is the 1st of many trois crayons drawings for you! You'll read in the image, that you're drawing is great! Focus a little more now on the value range; rendering/modeling/shading (people call it different things!) it. Here's the text from the image: Really great angles and proportions! I bent in the thumb a bit. I lightened: the outlines on the light-facing side (breaking the line at a few points), and some of the dark shadows/details on the hand. I erased a lot of the white, allowing tan paper to shine thru. Then I used the red not only to warm up the hand but also as a value to smooth the transition from light to dark.

Jacqueline, I'm tickled to hear that you're drawing with me all the way in Australia! :) Thanks for sharing a pic of your drawing. I hope you do continue on, and draw your hand, like you said. And no worries, in my opinion- the more wrinkles the better! As an example, here's a pic of my 101 year old gram's hand I drew using only red, white, and black. Happy drawing!

My 101 year old grandmother's hand I drew using only red, white, and black.

3 time's the charm? (TRYING to upload my 101 year old grandmother's hand drawing)

Hello everyone. :) You live you learn. :) In the workshops I took with Strathmore before, I got used to comments in the gallery, and I never used the forum. Thanks, Kelly, for responding to @fantinepantine and saying that you can't critique the attempts in the gallery, but rather here. Now that I know, is there a chance that you might comment on my attempt here maybe? Thank you! :)

aaaand a finger got mercilessly cut off :)

This is a visual critique requested for AJ Ledgerwood. All of us are struggling with the site cropping our images, but thankfully I could see the majority of yours! Lovely work, AJ! The fingers appear to be getting a little long, because the shadows can continue from them onto the knuckles and back of hand. So I drew a little more defined line to indicate the true beginning of each finger. I hope that makes sense. :) Here's the text that I wrote on your image: The site cropped your image, but I still wanted to take a look. Great usage of red, white and black! I’d say to do these little adjustments on the outside shape (thickening the wrist, and seeing how the wrist line flows into the hand). Then, with the direction of the light source in mind, keep building the shadow on the flesh and table, using red to add warmth to the skin.

This is a requested visual critique for Lotus. I turned the images to fit them in a square better. I'm a big fan of the shadows, seemingly outlining the fingers in your reference pic. Here's the text from the image: Gorgeous pose and drawing! You’ll see that I flattened and deepened the shadows. Structurally, I straightened out some of the curviness that was happening from knuckle to knuckle. Fingers were getting a little thin, losing some dimensional overlaps. I refined the varying shape of the fingertips. I love how sparingly you used the white, really getting the most out of the tan paper! I added a little more flush of red, especially in areas which tend to be rosy (palm side flesh and fingertips).

Hi Kelly I really appreciated your comprehensive critique of both my drawings. Thank you very much. I will be taking note of the points you made to improve my drawings. Your drawing of your grandmothers hand is wonderful and so special. Thank you for sharing that. Looking forward to lesson 2. Lotus

Hi Kelly, I’m so excited that you are teaching another workshop. I learned so much from your first one. I have always avoided drawing hands, but your demo was excellent and you are so encouraging. So here is my drawing of your hand. I’ll do mine next. I’m not happy with the photo though. Do you have tips about lighting? Seems like I either lose details and lines, especially in the fingers, or the natural light turns the paper gray and makes too much contrast between the black and white. I would love a critique. Thank you for offering that. Looking forward to lesson 2.

Sorry, i somehow managed to get it sideways. Hope I can do it correctly.

Sorry, i somehow managed to get it sideways. Hope I can do it correctly.

Fingers crossed

Sorry, Kelly. It shows it upright in the drop box but I’m obviously doing something wrong. Let me know if you want me to try again. Hopefully I’ll figure it out before lesson 2.

Hi again Kelly I tried to do all you suggested. First pic is your crit so that you can compare here. 2nd is first completion, and then added more white. I don't know which one is better. The photos are named by date and time. Thank you for your critique. Please point out any other things you notice. Thanks!

