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How to Draw African American Hair – Tutorial

Oct 10, 2010 Drawing, Tutorials

One of my readers, Dee, brought it to my attention that there are no good online tutorials on drawing African American hair. Hopefully, this post will help answer some questions!

The biggest difference between African American hair and hair of other ethnicities is the texture. It is often more coarse and can range from tight, corkscrew curls to a softer, almost fuzzy texture. It can also be straightened, in which case you would draw it like any other hair.

African American hair is also very dark. I would use a combination of 2B and 4B pencils, possibly even a 6B. Because of the coarser texture and darker colour, this type of hair doesn’t reflect light as much. This means that your highlights will be only slightly lighter than the rest of the hair. Let’s look at an example:

Here we have an example of a very curly style of African American hair. Take a look at the values. Notice how the darkest value is nearly black, and the lightest value is still a very dark gray. When working with dark hair like this, you are working at the darker end of the value scale, even when drawing the highlights.

These are the values I pulled out of the above picture. The left-most gray is the highlight, the lightest part of the hair. The middle gray is the midtones and the black is the shadows. As you can see, there is no bright white highlight in this hair!

Tutorial

Using the above image as a reference, I’m going to show you how I would go about drawing curly, African American hair.

Here, I have used a 2H pencil to draw the outlines of the basic shapes I’m working with. For the purpose of this tutorial, I’m going to ignore the faces and focus on only hair.

Next, I use my 2B and create a layer of very tight, spirals. I’m avoiding the edges of the hair and where it falls on the forehead because I will add that in at the end. This creates a base layer that reflects the texture of the hair. Then I used a large tortillon in a spiral motion to blend out my pencil lines.

Take your 4B pencil and start to lay in the shadows. Use the spiral motion again, and pay close attention to the reference. This is where we can start to highlight some of the individual curls in the hair by defining the dark shadows around them. Remember that you don’t have to draw every little detail, just look for the patterns of light and dark created by the hair. Create darker shadows by layering more graphite, then blend it out using the large tortillon.

Next, I used my 6B pencil to create even darker shadows, again avoiding the lighter areas that are the curls. Then I used the tortillon to blend out the entire area of hair. This tones down the highlights a little, but that’s okay.

Now for the finishing touches. Create a fine point with your kneaded eraser and pick out a few highlights along each curl of hair. Use short, curved lines to mimic the direction of the hair. Then, using your 3B, add some details around the edges of the hair and onto the forehead. These fly-aways are what make the hair look realistic. I used more of a zig-zag line than a spiral pattern to re-create the look of the ends of each curl. You can also use the tortillon to soften these lines slightly.

Do you have a burning question or a great idea for a tutorial? Let me know!

Tags: drawing tips, hair, Tutorials

How to Draw Curly Hair – Tutorial

Aug 27, 2010 Drawing, Tutorials

Hair on its own can be enough to send the beginning portrait artist into fits of anxiety.

Make it curly hair and the anxiety only increases!

Curly hair presents its own set of unique challenges, but at the end of the day, drawing it is no different from drawing straight hair.

The key to drawing realistic, curly hair is paying close attention to the interlocking shapes, building layers of texture with your pencil strokes, and simplify, simplify, simplify!

If this is your first time here, make sure you check out my tips for drawing hair and my tutorial for straight hair. I’ve also written about how to draw different hair colours.

This tutorial features a slightly different technique than my tutorial for straight hair. Instead of shading in the values, I am using only pencil strokes to create volume. Both techniques are good and valid and produce similar effects; it’s just a matter of preference!

Our reference image again comes from the Wetcanvas Image Library, which is a great place to go for royalty free images to practice your drawing skills.

First, we’re going to use an Hb or 2H pencil to draw our gridlines. Then we can start to map out the basic shapes created by the hair. To help you identify these shapes, it can be useful to squint at the reference. This is where it’s important to simplify. You can’t draw every single hair, instead focus on the “chunks” of hair and the major shadows and highlights. Follow the grid to help you get an accurate line drawing. Carefully erase the gridlines.

Next, using a B pencil,we will lay in the pencil strokes in the direction of the hair growth. The important part here is that you treat each chunk as separate. Use a wrist-flicking motion to create each pencil stroke, going from the darkest part of each chunk and pulling towards the highlight. Build up layers in the darkest areas, letting the pencil lines taper off. Pull a few strokes all the way through the highlight as well. It’s also essential to make sure that each pencil stroke curves in the direction of the curl.

Now we’ll use a 2B to darken the shadows and add another dimension to the hair. Again, pull some lines all the way through the highlight, but focus on building layers in the darkest areas. You want to make sure that your pencil is nice and sharp!

