Back of the Hand: Real Reference Photos and Landmarks

What changes at this angle

• The big knuckles form an arc with the middle finger's knuckle at the peak.
• All four fingernails show, each sitting on the last segment with skin on either side of it. Each nail is narrower than its finger.
• The fingers separate a little past the knuckle row, so the webs between them sit toward the fingertips from the knuckles.
• The back of the hand, from the wrist to the middle finger's knuckle, is about as long as the middle finger. Compare the finger's length with the distance from its knuckle down to the wrist crease.
• The wrist shows a bony bump on the pinky side where the forearm meets the hand.

What goes wrong

• Drawing the knuckles in a straight row, so the hand reads boxy and the fingers seem to start from a ruler.
• Drawing the nail as wide as the fingertip or leaving it out, so the fingertips read as blunt stubs or as the pads of a palm-up hand.
• Starting the gaps between the fingers at the knuckles themselves, so the fingers read too long and the back of the hand looks too short.
• Drawing the fingers much longer than the hand that carries them, so the hand reads spidery and the palm looks like a small cuff.

Try it

Open the hand search at the same back view and turn the hand yourself.

Open this angle in Angle Ref