One of the things we artists talk about a lot is what is the thing that is hardest to draw for each of us. But after having this conversation so much, I decided to write down all opinions and find the winner for the hardest thing to draw. So, what’s the answer?
Many artists consider hands are the hardest thing to draw due to all their possible positions and details. Drawing hands presents a hard challenge to artists because many lack experience doing it, making mistakes more common.
But the reasons why they are so difficult to draw is what is interesting. I will share the rest of the hardest things to draw after the reasons!
What Makes It So Hard To Draw?
Drawing a hand is challenging for three main reasons: what we think we know, experience and complexity.
- What we think we know: Having such constant contact with our hands should, in theory, make hands easy to draw, but that’s not what the brain does when it has such a close relationship with an object. See, our brains don’t pay attention to the details but see things as a whole because that’s most efficient, so the mental images of any object you think you know very well are actually very vague. If you go ahead and try to draw a hand from memory, the drawing result will be the mental image you have of your hands. Unless you have dedicated a lot of time to drawing hands, the result will be a drawing that resembles a hand, but one that is not very accurate to reality.
- Experience. Usually, many beginning drawing artists start to draw with faces and all that comes with it, and hands aren’t usually what you master in the first place, so you have zero experience doing it when it comes to drawing them. And it’s normal; hands may not be the most exciting thing to draw when you’re just starting. But the problem is that when you need to add them to your drawings, the task will be rather complicated.
- Complexity. One would think hands are easy to draw because of how they look until you try to draw them. Hands are very complex objects and have millions of variations depending on the hands’ position, point of view, size/length, and even weight. To master how to draw hands correctly, you need to study them a lot. Of course, you can also get very good at drawing from reference, and in that case, you will probably be able to draw whatever hand is in front of you or any other object at all. But that’s getting good at drawing in general.
Insider Tips:
1- To draw hands, especially if you’re a beginner artist, consider forgetting everything you know about them and focus on what you see, not what you know. An excellent exercise for getting your brain focused on drawing what it sees is to turn the drawing reference upside down and then draw it. I know it’s weird, but trust me.
2- Start easy, pick the simplest hand you find on the internet and draw that one. Increase the level periodically and be patient. Drawing is a skill that anybody can learn!
List Of The Top 10 Hardest Things To Draw
As promised, here’s the complete list of the hardest things to draw, according to the 128 artists I asked.
1. Hands
Little precious instruments, can’t even draw themselves easily. Forty-one people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
2. Faces
This one was actually pretty close to being the first one, and I can see why, because I consider faces are much more challenging to draw than hands. Thirty-four people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
3. Hair
Ugh, especially when you find that person with the crazy/fantastic hairstyle. Why can’t everybody just go bald? That’s easier to draw. Seventeen people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
4. The Other Eye
Common joke among drawing artists: I can draw anything except the other eye. Yeah, sometimes you can mess up with the proportions. Ten people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
5. Horses
Beautiful animals, tough to draw. Especially their legs, and when your drawing reference is a black horse. Seven people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
6. Yourself
Think you know yourself? Think twice! Drawing yourself is incredibly challenging because it is easier for you to see all the differences or mistakes, and that prevents you from moving forward quickly. Six people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
7. Vehicles
And we’re just talking about the outside of a vehicle. The technical drawings of vehicles from the inside are very challenging. Five people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
8. Water
Especially the lighting, water on top of surfaces, like faces, can be even harder to draw. Four people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
9. Skulls
Skulls can be difficult when you start to draw them from different perspectives. Three people think this is the hardest thing to draw.
10. Alligators
I imagine they can be really hard to draw. Still, this is an unexpected way to end the list. But that’s what she told me was the hardest thing to draw for her at the moment. One person thinks this is the hardest thing to draw.
In general, What’s The Most Challenging Style To Draw?
We started by saying hands are the hardest thing to draw, but that’s the popular opinion! Those main reasons we mentioned for hands can apply to any other complex drawing. And what is considered the most complex drawing style is realism. Drawing people’s faces, bodies, hair, animals, vehicles, among others, in a realistic way, can be equally complicated, specially if you prefer freehand drawing. That is because reality doesn’t have lines, and although we may not be very good at drawing naturally, we thrive at identifying when something doesn’t look right.
First, you will probably have problems drawing hands, but once you master it, you will find the next challenge shortly. However, you will eventually reach a point where your drawing skills are so good that you will be able to draw almost anything, no matter how complex it could be—practice, practice, practice.
Is There Anything Impossible To Draw?
I see this in two different ways. If I can see it or is a combination of whatever many things I can see, it is possible to draw anything. But if we enter the realm of concepts, I don’t know how likely it would be to draw a person in sixteen different dimensions. Since no one knows how a universe like that would look like, any drawing can claim to be a person in sixteen different dimensions in theory.
I would say that some things are impossible to draw from an objective position, like that concept right there.
Things I Considered Are Very Hard To Draw
For me, the hardest things to draw are objects that include many light reflections, like a realistic transparent plastic in front of a person’s face. To pull a drawing like that out, you need to be very skilled at shading.
I mostly draw manga, and I don’t consider it that hard for me anymore. But now that I started to explore more realistic drawings like the one below, I see there’s still much to cover.
As I said in the list, drawing realistic faces has been very hard for me. I would’ve thought that drawing a real face would not present such a big challenge because I can draw anime faces correctly, but it turns out that the styles are incredibly different. In general, realism is what I consider the most difficult to draw, mainly because I focused on manga the most.
What Do You Think Is The Hardest Thing To Draw?
It’s always really interesting to know what people struggle with when drawing and how someone may just have the right tip for you. I would love to know what you think is the hardest thing to draw to improve the list above. Maybe I can help you with the perfect tip! Share your ideas and comments below.