Hi! My friend is a big fan of your art, and they asked me to ask you for tips on how you draw hair. I'm no artist, so I probably shouldn't be the one to ask these questions, but would you mind sharing a few suggestions? Any pointers about your character designs or your art style would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much, and hope you're having a good day! <3
Hiya!! I tried to breakdown my approach to drawing hair here, but these are by no means hard and fast rules! Hope this helps :)
1: The Hairline
I usually start with the hairline. I like to break it down into 4 main sections, that I can play around with:
I like to try to line up the temple section with the ridge of the side plane of the head
Try to have the hairline follow the natural flow and planes of the head
There's a gap between the hairline and the ear (often it gets covered up by longer strands of hair, but if you're drawing a short cut or pulled back hair, you'll probably see it)
2: The Silhouette
I like to draw out the silhouette next. Sometimes I'll use the lasso and fill tool, so I don't get wrapped up in extraneous details.
Try focusing on finding an appealing shape for the hair, and how it will frame the face
Consider how thick you want the hair to be and it's texture
(I find this is also a good time to flip the canvas to make sure the weight feels balanced)
Try to avoid having tangents with facial features, if you're drawing bangs or face framing pieces
Keep in mind how outside factors may affect the hair (like if there's a breeze, or if the character is lying down, or if they've tucked a piece behind their ear, ect.)
Try to keep shape variation in mind. A small shape next to a big shape is often more appealing than 2 medium shapes side by side
I also like to play with a lot of straight/curved line variations to make the shapes look interesting
3: Flow & Volumes
(I usually just visualize this step, rather than drawing it out like this)
Basically try breaking down your silhouette into big volumes, and know where the hair pieces coming from and where they're going.
^For example, the hair on top, is brushed froward, with no defined part, so the chunks that we can see start at a cowlick at the back of the head and spiral out from there. The hair on the bottom however starts at the part, shwoops up, and then cascade down in 2 layers.
^Another note: more layers usually means more volume wherever the layers are placed, longer hair pieces will weigh the hair down, meaning less volume.
4: Details
Once I have an idea of what the hair is doing, I draw out the chunks of hair, following the volumes and flow I've mapped out. Sometimes I'll do a little bit of hatching to indicate volume or texture.
I often like to choose 1 or 2 shapes for my clumps, based on the hair texture, and then repeat those shapes throughout:
Vairy the size of your clumps
Beware of overworking it at this stage, sometimes less is more yk? And too much detail near the face can be distracting
Make lines on the silhouette and lines closer to the front thicker (especially if it's overlapping another line)
You don't have to draw every strand. Sometimes I'll break up big clumps with a thinner inner line, but I try not to go overboard with this. You can also indicate strands by adding little cutouts to the silhouette, like this:
5: Rendering
My process for rendering hair is pretty much the same as it is for anything else. Base colour layer>shadow layer>highlight layer.
I like to use the lasso/fill tool here again for shadows, and then soften them up a bit by going over some of the harsh lines with a pencil brush
For shadows, I usually just do a multiply layer with a lowered opacity, clipped to the base colour layer and then use a bright red or purple colour
Highlights and shadows can also be used to indicate more hair clumps that you haven't drawn in
Try to think of the shadows as big graphic shapes, that fall where the light won't hit, and wrap around the forms of the hair
I personally don't like to go crazy on the highlights, but when I do, it's usually for dark hair, since shadows don't show up as well on darker hair
Shiny glossy hair, usually has brighter highlights with harsher edges
Also black hair isn't usually pure black unless it's a stylization thing or the lighting is reeeally dark
Sometimes once I fill in the hair, I'll look at it and go "ew why's it look dumb now?" Sometimes the warp or liquify tool can help with refining the proportions to rectify this and sometimes you just have to cut your loses and redraw stuff :P
Then as a final touch a may add a few stray strands of hair that break off from the main shape
Ok that's all! Hope your friend has fun drawing hair! Have a great day <33
Oh my god your attention to detail is insane!!! I was looking at your divination series and reg without a tie because it’s in James bag??? The subtle detail of Sirius’ boots not being tied up, moony has a mars bar?? Absolutely adore the narrative you add to your work and it definitely doesn’t hurt that your style of drawing is utterly stunning
Eehehe! Thank you so much! It warms my heart and makes me all giddy when people spot the little details I try to sneak in <3
i am in love with the way you draw every single character. each piece of art you post is amazing and perfectly captures how i imagined each character during their hogwarts years. i love scrolling through your page just to look at your drawings again bc they're just so good thank you for blessing the earth with your creations
I'm fine... this is fine. 😭
Anon, your have no idea, that makes me so happy to hear, thank you <3
Hi! I love your Wolfstar and jegulus sketches. Do you mind if they are included in a personal bind? (With credit). I would love to be able to include them.
Ooooo cool! Yeah go for it, I don't mind at all 👍 Thanks for asking <3
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