Hello all! I hope you are all well, drawing daily and practicing hard!

Today, I’ve got another great art tool recommendation for you all. This app is one that will work fantastically with my How To Draw Hands class because this is an application specifically for creating hand references called, funnily enough, HANDY ART TOOL!

Hands, as we all know, are notoriously difficult to draw. What makes them even more difficult is trying to imagine a pose for them. Normally we solve this by referencing our own hands which usually gets the job done but sometimes even that is tricky as there’s only so many angles we can view our hand from our own perspective. HANDY ART TOOL is the perfect solution to this with its wonderfully rendered 3D Hand Model. It’s a tool I’ve been using for a few years now, and one that allows for complete control over how the hand model is articulated, how the camera is positioned and focused, as well as how the light sources interact with it. Once you're satisfied with your pose, you can then export it as either a JPEG file or a transparent PNG file.

After selecting the skin colour for your hand model, you’re prompted with a selection of stock hand poses to choose from. Once chosen, you’re taken into the Camera View Mode where you’re able to make all sorts of changes. Need more extreme Foreshortening? Adjust the Field of View Slider. Need a First person viewpoint? Tap the Perspective icons. Want to flip from left hand to right hand? Tap the Directional Arrows.

But what if that stock pose isn’t quite right? What if the fingers aren’t expressed exactly how you'd like them? Tap on the hand itself and then the hand editor icon at the bottom and you’ll be given compete articulation control. Here you have Forward, Side and Roll Controls over each finger bone, each thumb bone, as well as control over the wrist. By default the ‘bones’ are limited in their articulation as to how they would move in real life but hit the Broken Bone icon and you’ve essentially turned the hand into rubber, giving you all sorts of movement options.

Outside of positioning, Lighting is the most important tool here. Tap the Lightbulb icon in the bottom right and you’ll be able to start adjusting the direction of the light sources. By default there are 3 light sources turn on, and each are synched with each others movement. However you can make adjustment to these individually by hitting the Edit Icon. In this window you can turn lights on or off, change their colour and luminosity strength, and move each one into a specific position. Like the lighting rig you’ve created? Then you’ve got the option to save the set up on the previous page for future poses.

Now, this is primarily a hand reference tool but there's also a selection of skulls, head busts and various 3D props that come with the default application. There are more refined reference applications out there for head busts and skulls, but if this is the only app you have then the selection here is good enough to practice with, ranging from simplified models, to realistic sculpts, to anatomical casts.

If you’re wanting a little bit extra, there are two downloadable DLC packs you can purchase. The first is the FEET MODEL, which acts more or less the same as the hand model in terms of articulation and editing. The main downside is that the feet models don’t look nearly as well rendered as the hands. It’s still useable, but just doesn’t look quite as good or as anatomically accurate. The other pack available is the ANIMAL SKULLS pack. Not a necessary DLC that you’ll need, but if you’re interested in animal anatomy there’s a good selection of skulls ranging from dogs, goats, and sabertooth cats, with each skull allowing for jaw articulation.

So, all sounds good. Any downsides? Probably the biggest downside is the apps navigation. There are a lot of icons and windows you have to tap to edit the options to your taste, and it’s often easy to forget which page a specific option is on. There are also odd navigation options like having to go through two pages to edit the Lighting when one would have sufficed. So in terms of getting around the app, it’s a little awkward and messy. But it’s an inconvenience worth dealing with. Overall this is a great reference tool that is a must have for all upcoming artists who struggle with hands, and is available on Mac, Windows, iPad, and Android - https://www.handyarttool.com

This app will work great alongside the following classes in my Figure Drawing series:

How to Draw Hands
How to Draw Feet
Drawing the Head - Intermediate Structures

So that's the latest art tool recommendation. Try it today and post your own reviews in the comment section. As always, keep drawing! :)

Cheers!

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