How To Draw Hair - Stan Prokopenko's Blog

3/8/2016 How to Draw Hair | Stan Prokopenko's Blog
Follow Me
Home Available Portfolio Blog About Stan Archives Contact Mailing List
Painting Noble Savage Painting Chopping Lessons

Search
Find How to Draw Hair
By Sta n P ro k o p e nk o
Dont Miss New
Tutorials Like 633 Tw eet 18 514
Email Updates
RSS Feed
Archives
View All Blog Posts
Categories
Classes (4)
Color (2)
Contests (1)
Fundamentals (6)
Getting Started (6)
Growth (5)
Marketing (1)
News (1)
Painting of (16)
Photography (7)
Plein Air (4)
Portrait (23)
Reviews (4)
Tutorials (25) Looking back at my tutorials on drawing the head, I realized that I covered individual
Who Cares (3) features, but completely left out hair. This tutorial will is split into 3 parts: The Basics,
Types of Hair, and a Step by Step drawing. Ill start this first part of the series with
common mistakes that I see all the time.
Recent Posts
Draw Jack Skellington
http://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2010/03/draw-hair/ 1/16
Halloween Special
Common Mistakes when Drawing Hair
VIDEO How to Draw Ears
Anatomy and Structure
Forgetting about the volumes
VIDEO How to Draw Lips
Step by Step
This is the most common mistake I see from newer students. There are over 100,000
VIDEO How to Draw Lips
Anatomy and Structure strands of hair on our heads. This thought can be very distracting from the goal of 3-
VIDEO How to Draw a Nose dimensionality. So, some people forget about volume and draw a bunch of lines. But,
Step by Step lines dont create the illusion of volume. Gradations and value differences that show
VIDEO How to Draw a Nose plane changes create the illusion of volume. Dont draw a bunch of lines. Instead,
Anatomy and Structure
focus on the volumes.
VIDEO How to Draw an Eye
Step by Step
Too Much Texture
This one is similar to the first, but this can still happen even if one pays attention to the
Locks And volumes. Too many repeating lines everywhere (in the lights, halftones, and shadows)
can get very distracting. There need to be areas of rest, especially since you want the
Locks focus to stay on the face not the hair. I usually show the texture of the hair in the lights
Wholesale and choose to keep the shadows simplified. But it depends. If Im drawing blonde hair
with a strong light source, I might choose to blow out the lights and show the texture in
Top Deals at the shadows.
Factory Price. Impatience Bad Design
Contact Directly
There are so many random little shapes in hair, that good design is a necessity. All the
& Get Live shapes can be intimidating and its easy to get impatient and sloppy. Ive found that
Quotes! confidence is an important element for good design. Approach the hair with purpose
and a sense of know-how.
Sharp Outlines
Im referring the the outer edge between the hair and background and also the
connection between hair and skin. Unless the subject has a perfectly combed or gelled
hairstyle, there will be stray strands that soften the edge between the background.
But even if I see a sharp outlined edge, I will cheat in softer edges for variation. This
also adds depth and atmosphere and connects the subject to the environment.
Variation in edge is also important in the areas connecting the the skin. Drawing a sharp
outline will make it look like a wig or a clip-on beard.
Consider the Form Underneath the Hair
Spherical Skull
Most hair styles you will draw will be affected by the skull underneath. So, its important
to think of the ball when working on the overall value changes.
The groups of hair wrap around the form underneath and inherit the same light
patterns. In the example below, I made sure to shade the large group of hair to
resemble a ball, before I added all the texture on top. The left side of the hair mass is all
shadow, while all the highlights are on the right:
If youre drawing hair other than the hair on someones head, like a beard or an animal,
consider the volumes underneath. For example with a beard, think of a block with a
front plane and two side planes.
Adding Volume to the Hair
Hair strands are grouped together into locks. Very much like ribbons. Its important to
simplify and think about the geometric shape of the locks, before adding the texture.
Adding the texture of the strands should not take away from the illusion of volume. We
can simplify a lock of hair into its basic form using 3 essential elements: highlight,
halftone and shadow.
Heres an example of a lock of hair simplified to its basic form:
It doesnt look like hair, but it does look 3-dimensional. To make it look like hair we need
to add the 4th element of texture. This includes the separations between the smaller
groups of hair, a few lines representing strands, and breaking up the contours. Now
that weve established the 4 elements necessary to create the illusion of hair, lets look
at each individually:
Shadow
Whether you are drawing straight hair, curly, wavy, short, spiked, or dread locks, there
will be shadows. I like to approach shadows first with flat graphic shapes. Its important
to get an attractive, well balanced separation of light and dark before beginning to
render/shade. Try to find ways to connect as many shadow shapes as you can. Even
with curly hair, where you have a lot of little shapes, its important to connect them.
Otherwise youll have too many floating shapes which can be distracting. This goes back
to good design.
Halftone
When drawing hair I first think of halftone as a gradient between the shadows and
highlights. Later on this is where Ill add most of the texture to separate smaller groups
and strands.
Highlight
These are the shapes that will be most eye-catching, so good design is most important
here. Same principles apply to highlights as shadows. Try to connect them as much as
possible only leaving a few lonely highlights. And try not to make each highlight the
same. Give them variety in length, thickness, edge, and value.
Texture
Some tips when drawing the hair texture:
Get the illusion of the strands. Dont try to draw every single strand.
Have confidence with every stroke. Its better to draw a quick confident strand
slightly out of place, then a wobbly stroke in the right place. Dont be timid. This
happens when drawing strands that drop down the forehead. People dont want
to mess up the face. But, it doesnt matter if its in the perfect spot Hair moves.
Start the stroke at the root and let it taper towards the tip.
Generally, lines should be lighter and thinner at the highlights.
If working with graphite, use a combination of softer duller pencils and harder
sharp pencils. For example a dull 4B for larger soft gradations and a sharp HB for
more defined shapes. Watch out sometimes a pencil that is too soft will cause
the texture of the paper to show through. This ruins the illusion of hair texture,
since hair texture is made of long flowing lines and paper texture is usually small
repetitive dots.
Part 2 and 3 coming soon. Look forward to types of hair and a step by step tutorial.
Like 633 Tw eet 18 514
Get Email Updates: Don't Miss New Tutorials
Level: Advanced, Intermediate

