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WorkOfArts Art Advice 10 Hair, part 1

Hey guys! I love giving art advice or critique. I can only give advice and critique to the best of my knowledge and ability, though. I've never taken an art class or had any type of formal training, so things I say might be different from what you may have been taught.

If you want critique, feel free to post below or send me a PM!

[header]Art Advice #10 (the big 10!)[/header]

[b]Drawing Hair, part 1, short hair[/b]
I haven't made a hair tutorial for DeviantArt yet, but you guys get a sneak peak!
This topic is difficult as hell to explain and it may take a bit of reading, but I'll try to summarize it at the bottom if you're too lazy to read it.

[b][i]Hair is much easier than you think! But SO many people focus on one aspect of hair: The shape! The shape is important but if you focus too much on it, well, you run into lots of problems.[/i][/b]
*Note: I'm using a few examples that I find randomly.. sorry if I offend anyone

I see a lot of people drawing things like [url=http://www.deviantart.com/art/anime-12991963]this[/url]. Notice the problems here? The hair is clunky the shapes don't make sense. There's no real direction of the hair and it kinda looks like gross spikes growing out of the head. Sure, anime does that kind of style, but trust me, you can still draw your favorite anime styles with WAY better hair that actually makes sense. Plus, you can practice [url=http://www.basilmarket.com/forum/2815056]Some more realistic art, which will help you develop your ability.[/url]

So how do you draw hair like [http://phoenixlu.deviantart.com/art/Rei-Ravens-189761416]this[/url] or [http://artgerm.deviantart.com/art/Hulk-Statue-Art-399730817]this?[/url] Or even something more realistic?

1) You need a flow. Hair without flow is bad hair. Before you draw anything, do a quick sketch of the flow. You don't have to give a full head of hair or anything, just lines. [url=http://i.imgur.com/VrjalMf.jpg]This here is what I mean.[/url]

2) Follow the direction. Draw from root to end, never from end to root. Hair grows out from your head right? It would make a lot less sense if you try drawing hair growing [i]into[/i] your head. [url=http://i.imgur.com/7MBtGOd.jpg]If you practice just doing this, it actually helps you get an idea of how to draw hair.[/url]

3) Learn to LAYER the hair. If you're doing short hair, you need to draw the hair in layers. You can't just draw the head at once, it will look like a mushroom cut. [url=http://i.imgur.com/KON90g8.jpg]Practice drawing this and you'll get a hang of how to layer short hair. Oh, and did you know this works for fur too?[/url]

4) Use one color at a time. I like to draw in greyscale but if you like color, do it one color at a time. One tone at a time.

5) Prepare yourself for drawing a lot of hair strands. You don't have to draw super small strands--that actually might make your drawing look worse, but you have to draw something. [url=http://i.imgur.com/e209Pxu.jpg]Here's a step by step[/url]. If you're asking me how I did the second picture, I literally took a large solid brush and drew randomly leading away from the head. No lineart or anything. And no locking opacity either.

6) Realize that it takes a long time to learn. Wonder why my drawing doesn't look as good as Artgerm or PhoenixLu? Because you get better... and if I was that good I wouldn't need to learn anymore!

I'll have an actual hair tutorial on my DeviantArt soon... one full of steps and explanations so that even a newbie could learn them. But for now, this should help you along the way.

[header]Summary version[/header]
You can follow the steps above. I can't summarize that. Click on the picture links. They're very helpful.
Draw from root to end, not from end to root.
Layer your hair. And don't ever clump large amounts of hair into one gross looking spike.
Practice more than just anime hair... if you can do realistic hair you can do anime hair ten times better than your friend who only does anime hair.