Hello! My name is Liz Staley and I’m a long-time user of Clip Studio Paint (I started using the program back when it was known as Manga Studio 4!). I was a beta-tester on the Manga Studio 5 program and for Clip Studio Paint, and I have written three books and several video courses about the program. Many of you probably know my name from those books, in fact. I write weekly posts on Graphixly.com and on CSP Tips, so be sure to come back every week to learn more Clip Studio Tips and Tricks from me!

Whenever I think of anime, especially cheeky little chibis, I think of peace signs. Anime characters absolutely love making this hand sign! It’s fairly easy to draw so long as you get the fingers in the right places and in the right proportions, which is really the trickiest part. We’ll also go over how to draw the simplified version for your chibi characters!

In this article we will cover the following topics:

Drawing a Peace Sign Hand
Simplifying the Peace Sign for Chibi Characters

Let’s get started!

Drawing a Peace Sign Hand

Let’s start off with the construction of a more “realistic” peace-sign hand. If you saw my previous article about how to draw a fist, I will be breaking down this hand pose in much the same way as we did in that article. Though we will be omitting the fingertips section since the ends of the fingers aren’t very important to this hand pose.

I will be using the “Peace Sign” 3D hand pose available in the Material Library, as well as a Peace sign stock photo of a real hand. My final hand drawing will be an amalgamation of these two references.

Because the palm is the biggest part of the hand, I usually start with that. The palm is a rounded off rectangle shape (though I have seen some artists draw it as more of a pentagon, so whichever one you like best is the one you should use!)

Next I like to sketch in the thumb. I break the thumb down into three parts - the base, the middle, and the tip. In the peace sign hand gesture the base of the thumb overlaps the bottom quarter of the palm. In this angle pay careful attention to the overlap of the thumb parts so that the perspective looks right!

Next let’s put in the ring finger and the pinky, which are the two fingers that are tucked under the thumb. The relationship between the thumb and these two fingers is quite important, and the difference between the 3D model reference and the photo reference with these parts. In the photo reference the thumb is much tighter to the palm and is also higher up on the ring finger and pinky. Now of course the 3D model doesn’t have to worry about their flexibility!

We can see mostly the last two sections of the ring finger and pinky, with just a little bit of the base of each finger visible where they go back toward the palm.

Now let’s add the two “rabbit ear” fingers. Be sure to get the proportions correct between the two fingers and to also leave some space between them at the base of the fingers. Fingers have a little “web” of skin between them that makes a space when fingers are spread out, so keep this in mind when drawing fingers and make sure they aren’t attached together like little logs of clay that are stuck on to the palm.

Double-check your proportions and placements before moving on to the next step. Making changes will be easier at this stage than if you finalize the drawing and then realize there’s a problem.

Make a new layer above the sketch and finalize your drawing. I used the 3D model reference more for the structure and then the photo for some of the details. Note the space between the fingers in the photo that don’t translate well to the 3D model.

Simplifying the Peace Sign for Chibi Characters

Now that we know how to draw the standard peace sign hand gesture, let’s simplify it for a chibi character!

First, plan out your pose using simple shapes. I decided to draw the base of the hand as a circle. The thumb is an oval shape that is a little more squared off on one end than the other.

The upright fingers are shaped just about the same as in the example in the previous section, but they are much shorter and a bit more rounded on the ends.

Sketch the last two fingers as a slightly squished ball and you have the base for the peace sign hand gesture!

When finishing the drawing, you can leave the pinky and ring finger as a combined shape as shown below.

Or break it up into two separate fingers. I’ve done both for chibis that I’ve drawn so it really just depends on the look that you like!

Now you can finish off the rest of your chibi drawing!

(It’s been a really long time since I’ve drawn a chibi and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy them! Anyone want a chibi character tutorial? Let me know!)

Conclusion

The peace sign is an integral hand gesture to be able to draw when doing anime and manga drawings. With a little bit of planning and careful attention to placement, this is one of the easiest gestures to master!

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