2026 Drawing Iconographic Hands (Online)

Description

DRAWING ICONOGRAPHIC HANDS  – is designed for every level.  No previous experience required.

Hands are among the most expressive—and often the most challenging—elements of an icon. In the Byzantine tradition, every gesture carries meaning. Known as chironomia, the sacred language of gesture directs the viewer’s eyes, heart, and mind toward the spiritual message of the icon.

Designed for students of every level, this specialty course teaches you how to construct iconographic hands using the geometric principles that underlie the Byzantine tradition. Rather than memorizing individual poses, you’ll learn a systematic method for understanding proportion, anatomy, movement, and three-dimensional form, enabling you to confidently draw and adapt hands for a wide variety of icons.

You will progress through a series of carefully structured exercises that simplify complex anatomy into clear geometric forms. From these foundational principles, you’ll learn to construct the presenting hand, multiple blessing gestures, and the painted masses that establish the structure for traditional egg tempera painting.

Whether you’re beginning your iconographic journey or seeking to strengthen an existing practice, this course will transform one of the most intimidating aspects of iconography into one of its most understandable.

What Makes This Course Different

Most drawing classes teach you to copy a hand.

This course teaches you to understand the structure of the iconographic hand and the meaning of the poses.

Through a progressive sequence of exercises, students learn how complex hand positions are built from simple geometric forms, making it possible to construct convincing Byzantine hands without relying solely on tracing or copying.

Step by Step Guidance Online.  Students receive the pdf instructional manual and Zoom link via email prior to class. We’ll meet live on Zoom on Thursday afternoons. Classes are recorded and available to watch asynchronously for those who are unable to attend the live class time.

Digital Homework & Correction.  Visual homework corrections and written feedback for all students are offered digitally via Google Classroom. Competency is built on completing weekly homework assignments which is critical to your success in this class.

What You’ll Learn

By the completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Construct iconographic hands using simple geometric forms.
• Understand the anatomy, proportion, and movement of the Byzantine hand.
• Draw the traditional presenting hand.
• Draw multiple historical blessing hand gestures, including both the Pre-Nikon and Nikon Reform blessing hands.
• Understand the theological symbolism behind Christ’s blessing gesture.
• Adapt these principles to confidently draw additional hand positions in future icons.

Ideal for:

• Beginning iconographers
• Students currently enrolled in any iconography level
• Artists wishing to strengthen their drawing skills
• Experienced iconographers seeking greater confidence in drawing hands
• Anyone interested in the symbolism of gesture in Byzantine sacred art

No previous drawing or iconography experience is required.

Meets Thursdays online via zoom, 3-4:30pm Pacific Time.

Dates:

• Oct. 22, 29
• Nov. 5, 12, 19
• Dec. 3, 10, 17