I posted in the other thread 'lesson' 1. Seeing that everybody post here, I will repost my drawing and remarks here. I used a white pad, because that's what I have, as well as other material I have onhand. I assume that the tan paper tones the red down, felt like my (your) hand was rather red. Next step drawing a hand in a different position. Overall kind of pleased with the result. Yes I would like to have your critique and learn.

Hi again Kelly, Thanks so much for taking the time to critique my drawing--your notes were really helpful! Seeing your edits next to the original drawing made the values transitions more obvious to me. I did the exercise again, using my own hand this time. I think I've done a better job smoothing out the values. I'll continue to practice! Thanks again. -James

Hello Kelly Thank you so much for this wonderful lesson. This is my first time drawing with this technique and thanks to your great explanation, I am already quite satisfied. I will definitely keep practicing. Thank you - Heike

Hello Kelly Thank you so much for this wonderful lesson. This is my first time drawing with this technique and thanks to your great explanation, I am already quite satisfied. I will definitely keep practicing. Thank you - Heike

This is the requested visual critique for Colleen. Here's the text that's in the image: Very nice to see all the shapes that you were sensitive to capture! I made the angle from back of hand to pinkie less acute, and thickened the wrist. The fingers are a little long/thin, so I plumpened them a bit (you’ll see it most in the thumb). I erased some of the white, to allow the tan paper to be part of the value scale (graphite, to the tan paper’s medium value, to the white). Darkening, and flattening the shadows (meaning, I softened details in the shadows. As you’ll see on the back of the hand, the well-investigated lighter shapes in the shadow, I lessened the contrast, so they don’t jump out too much). Then I did an over all warming up, using the red pencil.

This is a visual critique, requested by Lisa. Here's the text from the image: With so many elements, it is a well positioned drawing! I ever so slightly uprighted the pinkie/back of hand line. I thickened the fingers and wrist. All these adjustments helped enlarge the back of hand space, which was getting too petite. I darkly accented finger separations. And with the red pencil, I warmed up the darker areas.

This is a visual critique, requested by Tom. Despite the images being very small, I think I could still see a lot. I didn't mention, I just did a flick of white to express the shine on your ring. Thank you for sharing your art! Here's the text from the image: Great to see you drew your hand! I made the back of your hand more blocky, and your thumb more bent. Find that zig-zag shadow line on your arm, and the cast shadow on the table. I toned a lot of the skin with graphite and warmed up with red.

Kelly, Thank you for taking time to critique the drawing of my hand. I'm just starting out at this so your feedback is appreciated. Tom

Tom, That's awesome to know. And you're welcome. I'm so happy you're doing my workshop! Thank you. My best, Kelly

This is a requested visual critique for Magdalena. Just beautiful! And tell your daughter she did a great job too! I saw your pics in the gallery. I agree with you- in years past, photos in the forum would show up in the gallery; and the forum/chat space was easier to communicate. But we've connected now- so that's all that matters! :) The reference pic is lovely! So good to start from strength like that. Here's the text from the image: Thoughtfully drawn, with attention to detail! Pinkie and ring finger I shortened. Extended the palm to the base of the pinkie. Slimmed some outlines. I refined finger tips to be a tad pointier. Flattened the shadows (i.e. lessoned contrast & detail). Then I warmed up everywhere but the lightest areas.

Thanks for the workshop. I don’t have the right paper and that might be part of my problem. The other being that I fall back to old habits. I feel like I’m doing too much with the red, it’s very splotchy but being an artist whose first love is pencil I find that I tend to use the red as I would graphite. How do I pull away from that habit. The blocking is very helpful! Please critique.

My version of your hand. Would love a critique. It photographed as way more contrasty than it actually looks. Thanks!