All we have left are a few finishing touches. Use a kneaded eraser to clean up the highlights. You can also use a 4B or 3B to make the shadows even darker. The last thing we need to do is add some fly-away hairs. No hair sits flat and perfect, so adding some fly-aways will make your drawing look that much more realistic.

Did you like this? Let me know what other tutorials you’d like to see!

Tags: curly hair, drawing tips, hair, Tutorials

Blonde, Brunette and Black – Drawing Hair Colours

Aug 15, 2010 Drawing

I recently got an e-mail from a reader asking me how to draw dark hair. Drawing different coloured hair has more to do with the pencils you use than using different techniques. Here are the guidelines I use when drawing blonde, brunette, and black hair.

To learn more about the specific techniques for drawing realistic hair, read my hair drawing tips and check out my step-by-step tutorial.

Blonde Hair

Here I have used only two pencils: a 2H and a B. I started with the 2H as the bottom layer, pulling each stroke towards the highlight in the centre. It’s important to let a few pencil strokes go all the way through the highlight. Then I used the B to darken the shadows, also pulling a few strokes all the way across the highlight.

With blonde hair, the shadows aren’t as dark and the highlight area is usually larger and brighter.

Brown or Brunette Hair

Brunette hair requires more layers than blonde hair to create the darker values. I used exactly the same method and technique as I did for blonde hair, but I also used a 2B pencil to create the darker shadows.

You’ll notice that the highlighted area is smaller and looks more like individual hairs are reflecting light. For brunette hair, you will want to draw more pencil strokes through the highlight.

Black Hair

Again, I started with a 2H pencil, then a B pencil, then a 2B pencil. For black hair, I use an even darker pencil to create the rich, dark shadows. Here I’ve used a 4B and a 6B pencil. It’s all about creating layers to simulate the texture of the hair.

I’ve also made sure to continue the dark pencil lines throughout the highlight. At the very end, I used a kneaded eraser to pick up a few bright highlights.

Conclusion

As you can see, it’s not really a matter of using different techniques. Drawing darker hair requires more layers and softer pencils. Light hair has a big, broad highlight and dark hair has highlights on just a few hairs.

As always, use a good reference image and pay close attention to the value. When working with pencil, it’s the value that will communicate the hair colour!

Tags: drawing tips, hair, portraits, texture

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!

Tags: hair, portraits, Tutorials

How to Draw Hair

Oct 1, 2009 Drawing

Hair can be one of the trickiest things to draw. We know it’s made up of thousands of individual strands, and that’s what we want to draw. Unfortunately, that’s not the most efficient way to draw hair, nor is it the best. Drawing each strand will not only take you hours, it will give your subject the appearance of having very thin, coarse hair. Fortunately, there are some techniques you can use to achieve the illusion of a full, shiny head of hair! Here are some tips for drawing realistic hair, and stay tuned for the upcoming tutorial!

1. Instead of seeing the strands of hair, train yourself to see the shape of the hair. Hair usually clumps together in “locks” and you want to draw the shapes these locks make.
2. As with drawing the rest of the face, look for the shadows and highlights. They will indicate the shape of the head and the way the hair hangs from it.
3. The key to creating an illusion of fullness is layers of shading.
4. Shade the entire head of hair as if it was a solid object. This will build up the structure of the hair and give it a sense of volume.
5. Draw the individual hairs on top of your shading to indicate that your shaded mass is made up of individual strands.
6. When drawing the individual hairs, use a very sharp pencil. Sharpen throughout the drawing to keep a fine point.
7. Use a wrist-flicking motion to draw the hairs. This is more convincing than a careful, slowly drawn line.
8. If the hair is short, use short flicks; if the hair is long, use longer flicks.
9. Draw the hair in the direction it grows so that your line is thickest where you start and tapers towards the end, just like a hair does.
10. Remember that hair isn’t totally uniform; a few hairs going in different directions will look more convincing than having all the hairs running parallel.
11. Blend into your highlight area with a tortillon using the same wrist-flicking motion you used to draw the hairs.
12. Clean up your highlights with a kneaded eraser molded to have a sharp edge.
13. You can also highlight individual hairs with the kneaded eraser.
14. Another way to highlight individual hairs is to draw them with a very hard pencil before drawing anything else. This indents the paper, preserving its whiteness even after you’ve shaded on top of it.
15. Don’t forget to add a few fly-away hairs. Not many people have perfectly tame hair!
16. Use hard pencils for lighter hair and softer pencils for dark hair, but always keep them sharp.

Tags: art tips, better drawings, drawing tips, hair