Categories: Portrait, Tutorials
Painting Noble Savage Painting Chopping Lessons
What do you think? Post a Comment!

Your email is never shared.
Name
Email
Comment
Post Comment
Notify me of followup comments via e-mail
Notify me of new posts by email.
Ann Grimaldi
Posted March 29, 2010 at 4:02 am
Very informative! Thanks for sharing this information.
sissyalsabrook@yahoo.com
Posted March 29, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Stan, thank you so much for sahring all of this great info. I realized that I
had only superficially painted hair before and there is alot more to it. How
are you coming with Gs painting? I am going up there on April 19 if you
need for me to take it. Sissy
Candace
Posted April 5, 2010 at 9:07 am
Stan, This is an outstanding tutorial, better than anything else Ive seen
written up. Nice job. C
hasani
beautiful, the best tutorial on hair Ive seen on the internet!
sandy
Hello
I come to your blog by chance, but I find it very good. Ill have to look
thoroughly. Thank you for sharing.
ruby
Posted May 2, 2010 at 10:37 am
amazing tutorial. .its very informative. thank you very much.its the best
tutorial for learning. .
Neeka
Posted June 18, 2010 at 2:21 pm
This is by far the best and most informative hair tutorial Ive read, and Ive
read many!
Hair is the main thing that lets down my portraits and now I think I can
bring it up to standard!
Dennis Sweatt
Posted June 26, 2010 at 10:56 am
Posted a link to this tutorial on

http://outcaststudios.com/forums/index.php/topic/8906-how-to-draw-hair-
part-1/
Visit: http://dennissweatt.com
h
Posted July 17, 2010 at 1:41 pm
this is the most realistic hair drawing I have ever seen and I have done a
lot of searching on this subject. Your tutorial so far is far more informative
than any other. Cant wait for the rest!
Wolverillo
Posted August 28, 2010 at 8:34 am
Very clearly written. Good work. Looking forward to next lessons.
Apple
I love the tutorial! as always. but I think itd be much better if there also
were photos on the what-not-to-dos.. thanks for this! Where do we
catch the next parts!?:)
Dennis Sweatt
Posted September 1, 2010 at 11:00 am
We have added this tutorial to our forum. Than you Stan!

