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PAINTING HANDS –
Brogan Bertie
Reference Image
Materials
Canvas or wooden panel primed with gesso
Oil paints
Selection of brushes
Palette
Charcoal for sketching
Liquin medium
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Setting Up Your Composition & Approach
When painting a figure, it’s great to work from life whenever possible. This is particularly important when painting hands as you’ll get a sense of how they move and interact with each other.
Work with your sitter to position the hands in a natural, comfortable pose to best capture their essence. Consider how hands interact with other elements, such as fabric, objects, or body language.
Top Tip: Hands convey emotion and personality—treat them as an extension of the portrait’s narrative.
Sketching the Hands
To begin, use a diluted mixture of Burnt Sienna and White with Liquin for a transparent, fluid sketch. At this stage, focus on the big abstract shapes rather than the individual elements like fingers. If you can see errors and need to adjust, use tissue to wipe away any lines you’re not happy with.
It might be useful to break the hand into three main planes as they catch different bits of shadow and light:
1. The back of the hand (main palm area)
2. The first section of fingers
3. The second bend of fingers
Whilst sketching, it is good to start thinking about different areas of light and dark. Without adding too much variation at this stage you can colour in larger sections to indicate shadow. This will help you to start defining areas e.g. where the fingers bend. Try to avoid over-detailing during this early stage and instead focus on shape and proportions.
Top Tip: Keep checking back. Has your brain taken over and assumed it knows what a hand looks like?
Blocking in Colour & Form
Before going in with any detail check your painted sketch by focusing on the negative space around the hands. You might find you don’t have the shapes quite right.
It’s time to start adding more colour and form. Start with large, confident brushstrokes, block off the large areas of shadow and the highlights before moving on to mid tones. Identify the warm and cool tones in the skin. You’ll likely find that shadows contain blues or purples, while highlights lean toward pinks or warm neutrals.
Top Tip: The parts of a hand move together so don’t treat the individual components as separate objects, but as a cohesive structure.
Refining Features & Adding Detail
Gradually introduce details such as knuckles, fingernails, and creases. Try and avoid suddenly going in with very small brushes. Keep establishing the broader shapes until right at the end and even then use tiny brushes sparingly.
Don’t worry about defining each and every part of the hand. Allowing the parts to merge can be a great painterly tool to create the sense of them resting.
Top Tip: Fingernails help define finger direction but should remain subtle. Even with these details avoid hard outlines.
Final Touches & Enhancing Expression
As you reach the end of the painting, deepen shadows and reinforce highlights to add dimension. These little touches can emphasise the weight and gesture of the hands which really helps to enhance the sitter’s character.
Start to think about the surrounding elements (clothing, objects) and make sure your hands work with the rest of the painting.
Top Tip: Hands are deeply expressive so celebrate them and allow them to tell part of the subject’s story within the portrait.