Armature for Hands

Figure Sculpting Fundamentals

Armatures for Sculpture

Armature for Hands

45K
Mark as Completed

Armature for Hands

45K
Mark as Completed

Assignment

Add some hands to your wire armatures. This is usually easier if use a thinner 20 gauge wire for the hands and fingers.

If you only have larger 14 gauge wire, you can do a larger hand study and build out a section of wire just for the forearm and loop of the palm. If you do this remember that the distance from the elbow to the end of the loop of the palm is 2 cranial units.

Newest
Margareta Winny
Hello, so far I'm enjoying the assignments!! Decided to attach a hand armature to the wired armature I did before - and oh gosh it was super difficult. The left hand from the photo was my first attempt and the right one was my second attempt. Took me a while to get used to it, but so far been a valuable experience!! Can't wait to try the next assignment - gesture one!
Andrew Joseph Keith
Great job! yes with smaller armatures like this I find the hand armatures can be more trouble than they are worth so usually I'll only do hand armatures for large sculptures (like 1/2 life size or bigger) but great job! Keep it up!
Abi
4mo
The front and back of my hand armature.
Andrew Joseph Keith
Looking good! the thumb might be a bit long and I would work on bending the fingers out to more resemble the shape of the hand (this helps to better see the proportions) and keep going! add some clay to those wire armature bones!
John Sumner
Front and Back view of my hand armature. I went for the larger, 2 cranial unit size so I could just focus on the forearm and hand. The loop at the base holding it up can be straightened out to become an upper arm if needed.
Andrew Joseph Keith
Looking great! the proportions feel right! good job!
Jane Pospishil
I want to make hands on the armature we made with 14 gauge. The figure is about 11 inches. I bought some 20 gauge. Is 20 gauge too big for this size? What cranial units would the hands and fingers be on this smaller size figure?
Andrew Joseph Keith
Usually smaller armatures don’t need wires in the fingers because the wire gets in the way. 20 gauge is usually smaller than 14 gauge so it might be good for smaller figures.
TeaMonster
3yr
Adding hands to an existing armature and some separate hands. The first one (red wire) was eyeballed (holding out over my hand) then the next I tried hard to follow along, last one the fingers came out short, I must have over twisted them. I must admit I found the measurements confusing so I drew myself a diagram to try and get it right.
Andrew Joseph Keith
Hey great job on these!
Dominic Miranda
Hey all this is one of the hand/arm studies I’ve been working on over the last few days, let me know what everyone thinks! I still need practice with the details in the hands but practice does make perfect!
TeaMonster
3yr
Hi Dominic, nice tension in the fingers!...reminds me of opening a jar, then one inch punching said jar when it wont open. -I'm super curious, is that a sculpting tool it's mounted on?
C Thompson
3yr
What is the secret to adding detail that look good in every light and doesn’t causing flakes of clay to remove or burnish in. The palm has too many lines and the knuckle look to deep. About 3in tall.
Andrew Joseph Keith
I’d try focusing on the structure and primary forms more than the wrinkles of the hand. Try watching Stan’s videos in the anatomy course on the structure of the hand and how to draw the hand, those are helpful to capture the primary forms. Once those are in place then you can worry about the details. It looks like the fingers may be too short in comparison to the palm of the hand (unless it’s a baby hand which has a larger palm but also a larger wrist in comparison to the fingers)
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