How to Draw Hair

Drawing / Sketching

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How to Draw Hair

Page 2 of 3 - Drawing Long Hair

One of the most common mistakes is to attempt to draw every hair as a pencil-stroke. A single pencil line cannot represent the many changes of tone along the shaft of hair, so this approach is invariably disastrous. Another problem is lack of care - you should spend at least as much time on the hair as on the face.

More of this Article

• Drawing short Hair
• Long Hair continued/Tips

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• Drawing Hair

Drawing long hair is in many ways easier than short hair, as the 'surface' tends to be a little smoother, with broader sections of highlight, less dispersed than in short hair. Curly or frizzy hair can be more of a problem, but if you take your time and observe carefully, it is quite acheivable. You might need to ask your model to tame their hair a little with conditioner prior to sitting.

	First, look carefully at the model or reference photo and identify the major sections of hair. Curls will often be rather flat, like ribbons curling back on themselves. Try to ignore odd strands at first, concentrating on the main bulk of the hair, and lightly outline the main shapes and sections.
	Next draw in the darks with a soft pencil, being careful to leave the highlights well alone. At this point, you might wish to lightly sketch in prominent lighter hairs that need to be left, bringing the darks up close beside them, to avoid problems with erasing them. Where strands of hair cross, small marks may be necessary to separate them. Make sure you follow the direction of the curl.