How to draw hair tutorial
Hair is one of the most difficult things to draw, at least for me it was in the beginning. So, either if you are an artist who is struggling with drawing hair or you are just curious, here’s how I do it.
So, first, you need to have a basic idea of what you want to draw, although this can change once you start drawing, it’s important to have a base. (I change my original idea almost every time!). You need to determine the pose of the character. Where is the head facing? Is it windy? Where is the wind coming from? Also, a first idea of the hairstyle. Is it long, or short? Curly, wavy, straight, is it pinned back? You know.
Now that you have your idea, let’s get started. I’m going to show you how I draw straight hair and curly hair. The steps are exactly the same but there are a few things to note that are different between the two hair types. You can click/tap on the pictures to make them bigger.
Okay, here’s how to draw straight hair:
STEP ONE Draw the basic shape, a really quick sketch to show where you want the outline of the hair to be. How much space do you want the hair to take?
Remember that hair has volume so leave a space between the scalp of the character and the hair outline. Also, match the lines behind the ear, so that it feels like a continuous line.
STEP TWO Create the final outline of the hair over the sketch (if you are drawing digitally, use a new layer for the final linework). Here I usually add some extra pieces of hair so that it’s not as flat. Also, even if you are drawing straight hair, use slightly curved lines, remember nature is made of curved lines, so if you do this, the drawing will be softer and more dynamic.
STEP THREE Now I like to erase the sketch before continuing with the linework. So, erase the sketch and add some extra lines to the inside of the hair outline. To add these, follow the shape of the hair. This helps with texture and I usually put them behind the ears and neck, and also where it’s more curved. But don’t go crazy with these, keep it simple, at least for my art style I think less is more, most of the time. Also, don’t overthink them, let your hand flow and just put them where it feels natural.
STEP FOUR Time to paint the hair. Fill in the hair but remember to keep the linework darker! Use a new layer for the hair color. Once you’ve done that, with the same color as the hair, create some extra lines outside the outline. With these, I like to kind of follow the shape of the hair but misplace it a little bit. Once you are happy erase some parts of the linework to create more depth, that way it looks like some strands of hair are in the back and some are in the front.
STEP FIVE In a new multiply layer, add the shadows using a darker color than the hair. Darken behind the neck and ears. Try to match the lines that you created on the inside, and put a little bit of shadow next to some of them. Again, don’t overdo it. Then, lower the opacity of the layer and if necessary, use a soft eraser to soften any harsh shadow lines.
Sometimes I like to add some more texture to the hair creating a clipping mask on top of the hair color layer and below the shadows layer, where I create a few strands of hair with colors that are a bit lighter and darker than the hair color and then lower the opacity too. But this is optional, it just creates more texture.
STEP SIX The last thing to do is add the highlights. Create a few lines following the shape of the hair and only add them where there is no shadow. Try to imagine where the light would hit, but again, keep it really simple. Less is more. After that, with a soft eraser with low opacity erase the edges of each white line to soften them.
And that is basically it, you are done!
Now for curly hair, as I said before the steps are the exact same, create a basic sketch, then the outline, extra lines, paint, shadows, and highlights. But here are some things to keep in mind.
The first thing is that when you are drawing the sketch, you can go a little bit crazier. Curls are wild so don’t be afraid to make the hair more voluminous. I do the same with curly hair and with wavy hair, the only difference is the curvature of the lines. If you want really curly hair, create wavier lines. It’s not so much as drawing the curls exactly how they are in real life, but more like using the concept, the essence. The more curly the hair the more curves the lines are going to have.
hen, when adding the extra lines inside of the outline, follow the shape of the hair but make them shorter than you did with the straight hair. Also, with curly/wavy hair you can add a few more and curve some of them in different directions.
BONUS If you are drawing pulled-back hair, keep the hairline soft, draw a few “stronger” lines following the shape of the head, and then fill in the spaces in the hairline with short and light lines. Leave some gaps too.
Then as I said, paint the hair, add the extra outside lines a.k.a. fly aways (again, when drawing curlier hair, you can go a bit crazier with the shape of these and add more, so have fun, don’t overthink them!) and then add the shadows.
Finally, for the highlights, keep the strokes short and curved. Place the majority of the highlights where the curves are convex. Soften the edges and you are done!
So, this is basically how I draw hair, I hope this helped you and that drawing hair is not so scary anymore. Another thing that can really help is looking at reference pictures when you are sketching the basic shape of a hairstyle. Remember it takes a lot of practice to finally have an art style and a method that works for you, so keep trying!
If you use this tutorial feel free to show me the results tagging me on Instagram @mimosart.studio! I will be very happy to see your artwork!
See you next month with a new blog post!
