DRAWING
THE HAIR
Mechanical
pencils really score in this art, a 0.5 lead will give
a very fine line without the need for constant sharpening.
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This is not as difficult as it looks... and it's a very
effective technique.
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Because
of scanning limitations, I've drawn quite heavy to
demonstrate this method but of course your initial
outline will be much lighter. The hair is no more
difficult to draw than any other facial feature, although
it can take considerable time to achieve a natural
look. I've actually drawn in where the shades differ
and indicated the direction of growth of each section. |
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The
first thing I do is shade in all the darkest tones
drawing in the direction the hair lies. Closing the
eyes slightly and squinting at your reference photo
will help to define these areas. How dark I shade
these areas is obviously dependent on the colour of
the hair. A blonde colour would require a much lighter
shade but the actual method would be identical.
( See above) |
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Once
shaded, I'm going to use the tortillon to drag the
colour into the the light areas, again in the direction
the hair lies, until I achieve a halftone (mid gray).
I then open up the highlights again by dragging my
eraser from the light areas, into the dark. |
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I
tend to hold the pencil quite high and use use long,
sweeping flicks of the pencil, very lightly, from
the dark areas... into and across the light areas
to represent the individual hairs. Needless to say,
these strokes need to follow the hair growth. Blend
this layer as before, again, using the tortillon from
dark to light and the eraser from light to dark to
re-establish the highlights. |
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Erase
lightly so that the previous layers show through,
this gives the impression of depth to the hair.
Notice how the lighter areas of these drawings change
shape slightly, this is due to erasing to re-establish
the highlights. The drawing on the left has just
the two layers, I would probably do a third or even
a fourth layer to give a more luxuriant look. Always
finish by softening the outside edges with the blender. |
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