Trying to resize this since the other photo is being cropped

Thank you so much for taking the time to critique/tweak my hand, Kelly! I really appreciate it. Glad to see I got most of the placement right. Wow, what a difference your adjustments make--comes to life right on the paper. Lisa

Posted this in gallery as well. I used a darker tan paper since I couldn’t find the Strathmore pad (perhaps cat took it), and used some blue. Great lesson and instructions. Critique appreciated. Thx, girl!

Thank you SO MUCH for the visual critique, dear Kelly. Your words warmed the hearts of one middle-aged woman and one 14-year girl. Actually, it was my daughter who selected the reference photo and turned drawing it into a challenge for the two of us, so she's extatic you appreciated her twice. :) If you don't mind me asking, should I warm up using the red crayon or mixing it with white? I feel I'm quickly becoming another fan of yours! :)

Third try—now that I got help resizing it.

Still not working! Wish we could delete these!

This is a requested visual critique for Watercolor Moon. Here's the text in the image: The “lost & found” edge, variety of pencil “textures”, allowing the tan paper to shine thru, and restricted use of white - all just beautiful! Adjustments were mostly anatomical: moving knuckles & ulnar wrist-bump down, thickening the pointer finger & thumb, and adding the connective tissue between thumb & fingers. Again, beautiful work!

Hi Kelly, I have attached the drawing of my hand. I'm a little late in time, but I make room for myself. Thanks for the class, greetings!

If you're still offering critiques for lesson one, I'd like to hear your thoughts about my work. I did make the mistake of only using the reference in the upper left corner of the video, rather than printing it out or opening it in another window; I can already see that the pointer finger came out looking off. I substituted in a Tombow 6B, Stabilo All Pencil, and Prismacolor Premier in carmine red, and a Faber Castell Pitt Pastel pencil in white, since I didn't have the supplies used in the lesson.

Oh no, the last photo had the fingertips cut off! I cropped out more of the wrist to hopefully include more of the fingers. Please critique this one.

A great lesson, you explain the blocking in phase very well. I would like critique, if that is still available. I woulnd up using grey paper, as I hadn't any tan, but using the 3 colours is interesting.

Kelly you make it all look so easy!!! My issue is dimensions. I have MS and since diagnosis have found it hard to get the right dimensions so I probably should have used a Grid. I used your ref photo and now you have the longest finger known to woman!! I enjoyed your tutorial and while I didn't have the exact same materials I tried what I could. As much as I would love to practice drawing every day i simply don't have the time with Family and work. I haven't drawn a hand in over 20 years so I'm pleasantly surprised at the result - expect the long finger! Would love a Critique as i don't think this is finished and I may be able to achieve more. Thx from Ireland - Dee

This is a visual critique requested by/for Dina. I'm sorry the site cropped your image, but I could see most of it. And thanks for posting your art in this discussion thread! The way the gallery and different discussion threads now work on the website, it's definitely challenging to keep track of everyone's posts. :) Here's the text from the image. Yes, using what materials you had “on hand” is the right way to go. Even on white paper, if reds feel too warm, black lightly over it will make it more neutral. A fun drawing you’ve done! I would say to spend more time looking at the angles in the block-in stage. I kept the drawing, just adjusted the tilts. Keep up the good work!

Hey James, Really cool to see your "part 2", but now drawing YOUR hand. Way to go! Keep on drawing! :) -Kelly

Hey Heike (aka HeBi) Thank you for drawing with me! And for sharing your art with us! Side note- love your signature! I think every artist needs to have a decided signature for their art, so it was nice to see yours. Keep on drawing! -Kelly

This is a visual critique requested by/for Ginger. I'm sorry the site cropped your drawing! But I could see most of it. Thank you for sharing your artwork! Here's the text from the image: You’re right to use whatever supplies you have, but I couldn’t resist seeing your drawing on tan paper! Warm red and cool black on white paper can give a purple appearance. But with a tan background: magic! Onto talking about your drawing (ignore the paper) I don’t mind using red like a graphite, only remember to add transitional values, not just darkest moments- so lines won’t stand out with high contrast. Since I’m not looking at your actual pose (love that you draw your hand!) I made little anatomy adjustments, such as bringing the 1st finger joint lower. I think the light source is directly above? So I unified shadows. And grouped light facing areas: on white paper we do this by erasing, on tan, we erase the use white pastel or charcoal. Great work!

