Drawing hair is dictated by several aspects: the type of hair, its hue, texture, quantity, the arrangement and styling of the hair, the character and disposition of the sitter or the photo, and the light effect upon the hair.
The arabesque of the hair is part of the overall construct. A correct construct is significant to the likeness of the hair. Many starting draftspersons begin with the face and grow outward from there. This is however a poor approach and instills bad practices that will prove hard to overcome.
In fact, the arabesque is especially significant when render a hairdo. Attempting to render the hair working from the inside out, bit by bit, is a recipe for failure. The hair will result in being either too small for the skull or too large.
Working within the construct of the hairdo, first put in the primary darks. These darks are best seen by squinting until a general pattern of light and dark is seen.
Next, you need to blend the graphite in a painterly manner following the general gesture and motion of the hairdo. For this you can employ your fingers, a tissue, or a paper stump. If you employ a paper stump be cautious not to dull the look. If you employ your fingers make sure they are dry and also wipe them constantly with a paper towel.
Then, employ your putty eraser like a loaded paint brush to lift out the important lights. Do not be overly picky here. A more bravura approach effects a sense of life and rhythm into the hairdo. If you make a mistake just blend the graphite again with your fingers or stump and do it again.
Occasionally when you block-in the hairdo other light parts of the skull pop out. This is one reason why sketching the skull as a whole is necessary.
French braiding is a gorgeous hairdo style, but extremely complex and hard to sketch. The idea is to render these French braids fluidly and with motion. A balancing act is required here: the complexity of the hairdo’s styling is best handled by first line-rendering the main locks and braids. As you map out the braids make certain to plumb and carefully size and situate each main lock and braid.
When sketching from a photo there is the pull to duplicate it down to the smallest detail. You may or may not give in to this pull but you should always make sure that the hairdo maintains its liveliness. However, in most cases, you will not need to sketch every detail.
Further block-in the darks paying attention to the bearing and motion of the important locks of the hairdo. The most difficult thing is to refrain from plunging into an area of detail. Not to do this requires mental discipline. Best is to follow a layered approach that progressively stacks the arrangement of the hairdo, lock by lock.
You also should soften the edges of the hairdo line so that it blends into the forehead and sides of the face. Hair does this naturally.
Make sure you used sharp pencils because dull pencils lead to dull, lifeless coiffures.
Having first mapped out and blocked-in the important locks of hair makes the rendering of the finer regions much easier, but is still labor intensive. You should be prepared to spend quite a bit of time on a hairdo.
Also, step back from the drawing to preserve an overview of the principal light/dark pattern because detailing can result in a flat mess in which the values close in on each other.
Hold back from rendering bangs too early in the process. This helps ensure that the hairdo and flesh can be unified into a coherent sense of spirit.
Drawing coiffures so that it reads naturally and has a rhythmic gesture is hard. Generally it takes as much time and effort to render the hairdo as it does the face and neck. You must spend as much care in preparing the hairdo as you would for the remainderof the portrait. If you draw from life make sure you do the hairdo before your model takes a rest because the hairdo will very likely have changed when the break is over. The strategy, then, is to devote a whole 20 to 30 minutes of a pose segment to the hairdo.
With these guidelines you can be certain that in time your sketched coiffures will look authentic and energetic. Do not forget that rendering hairdo takes time so that you do not get impatient.
Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait drawing? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing tutorial here: portrait drawing tutorial.
Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and expert drawing teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.
For the art tips and how to tattoo info – visit this blog.