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How to Draw Hair – Tutorial

Oct 11, 2009 Drawing, Tutorials

As I pointed out in my post about tips for drawing hair, drawing hair realistically can be very tricky. Don’t give in to the temptation to draw every single hair. The best way to approach drawing hair is to look at it as a solid object. You need to look for the shapes the hair makes and the patterns of light and dark. When drawing hair, it’s necessary to simplify quite a bit. Here is a tutorial to show you the steps I take when drawing realistic hair.

Here is my reference image, from the Wetcanvas image library. It has been gridded using Corel Draw, but you can also grid it by hand. I find it’s easier to see the different values if you put your reference into greyscale before drawing it; that way you aren’t distracted by colours.

Now, using a 2H pencil or harder, use the grid to draw the shapes that you see. Try to ignore the individual hairs, instead look for the dominant light and dark shapes. Here I’ve drawn the highlighted shapes of the hair as well as the darkest shapes. Try squinting if you’re having trouble making out the lights and darks.

At this point, before you start shading, you can use a very hard pencil (6H) to draw in some of the individual hairs. Press firmly so that you indent the paper, and when you shade the lightness of the pencil will be preserved, leaving what looks like an individually highlighted hair. Then, use a 2B to shade all of your midtones. That’s everything that isn’t a highlight or a shadow. Make sure your pencil strokes to in the direction that the hair is growing in, but shade as if it were a solid object.

Now use your 2B pencil to shade in the shadows. Pay close attention to the subtle dimensions of the hair. Here I have shaded in the shadow areas that I identified in my line drawing stage, but I’ve also added some darker midtones in the rest of the drawing.

Next, use a blending stick or tortillon to blend your pencil together. Make sure you blend into the highlights; you don’t want a solid line where the highlight meets the midtones. Also blend out your shadows in the same way. Again, blend in the direction of the hair growth.

Now you can start thinking of the individual hairs. This shading serves as the base of your hair drawing. It describes the form of the hair and tells us that it’s an object of volume. Using a very sharp 2B pencil, start laying in some of your hairs. When you do this, draw in the direction of the hair growth. Use quick pencil strokes by flicking your wrist. Remember that every hair isn’t going to be parallel; some should go in a slightly different direction. Draw the hairs into the highlights, preserving some white just in the middle.

Now use your 2B pencil to do the same in the shadow areas. Make sure these strokes blend out into the rest of the drawing. Sharpen your pencil as often as you need to; you want a nice point!

At this point, you can repeat the steps as often as necessary. The key to hair is to build up depth and dimension. Blend out your pencil strokes, then go in with more. Once you feel like you’ve achieved the look you want, it’s time to clean up the highlights. Grab your kneaded eraser and form a thin edge. Use this edge pick up thin lines within your highlights. It works best if you use your eraser the same way you did your pencil: short strokes going in the direction of the hair growth. Remember to add a few thin highlights in the midtone area of the hair where the light might be hitting a single strand.

And now you know how to draw realistic hair! Don’t forget to check out some of my other tutorials!

Related posts:

1. How to Draw Hair
2. How to Draw Curly Hair – Tutorial
3. How to Draw African American Hair – Tutorial
4. How to Draw a Portrait – Tutorial Part 2
5. Blonde, Brunette and Black – Drawing Hair Colours

Tags: hair, portraits, Tutorials