http://outcaststudios.com/forums/index.php/topic/9128-weekly-skills-
challenge-vol-1-5/
Visit: http://sweattshop-graphic-artist.blogspot.com/
Row
Posted October 5, 2010 at 5:56 am
This is a fantastic tutorial for drawing hair. Are you still planning on posting
the other two parts you mentioned at the beginning of this one? I would
love to read them. Thank you so much for the great information. Row
Ray JOHNSON
Posted October 22, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Thank you for the above lessons. I have been a professional painter for
many years but you can never stop learning
j.boobalan
Posted January 11, 2011 at 9:40 pm
your drawing tips are very nice.i have more intrest in drawing.
mohamed
Posted February 7, 2011 at 1:56 am
it was awesome i get the idea
mohamed
awesome
Gaia
Posted February 20, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Lovely information. My hair looked so flat and dead before I tried this. Now
its lovely and full of volume. Thank you so much! So very useful!
Sketchee
Posted May 2, 2011 at 1:03 pm
This was such a thorough explanation, especially the illustrations explaining

the locks and highlights. This definitely will help my painting work and I bet
others will benefit
Adel Bawakhan
Nice tutorial
cynthia
Great stuff. Thanks for posting it.
Dakota
Very helpful! Thank you so much for posting this!
Mandy
Posted August 24, 2011 at 11:59 pm
where is Part 2 & 3?
Jakob
Mandy is right.. I cant see 2 or 3 part anywhere either.
Dale Deweese
Super. Truly worth studying
Joshua
Posted December 13, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Amazing, best tutorial so far, and Ive invested $$$ on books that havent
helped as much as these.

Posted December 25, 2011 at 4:12 am
Im so happy that I found these lessons!
Sylvia Huege de Serville

EXCELLENT TutorialIve been painting/drawing people for many years and
this would have to be one of the better HAIR Tutorials Ive read We can
always keep learning Cheers Sylvia (PEOPLE-PAINTER) http://www.sylvia-
serville.com
keron
Hi there Stan, thanks for your amazing tutorials they are great I noticed
this Part 1 was done in early 2010 or so have you already done other
parts & I cant find them or have you decided not to do any more on this?
thanks again
Emily Zingg
This was wonderful, thank you so much for placing this. I am an art 110
student, and any and all help I can get I truely appreciate. Thank You for
your hard work and help.
dju
thanks for that tuto, its really well done and clear. youre helping me a lot
mate, cant wait to read part 2.
keep going
dju
Esther Pettersson Nienaber

What a blessing to have found your fantastic website which I have shared
on FB
Everything of the very best
Esther
Em
Posted September 5, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Wow Thats amazing helped a lot
Tami Mechelik
thanks for the great tutorial! come and visit my entry in merton arts trail!
elisabeth
I love your lesson and cannot wait for more.

I have a lot of trouble with drawing hair.
Thanks
Max
Posted November 11, 2012 at 10:23 pm
Nice job! Thank you so much! All posts very good! Waitinig for next!
Karyl
This needs a video to really show what you are talking about.
Okizoo
Amazing tutorial. We tried to replicate it with our line drawing at

http://www.okizoo.com
We stuck with ink drawings, but will step up our game with some pencil.
shahana
good tips. handy 4 future art projects.
Dianna Agron
This is an awesome drawing but, I have had this hairstyle in my head

forever, that I think would look really good on me, and I have wanted to
find a picture to take it to the salon and get it done, but I cannot find a
picture, nor can I draw it, because I suck at drawing. Does anyone know
how I could get this picture out of my head, and onto a piece of paper? Is
there an Apple App, or some software or something, I could use?
Stan Prokopenko
That would be the best app..
Julianne
Posted April 5, 2013 at 3:24 pm
I found your tutorial for drawing ears on Pintrest. I was impressed so much
that my daughter and I have watched several! Even as beginners, your
instructions were easy to follow, and made us feel as if drawing better was
actually possible! Thanks!
B Gibson
I am constantly amazed at how well you teach..If you taught math I would
know algebra.. best wishes and thanks Bill
eneas
adorei quero saber mais
mike gregory
Very cool you went through all the trouble to help other in art. I think it will
help others that lack confidence or unsure how to go about trying to draw.
I will be checking out your page and passing it on to others.
Marthie
Fantastic, I am over sixty already and always wanted to learn how to draw
the correct way, never had the money to pay for ex[pensive classes but
with this lessons I can start at my age! Thank you
Karen
thanks this makes it look easy to draw hair cant wait to try it out!!!
liz crane
Extremely helpful
Theresa Tilton
This is such a great lesson. I have been drawing for years and hair has
always been such a challenge. I have taken many art classes and although
they break down values they never really break down the structure of
volume. I always feel overwhelmed and end up trying to draw hats, and
the such. Well this time I have attempted to draw an animal. I have gotten
the structure of the face, the eyes, the nose perfectlyand like I always
have before, I am totally overwhelmed with the hair. I thought to look
online for the 1st time (it never occured to me before.) and this is the 1st
website to come up. I am so glad to have found it. I learned more in the
few minutes it took me to read through it than I have in my years of
experience. I have a new found fire about my drawing and a confidence I
have not felt in a long long time. Thank you so much!
Jil
Posted June 10, 2013 at 10:13 am
Thank you for breaking this information down. I am an Art teacher and was
having trouble describing the process to my students. This will be very
helpful to them!
Moon
Iloved it ,,, Thank you so much
Alex Rippey
Great tips! Thanks much.
Barbara Stevens
I love the tutorials that is given and I especially love this because I do
people all the time and want to get every aspect perfect almost anyway.
thanks
Wendy Pickering
Very helpful, especially the part about the volume.

