Hands do a lot of the talking for us. AJ Power reminded me of this when I dropped in on a recent Comics class. He was inviting students to illustrate the moods and interactions between characters by drawing their hands in gestures. That hit me as one of those obvious yet totally overlooked aspects of figurative work, and expressive portraiture. Where are the hands?!? All of the narratives, emotions, and expressions people can express with their hands! Why haven’t we been drawing them in my portraits and figurative classes?
I was so excited about the idea that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads. I started thinking about what works in a drawing and what doesn’t, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist surpassed drawing and the art reads as pure expression.
I’ve collected so many I’ll be sending these in installments, starting with my favorite: Käthe Kollwitz. Her drawings and prints surpass rendering and elevate to pure expression. Look how she combines hands and head together, with the hands oversized, acting as the primary voice or expression, quite often speaking more for the person than the face. The body, if it is included, is simplified to support the expression of the hands. Other narrative elements are edited out. She’s powerfully direct, and in that directness, she gives us deeply relatable emotions and primal narrative, all through physical gesture.
…The keenest among you might have noticed that a few drawings are kind of similar to a study, only reversed. Remember prints make reverse images, so while flipped imagery isn’t common for drawings and paintings, it is a natural part of the printmaking process.
The Seattle Artist League has moved all adult and teen classes in painting, drawing, photography, and printmaking ONLINE. We are dedicated to keeping our artistic community active, connected, and safe. Previous to this week, I haven’t done a lot of video conferencing. I don’t Skype or Facetime more than once every two years, and I cultivate a …
Contrary to popular belief, the round topped brush was actually designed in the late 1800s by Dr Philbert Bristle and was not named after a nut but instead named after the doctor himself, thus the proper name for this brush is “Philbert.”
Welcome to day 2 of the 30SAL creative challenge! To learn more about this challenge, click here. Today is Sunday, OBSERVATION day. The challenge for today is to draw or collage a cup, a table, and a wall as you are looking at it. Describe the surface and space of each object, as well as …
This show at MoMA was brought to my attention by a League member. (Thanks Chris!) He had been there to see it and said it was impactful to see works in context not by culture, but by timeline. What was happening while Matisse painted his ladies? What was the dominant art world thinking about at the time, …
Drawing Hands: Käthe Kollwitz
Hands do a lot of the talking for us. AJ Power reminded me of this when I dropped in on a recent Comics class. He was inviting students to illustrate the moods and interactions between characters by drawing their hands in gestures. That hit me as one of those obvious yet totally overlooked aspects of figurative work, and expressive portraiture. Where are the hands?!? All of the narratives, emotions, and expressions people can express with their hands! Why haven’t we been drawing them in my portraits and figurative classes?
I was so excited about the idea that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads. I started thinking about what works in a drawing and what doesn’t, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist surpassed drawing and the art reads as pure expression.
I’ve collected so many I’ll be sending these in installments, starting with my favorite: Käthe Kollwitz. Her drawings and prints surpass rendering and elevate to pure expression. Look how she combines hands and head together, with the hands oversized, acting as the primary voice or expression, quite often speaking more for the person than the face. The body, if it is included, is simplified to support the expression of the hands. Other narrative elements are edited out. She’s powerfully direct, and in that directness, she gives us deeply relatable emotions and primal narrative, all through physical gesture.
…The keenest among you might have noticed that a few drawings are kind of similar to a study, only reversed. Remember prints make reverse images, so while flipped imagery isn’t common for drawings and paintings, it is a natural part of the printmaking process.
Related Classes
Expressive Portraits starts 9/18
Head & Hands starts 9/25
Comics starts 10/7
Woodblock Portraits starts 10/19
Related Posts
I was surprised by the online classes
The Seattle Artist League has moved all adult and teen classes in painting, drawing, photography, and printmaking ONLINE. We are dedicated to keeping our artistic community active, connected, and safe. Previous to this week, I haven’t done a lot of video conferencing. I don’t Skype or Facetime more than once every two years, and I cultivate a …
Philbert, a correction
Contrary to popular belief, the round topped brush was actually designed in the late 1800s by Dr Philbert Bristle and was not named after a nut but instead named after the doctor himself, thus the proper name for this brush is “Philbert.”
Day 2: a Cup, a Table, a Wall #30SAL
Welcome to day 2 of the 30SAL creative challenge! To learn more about this challenge, click here. Today is Sunday, OBSERVATION day. The challenge for today is to draw or collage a cup, a table, and a wall as you are looking at it. Describe the surface and space of each object, as well as …
Art From Banned Countries
This show at MoMA was brought to my attention by a League member. (Thanks Chris!) He had been there to see it and said it was impactful to see works in context not by culture, but by timeline. What was happening while Matisse painted his ladies? What was the dominant art world thinking about at the time, …