How to Draw Hair

Artist: Dawn / October 25, 2010
How to Draw Hair

Step 1.


Before you draw any type of hairstyle, you'll want to prepare yourself with the base of the skull. Logically, the skull/scalp is round. You'll need to start yourself off with the basis structure of the head.

Step 2.


The arrows in this step shows the indentation that is behind the neck, and how the hair should fall on the back of the neck when you sketch out the hairstyle of your choice.

Step 3.


Start the hairstyle you want. Keep in mind, hair NEVER sticks flat within the head, unless your going for a almost bald hairstyle. Use light strokes for when you draw turfs of hair at the edges. This is very important, you want the hair to look fluff   

Step 4.


1. Start adding details and brief - light turfs of hair. Keep in mind the direction it is moving in. 2. The hair fluffs off into tinier pieces until it fades into skin. This happens right at the edge of the neck. This principle applies to all short h   

Step 5.


Here I demonstrate how to draw fringed hair from the front view. 1. When drawing hair looping outward into smaller strands, you'll notice the inner curl. This is very important as it's the base of the hair that turns into larger strands.

Step 6.


1. Notice how the split in the middle of the hair turns into two large separated points. This grows into larger regions and turfs. 2. Always remember the direction that the hair is moving in. The arrows indicate where the details must be drawn.

Step 7.


Add your details by remembering the direction you drew the hair in. Don't forget to split in the middle of the scalp. Use dark lines for this area as there is lots of lines exceeding from it.

Step 8.


Let's tackle a very common hairstyle used for females or feminine males. The direction is obviously flowy and active. Remember the placement of the middle of skull to create accurate and logical hair.

Step 9.


The middle of the scalp depicts where the details are directed. This is also how you draw fringes (like that of an emo style). A small piece of a 'looping' region spurts outward, creating the large fringe you see on the face. Fringes cover a large po   

Step 10.


Use light strokes to create tiny turfs in spiky hairstyles. This technique applies well with fur.

Step 11.


A very popular style are 'pony tails'. Some artists have problems with drawing hairstyles such as this. Depict where the base of the tail is placed. Detailing spreads from the base of the tail and outwards into pulled strands. Remember, only place th   

Step 12.


Let's proceed on with the tutorial shall we? Start by drawing either all the heads you see here, or just one. Once you have determined how many head models you will be drawing, start making the round shapes, and guidelines for the faces.

Step 13.


AS you can see you will start sketching out the shapes of each face you see here, and then draw in two half crescent lines off to the left hand side. Notice how some of the head models have necks and ears.

Step 14.


Now the fun starts because you will begin drawing out the beginning steps to sketching out the hairstyles. You will be taught how to draw hair for men, woman, and children as you see here in this step. The two arches that you drew to the left are for   

Step 15.


Continue to sketch out the hairstyles, and as you can see I've also included my long wavy hairstyle too. Once the styles have been drawn as shown, you can begin adding definition and detail to give the hair texture and body. Once you are done, you ca   

Step 16.


Here is what your styles look like when you are all done drawing hair. I hope this lesson was helpful and fun at the same time. Great work guys, and thanks for viewing this tutorial.

Comments (0)



Details

Artist: Dawn
Date Added: October 25, 2010
Steps: 16
Favorited: 1 (view)
Views: 0 in last hour, 13 in last day, 80 in last week, 168592 total
Comments: 0
Tags:
Description: I can’t believe I never uploaded a lesson that taught the avid artist "how to draw hair", step by step. If you look in both the hair sections under people, and anime/manga, you will see that I don’t have a regular tutorial on this sensitive subject. Drawing hair is one of my favorite things to tackle whenever I create new character figures. There is all types of hair that one can draw, but for me I like sketching out long, wavy hair because to me that’s the prettiest hairstyle there is. I mean don’t get me wrong I think some short styles is awesome too, but not like long hair. As for me, I used to have long straight hair, but then I got it cut, died, and tied. Well, not really tied, that was just a figure of speech. If you are an artist that has always had a problem with drawing hair properly or the right way, look no further because all your drawing problems are over. I made sure that I laid out a really detailed lesson that will teach you "how to draw hair" down to the last dead end. Of course you have the option of making your style short, medium length, or even a bob cut. Whatever your preference may be do what you want because it's your creation after all. I just hope that this helpful tutorial puts you on the right track to creating long luscious locks that will stop any eye from blinking away from your beautiful sketch or drawing that has everything to do with hair. There are a few more tutorials coming your way, I just wanted to get this one uploaded because I was amazed that I had never done a simple hair tutorial before. Anyways, peace out folks, and enjoy the rest of your drawing day.

Contest Submission Form