Drawing Hands

I've noticed that when I do a portrait with hands, people will comment how real the hands look, sometimes without mentioning the face at all. At first I was surprised by this, but I think that the hands can be an important element in a successful portrait. Hands are expressive - think of what a person conveys with their hands tightly clasped, revealing white knuckles. Now think of what a person is saying with their hands at rest, palms open. Sometimes hands along with a person's body language can be more revealing than their facial expression (which in general we're pretty good at faking). For this reason, I like to take my time rendering hands. In fact, I've decided to do a few pieces of hands alone - this first one is appropriately titled "Witness First Hand".