How to draw a clenched fist step by step – cartoon, anime & realistic fist

In this tutorial, I will show you how to draw a clenched fist step by step.

How to Draw a Clenched Fist Step by Step – Realistic Version

Start with a Rectangular Prism

Let’s draw a couple of rectangular prisms, one large one small. We we will use these as a basic box to help us shape what the clenched fist will look like and a smaller one where we will place the thumb.

Drawing a clenched fist is easy if you get this fundamental shape right.

Drawing a rectangular prism will also help us work out what angle we want the clenched fist to be. It can be front on, side on, from above etc.

The choice is yours. I’m going to go with my clenched fist with fingers facing me.

Note that the thumb will only slightly overlap the first finger so keep this in mind.

Draw some simple shapes to define fingers and knuckles

Let’s add some simple shapes to the box we drew in step one.

This will help us work out how thick our fingers and knuckles should be – as well as showing how long each finger is relative to its width.

Here we will also define where the thumb will go, notice where the tip of the thumb ends as most people have thumbs that do not go past the first pointy finger.

Also add a rough line for the palm lines and where the wrist will start. Sketch in a small wrist as well.

Add details for the clenched fist

We will now add in details for the clenched fist, how many wrinkles there are and how thick they should be.

We will also erase any guidelines we had drawn in from the rectangular prisms and tidy up some of the pencil work so that we see what now looks like a clenched fist.

Make sure you pay attention to where your knuckles end up when drawing this out as it can have an effect on how much detail is drawn into each wrinkle or crease.

Your hand is flexible so try not to make the lines too flat as it can affect how your fist looks.

Don’t forget about the thumb.

Add some rough shadow lines with a soft pencil like a 6B or with a pastel or chalk. Something that is easy to smudge and blend.

Also add a nail for the thumb. Note where the shadows are on your hand and block them in here as well.

What I like to do next is smudge those rough shadow lines so that tha pencil or chalk marks are smooth and start to look more like a blurred realistic hand. You can use an eraser to help highlight lighter spots if you need to.

At this stage you can darken the shadows and also the deeper lines and add some creases in the knuckles and folds of skin around the palms and also where the fingers press into the palm as it creates a clenched fist.

Add some darker shadows around the wrist and edges of the hand to make it look more realistic. Smudge or blend your pencil more if needed.

That’s it! It is realistic enough for a clenched fist drawing.

Now for the next how to draw a clenched fist drawing, and this time it’s a cartoonish style clenched fist!

How to Draw a Clenched Fist Step by Step – Cartoonish Version

Start with a Rectangular Prism

I like to use the rectangular prism when drawing clenched fists, even for cartoonish or anime style. A rectangular prism is such a great building block for drawing human parts.

Now draw an outline of where the fingers will be

Draw the outline of how you want your fist to look like. Remember, this how to draw a clenched fist tutorial is all about how to make it cartoonish (anime like).

Strangely enough, I find drawing cartoonish/anime style clenched fists harder than realistic ones.

The more time and detail you put into drawing what you see in front of you will have an impact on how realistic or unrealistic your final art product looks. So take some extra care with this step if that’s the style you are going for.

Note how I added the thumb and it’s not highly detailed. Neither are the knuckles or folds.

The reason I do this is because in the next step I am going to use an alcohol marker like a Copic marker or and acrylic Posca paint pen to draw the outline of the hand and fingers and wrist.

Let’s draw some details and ink in the outline

For cartoonish clenched fists, we tend to round out the shapes of the fingers more and exaggerate the length of fingers and thumb.

We also show less detail than a realistic clenched fist.

Flesh out how your fist looks. Because it’s not realistic, you can take some creative liberties here and add a little flare, maybe making it look like you just broke someone’s nose or knuckles!

For this drawing, I am keeping the fist looking simple.

I am grabbing my favorite marker which is a Posca paint pen and I am drawing the outline of the hand and some simple lines to denote the knuckles.

I now grab another marker (you can use a pencil) I am using a Copic marker as it can apply a nice even color or shading without marker lines and I am marking out the shadows as per below.

Notice how the shadows for the right side and thumb are darker than the back of the hand and in between the fingers and also the shadow on the left side of the fist.

I then use an eraser and remove the pencil lines so all that I can see are the marker lines of my clenched fist cartoon style!

How to draw a clenched fist step by step – Wrap up!

A fist is a powerful way to show how you are feeling. If your fists aren’t looking good, then neither will your final art product!

If you want to apply these techniques to other clenched fists, I have linked to shutterstock that has some different examples of clenched fists that you can easily copy and draw.

I hope you enjoyed learning how to draw a clenched fist whether it was the realistic version or the anime version of both!