WEEK#7: SEA CREATURES PART 2

I get asked a lot about how to hair  and I have  noticed it can be a stumbling block for some students, so, l will start this post by looking at various ways of drawing hair.

Drawing hair should pose a problem, the best way I have found is to not over complicate things and keep to simple flowing shapes to start with.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I learned to draw hair by following the early Disney artists and comic book artists such as Alex Toth.

Bruce Timm is another good  example of how to simplify hair with maximum effect.

To students just starting out, I always recommend  to stick to a few simple flowing shapes.

Once you have established the desired look by using simple outlines you can then add shading and highlights. The folds of hair that curve towards the light will have a lighter tone, if not a bright sheen, and the hair that curves away from the light will be darker or possibly solid black, depending  on the colour of the hair and the intensity of the light source. It's not rocket science.

On the image below I have added a little more shading. If this were blonde  hair, the highlight  may possibly  stretch a wider area, darker hair, such as brunettes,  may only allow smaller areas.

For something more complex, it is simply a case of creating smaller, layered shapes.

The more shapes you have, the more  contours you will have to deal with in relation to light and dark areas as they will each  be affected by the light at different points.

Below are more examples of how I approached drawing hair. Remember, this is just to show how I achieved  the look I was after. You may find another approach by another artist that suits you, or you may find it all by yourself. I am only giving you an example, it should not be taken as "the" way.

Here is a good example of how to draw hair by Xia Taptara . It says pretty much everything I have been saying in class.

Check out the over clips  by  Xia Taptaria, he has some really informative tutorials  available.

http://www.youtube.com/user/idrawgirls/videos

Below are examples of more complex hair arrangements but they are achieved in exactly the same way as shown in the examples and video above.

Ok, I think that enough for you all to chew over for now. I will post the final part for this exercise later this week, so remember to check back soon.