Im going to try that soon!
tony
Posted July 31, 2013 at 2:00 am
So lucky to have good tutorials like this ,and we can share.
Deece Campbell
Really informative! I like how you broke it down to bite size pieces of
information. Off to practise now!
Carole De Fusco
As a former hairdstylist and now an artist I totally agree with you. 30 years
ago, we were taught the same principles apply. To consider the shape of
the skull and face. Hair has a vast amt of colors in strands, no head of hair
is even. Thank you so much.
b. gibson
As always a very good lesson..I really like your videos,as your personality
comes through..You are a 10+ teacher and a 10+ artist, which is as high as
it getsI am a 70 year young, learning to draw and you make it
possible..Thank you so very much..best wishes,,Bill
Maria Elisa Vianna

Assisto seus vdeos com o objetivo de aprender. Gosto muito de desenho e

estou tentando reproduzir os traados de acordo com os tutoriais.
Parabns por seu talento.
sandra
muy buen dibujante!! en la red hay mucho dibujante aficionado que sube
trabajos muy mediocres,que bueno que aun se encuentre uno con
dibujantes talentosos como usted.
Takamura otosawa
I like the post
Bawash
Polezno!
Titi
You should update it on how draw different hair types. I like your tutorials
but with the hair tutorial I think you could add diversity to this one.
Kimberly
I am a begginner to drawing, and this helps alot. Because all I do is draw

straight lines and try to figure out why its not working well now I know.
=)
Bill
Excellent tutorial.
C opyright Stan Prok ope nk o 2016

How To Draw Hair - Stan Prokopenko's Blog

Diunggah oleh

Informasi Dokumen

Judul Asli

Hak Cipta

Format Tersedia

Bagikan dokumen Ini

Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

Opsi Berbagi

Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

How To Draw Hair - Stan Prokopenko's Blog

Diunggah oleh

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

3/8/2016 How to Draw Hair | Stan Prokopenko's Blog

Painting Noble Savage Painting Chopping Lessons

Consider the Form Underneath the Hair

Adding Volume to the Hair

Heres an example of a lock of hair simplified to its basic form:

Some tips when drawing the hair texture:

Like 633 Tw eet 18 514

Get Email Updates: Don't Miss New Tutorials

Level: Advanced, Intermediate

Painting Noble Savage Painting Chopping Lessons

What do you think? Post a Comment!

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Notify me of new posts by email.

Very informative! Thanks for sharing this information.

beautiful, the best tutorial on hair Ive seen on the internet!

Posted June 26, 2010 at 10:56 am

Posted a link to this tutorial on

Very clearly written. Good work. Looking forward to next lessons.

We have added this tutorial to our forum. Than you Stan!

it was awesome i get the idea

This was such a thorough explanation, especially the illustrations explaining

Great stuff. Thanks for posting it.

Very helpful! Thank you so much for posting this!

where is Part 2 & 3?

Mandy is right.. I cant see 2 or 3 part anywhere either.

Super. Truly worth studying

Im so happy that I found these lessons!

Sylvia Huege de Serville

Esther Pettersson Nienaber

Everything of the very best

Wow Thats amazing helped a lot

I love your lesson and cannot wait for more.

Amazing tutorial. We tried to replicate it with our line drawing at

good tips. handy 4 future art projects.

This is an awesome drawing but, I have had this hairstyle in my head

That would be the best app..

adorei quero saber mais

Iloved it ,,, Thank you so much

Great tips! Thanks much.

Very helpful, especially the part about the volume.

So lucky to have good tutorials like this ,and we can share.

Maria Elisa Vianna

Assisto seus vdeos com o objetivo de aprender. Gosto muito de desenho e

I like the post

I am a begginner to drawing, and this helps alot. Because all I do is draw

C opyright Stan Prok ope nk o 2016

Anda mungkin juga menyukai