Adding Details to the Hairline

Adding Details to the Hairline

Start Showing the Flow of the Hair

The hair naturally comes out of the part in the middle of the head, but as the hair travels up it also starts to curve and follow the roundness of the skull.

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It’s important to keep that concept of the top of the skull as a round surface so that when you start to define the major parts of the hair they will naturally follow the three dimensional curve of the head. When you are just starting to add in these sections you can vary the pressure of your pencil to get both thick and thin lines for a more interesting effect.

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Add Some Shine

As light hits the hair it’s going to naturally shine. When you’re learning about adding details to the hairline, it’s best if you look at some reference pics online or in magazines to notice how the hair shines.

Ads for female shampoo are great sources to find really, super shiny hair! Remember that healthy hair is more shiny, and that good natured characters often have shinier hair than evil characters. This is a subtle effect that you can use when adding details to the hairline to make your characters more likeable.

Adjust the Shine

In this example, the shiny area of the hair was drawn with an outline.

HAIR_04a-03-300x191While this outlined look might be what you want to go for with your particular style, if you want to have something that looks a little more natural you should erase the outline marks and continue to add depth to the hair by adding in more thin strands.HAIR_04a-04-300x191

Finish off the Body

Finish off this study on adding details to the hairline by adding in some lines to define the character’s body so that you’re not just left with a floating head.