Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/65

 definite, their angles more acute and therefore more quickly noted.

We note here the tip of this first finger and the apex coming at the front of the nail. Next we draw the folds of each finger-joint.

From the second knuckle we can trace the second finger, hidden behind the first finger, but seen in a tiny space between the reel and first finger, and the tip of it obtrudes on the far side of the reel.

The third finger rises from the third knuckle, and is seen in the space between the first finger and thumb, and again beyond the thumb, behind which we know it supports the reel.

The little finger merely waves a graceful tip, like the clown in the circus, doing nothing in particular. This hand, though simple, can be carried in almost any length of study. Not the shadows of the thumb, the shadows of the knuckles, of the first finger-tip, and those cast by the reel. The reel itself, being of black silky thread, is (in my study) the darkest of all.

The left hand holding a fan suggests another variation&mdash;this time with the palm broadside on, and the finger-tips coming forward.

First note the pear shape of the pointed fingers, bent fingers, and flattened palm, meeting at a slender wrist.

Observe the angle of the object that is held correctly, because from that position the fingers curl.

The fan is a fairly stout object composed of thin slats folded together, and so nicely adjusted that the touch of the tip of a finger displaces them.

The thumb holds, and supports the fan in a firm upright position. The thumb rises from a long swelling base, flatly on one side&mdash;despite the faint indication of the bones&mdash;and in two long swelling curves on the others, meeting in a firmly rounded tip.

Beyond, and curled round the fan, we have the first finger; then the second, third, and fourth fingers tightly grasping the