Drawing hands: Help!

[Erwin_Br]

Okay, characters aren't my strongest point; especially those dreaded HANDS!

Here's my problem: I want my character to change the position of his hands when he's asking a question, or denying something, during his talk animation.

The left image shows a normal frame of my ego. The right image shows one frame of the animation in which my ego is asking a question. I don't like his hands on that second frame. Any suggestions are very welcome and appreciated.



Right frame: Brett says "What are you talking about?" or "But... I didn't do anything!"

Thanks,

--Erwin

[Ashen]

Characters aren't my strong point either, but ... One thing that stands out to me is that the hands (in the second frame) look like they're pointing the wrong way - the palms should be facing inwards, not outwards, with the thumbs pointing up and out, rather than down and out. A little thing, but it doesn't look quite natural as is, to me at least.
You might also want to raise them a little, making the bend in his arm more obvious. As it is, it might look like he's flapping them at his waist, instead of gesturing, as I assume he is.
Just a couple of thoughts.

EDIT:
Ah, I see. Makes more sense now, but I still say you need to bend the arms a bit more - it looks very uncomfortable to have the palms that far round, that close into his waist, if you get me. Maybe try adding a slight 'hunch' to the shoulders, to raise the arms slightly without having to over-bend them?

[Erwin_Br]

His palms are supposed to be outwards. It's hard to explain the emotion I want to express. He's, uh.... 'crying out loud' if that makes sense...

Anyway, If I turn around his palms, it's like he's sleepwalking, or being a zombie. 

I think you're right about the hand needing to be more aligned with his arms, though.

--Erwin

[Darth Mandarb]

Hands are my worst nightmare ... they're the part I have the hardest time with.


- raised one eyebrow
- lowered the other
- leaned head forward
- altered mouth slightly to a more (IMO) "What the hell?" look
- reworked hands
- made sleve turned as well

Making hands isn't easy for me ... and these have problems.  But the way he's holding his hands looks more 'questioning' ... although I must say your first attempt didn't look all that bad to me.

Hope I helped ...

[viktor]

I like drawing hands they are always such a chalange 
My edit is basicaly all the same as Darth's. I only altered the hands.

[Erwin_Br]

Very helpful stuff! I'm working on an improved version now. Thanks, guys! 

--Erwin

[Flippy_D]

You could always have the palms up, too, defensively.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

maybe this will help.Ã,  It's a quick one in any event




the trick I always use is exaggerating the pose, particularly for hand gestures.Ã,  Separate the fingers and try to tilt the hand a bit as I did above (I also made the more distant hand smaller for perspective but you can increase the size if you want).Ã,  Anyway, it's a detailed sprite.Ã,  Nice work.