Hi Kelly, I just saw your drawing of your grandmother's hand. WOW! I hope I can achieve a 10% as good as that when I try my 81 year old hand :)

A visual critique requested by/for Carol. I'm sorry it's cropped. And no worries about posting the pic a few times. I think everyone has had a challenging time with posting. Great work! Your drawing has a wonderful flow and elegance to it! Thank you for sharing it. I forgot to mention 3 things in the image. 1.) I lowered where the thumb meets into the hand, enlarging the mass of the back of the hand, which in turn- makes the fingers look less long. 2.) I also lessened the taper of the arm into the wrist. And 3.) after my little adjustments, I as you see, I built up some more red pencil. Here's the text from the image: I saw the white touching pencil work, so I erased white to let the paper be a part of the value scale. The fingers are a little long, BUT that can by helped by making the fingers & thumb plumper. The tilt of the knuckles I changed, and brought the ring finger's 1st joint down. I lightened the lines and shadows on the light-facing side of hand & wrist, also “breaking” the line a little.

A visual critique requested by/for K f: I'm so happy you shared your art with us! Thank you, and thank you for taking my workshop. I hope this critique makes sense. Here's the text from the image: Lovely work! I am happy to see you draw your own hand. See the hand’s shadow is cast to the left, so I repositioned your white pencil work to the right-side. Taking the cue from your drawing’s darkest dark (between the fingers) I took that value and made the rest of the shadows a similar, consistent darkness. Not seeing your actual hands, I can’t be too exacting in my critique in some ways- but I am able to make a few anatomy adjustments here and there. Finger thickness is usually similar; the pointer and middle ones being the thickest, ring finger a little less thick, and pinkie being the thinnest. The thumb from this view usually matches about the thickest finger’s width. I added the little “connective tissue” of skin/webbing between thumb and fingers. In a relaxed pose, pinkies line-up with the side of the hand. I changed the back of the hand shape from a box, more into a “weird barn” (like I mentioned in the video lesson), which give more room for the thumb’s bone structure. To finish, I gave a little more red blush in fingertips, joints & back of hand. Beautiful work, K f!

Hello Andriano, Great drawing of the hand! Thank you for sharing it here. I happy that you took my workshop! Thank you. -Kelly

A visual critique requested by/for Marcie. That's a good move to use whatever supplies you have on hand! The important thing is to simply get drawing. I can't believe you used just the itty-bitty reference image from on the video's upper left! Oh my- my eyes would be crossing! :) You'll see here in my critique that my main point is subtleties - lessening the bends and angles (like the pointer finger's bend, or the curves of the joints). Thank you for sharing your art! It was a pleasure to look over. Here's the text from the image: Wonderful work! I just want to make it a little more subtle. I lessoned the boney-ness of the thumb. I also made it, and the fingers, plumper. I lessoned the dark areas on the light side (like outline and marks on back of hand) and on the dark side, I unified the shadows (i.e; having less details and contrast, making more of a flat value). I gave an over all blush to warm the flesh.

A visual critique requested by/for Andra. Thank you for sharing a pic of your hand drawing! I can see your attention to detail. The grey or tan paper works great! I use tan toned paper mostly with flesh, just because it brings the warmth. But you can simply use a little more red on the grey paper for that. Here's the text from the image: Very nice, relaxed-pose of your hand! I gave more space to the back of your hand, lessening the angles of the narrowing of the wrist. I think you maybe had 2 lighting sources, given the shadows on both sides, and that you were receiving most light from above. So I “flattened” the shadow spaces (lessening details & contrasts). I scribbled a little white pencil on light-facing planes of the hand & wrist. With red, I gave an overall blush.