Drawing and painting hair

Part 3, Hair in watercolour

Now we are coming to giving Maedhros his proper copper red hair.

We begin as usual with the sketch of his head. I coloured his face already for skin colouring is not the topic of this tutorial. Plan the strands again and begin with a golden yellow. Leave the absolutely white spaces out. (Important! For you can hardly erase watercolour. What shall be white in the end must never be touched before.)

This, by the way, is the brush I use for that. Looks horrible, uh? But it is just the right thing for this.

The gold is a sub-colour of red hair. For other hair-colours you would use the fitting sub-colour that comes out in sunshine. I'd say a reddish brown for brown hair for example, and blue for black hair. It's always nice to use two slightly different colours for dark and light parts of the hair. That makes it look more genuine, more realistic. Keep the brush pretty dry. I dab it into a hankerchief after I took up water, then I take up the paint. The single hairs of the brush must be able to seperate and not paint a massive blot. That means you will have to take up a little water and much paint pretty often. But patience! I believe the result is worth it. When the golden undertone is dry (what should happen quickly due to the use of little water!) You can begin with red. Use just the same technique - little water, much paint. But now you only paint the "valleys" in the waves of Maedhros' strands or whoever you are painting.

It makes sense to begin at the top left and work your way down to the bottom right, but as the paint is supposed to dry quickly it would not be too important in this case. You paint the dark parts strand by strand, decreasing pressure until you take the brush off to achieve frayed transitions.

You will make some layers, but with hair you don't need many. Perhaps three layers will do: The first with little paint, reaching farthest into the highlights. Then the second layer with a bit more paint, not reaching as far, and the third layer using much paint only in the "valley" to make the shadows.

That's it!

First: Drawing Hair

Prev: How to Draw Braids

FARP Article Guestbook Date Name Comment   17 Oct 2012 Anon. Loading... thank you so much this was very helpful 23 Nov 2012 Anon. Loading... its so awsome! 23 Nov 2012 Anon. Loading... awsome 17 Dec 2012 Minnie...x Loading... im 14 and couldnt draw a plait till you came alone! thanks soo much now my bezzies portrait looks awesome! 18 Mar 2013 Emily Loading... i didnt understand it at all and you could use some help hint hint 18 Mar 2013 Emily Loading... this is messed up and dumb 18 Mar 2013 Emily Loading... [b][b][/b][/b] 18 Mar 2013 Emily Loading... this is duuuuuuuuuuuuubbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb- bbbbbbbbb as ddddddddddddddddddddddduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccc- ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk and you are stupid okay 18 Mar 2013 Emily Loading... i was rude im sorry its looks great and i didnt write that it was my friend you are really good 24 Mar 2013 Anon. Loading... I think this will be helpful. Got completely stumped yesterday. So glad to see this helpful hint. Page: [1] 2 3 4 Not signed in, Add an anonymous comment to this guestbook...     Your Name: Your Mail: B I U URL ? Click here to write something! Post Message!    Private message? (Info)

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