Hand From the Wrist Side: Edge-On Reference Photos

What changes at this angle

• From the pinky edge, the hand reads as a thin wedge, thickest at the wrist and tapering to the fingertips.
• The little finger is nearest the viewer and covers most of the other fingers when they are held together.
• The palm side and the back of the hand show as two different edges, a soft padded line on the palm side and a flatter, bonier line on the back.
• The wrist shows a bony bump on the pinky side just before the hand begins.

What goes wrong

• Drawing the hand as thick at the fingers as at the palm, so the hand reads like a paddle or a flipper rather than a wedge.
• Drawing all four fingers side by side from an edge-on view, so the hand reads as half turned toward the viewer and the edge view is lost.
• Drawing both edges of the hand as the same straight line, so the hand reads as a flat board and nobody can tell palm from back.
• Drawing the forearm flowing into the hand with no wrist bone, so the arm reads as a tube with a paddle on the end.

Try it

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

Open this angle in Angle Ref