How to Draw Real Hair

Artist: finalprodigy / December 4, 2010
How to Draw Real Hair

Step 1.


Alright, let's start by drawing some curly/frizzy hair. Start by drawing the bald head. Pot as much detail as you want into it.

Step 2.


Next, outline the basic shape of the hair then shade it in.

Step 3.


Time to start adding the curls. This is where shading in the hair's form comes in handy. Instead of having to draw out each lock of hair you can just erase them in then outline them with a pencil. Remember to keep them natural and flowing. Curls tend   

Step 4.


Continuing with the adding of locks from front to back,

Step 5.


Here is the result of erasing and outlining all of the locks of hair.

Step 6.


Now you can start shading from back to front. Remember to follow the flow of the hair and not just scribble in lines.

Step 7.


Here is the final result. You don't necessarily have to draw in each strand of hair. Just leave hints of strands here and there to add to the realism.

Step 8.


Alright, lets work with some long hair. Again start by drawing the bald head. Keep the area around the form shaded.

Step 9.


Now erase the basic form of the hair in. It is the same principle used for the previous style only a bit backwards.

Step 10.


Now you can start erasing in the strands of hair. Don't get too obsessed with detail here. Just remember not to make the strands too mechanical and straight.

Step 11.


Using a fine tipped pencil or a mechanical pencil add in as many single strands of hair as you can stand to. The more you add, the more detailed and realistic it will look.

Step 12.


If you don't have a fine tip white marker you can call the previous step the last one, but if you do have one you should add some highlights here and there to add more contrast and depth to your drawing. And with that we can move on to the final draw   

Step 13.


Here is a nifty technique for drawing bleach blonde hair. Start with a bald head again. This time you want the area around the head clean and unshaded.

Step 14.


Now we can outline the basic shape of the hair.

Step 15.


After lightly shading in the basic hair use the erasing technique to erase in the strands of hair. No need to outline them yet.

Step 16.


This is one of the most crucial/difficult steps. Make as dark of an outline as you can around the hair. Remember to factor in a few loose strands here and there.

Step 17.


Expand the darkness of the outline and blend it into the background. Note how much more contrast you have now.

Step 18.


Now you can ever so lightly start adding some defining line to the hair. Compare this step with the previous one closely and try to find all of the differences. They are minute but important. Don't overlook the line the separates her cheek from her h   

Step 19.


Now we can start the heavy detailing. This step shows how I started from tip to root when detailing the hair. Again, let the hair flow and curl naturally. Since all of the other steps dealt with light shading, this step will involve dark outlines. Do   

Step 20.


And finally here is the result of taking the previous step all the way and erasing in some highlights.

Step 21.


And there we have our three complete drawings! I hope this was helpful. If there any specific hairstyles that you need help with let me know and I will see what I can do!

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Artist: finalprodigy
Date Added: December 4, 2010
Steps: 21
Favorited: 20 (view)
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Tags: draw realistic animals, how to draw realistic, draw realistic, how to draw hair, how to draw real, how to sketch, sketching in pencil
Description: Here's my attempt to teach "<em><strong>how to sketch hair</em></strong>", step by step. Since there are oh so many hair styles I thought it better to share a few of my techniques for drawing certain hair styles/types. Lets get started!

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