[troblsomtwins829]

I apologize for the unreadable words, they say:
Short, Medium, Long. and then styles for front and back

I hope this helps anyone who has trouble with it, Hair's a lot harder to learn than most things, we ted to tam it by placing it in thick buns or tight curls and braids, but hair doesn't work like that at all! though it's not as easy as 1.2.3, it can be managed with a little help from reality.

Hair doesn't follow the same laws of gravity that bind you and me, it has a weight and placement all of it's own that loosely goes by our laws. Hair by nature grows outward, not down, but out. that's why when you cut your hair short(even for the first time) it tends to "stick up" it's merely going to it's natural state after being weighted down. I'll try to explain.

When drawing hair, it's like drawing anything else, but has less restrictions. you can go crazy with hair, but it does have to follow a principal form an flow, you can see many styles to the right which you can apply to your characters or drawings(one style from our favorite short-tempered alchemist, no pun intended) with your sketch you need to draw a basic outline, just the direction you want the hair to go, if it's windy, then draw it going in a certain direction. Afterwards draw your outline, you don't have to follow the sketch, but this is much more specific. it has the basic "grouping" of the hair.
Grouping is most easily described using the gum and hair cliche. When someone sticks gum in your hair, it bunches together and tends to move as one piece right? please don't stick gum in your hair to test this! the same concept(loosely) applies here.
You don't have to overly specific with your outline, give yourself room to work with, it's not like your final drawing will end up looking the same. speaking of which, when lining your hair, leave room for error and effects. being too specific will leave you with no room for shading or shine! If you have hair in big chunks like the 'Long' and the '3,' you need to layer it. no it's not making another layer entirely, but you need to separate each chunk as though it were a separate piece; again, be careful not to get too specific, and the parting doesn't have to go all the way to the head, but it can at times.
If you're drawing from the back, keep in mind that hair is not in any way, shape or form, flat. there is always some kind of definition, especially in shorter styles. the first two styles (going down on the far right) are perfect examples of this, there is a defined point where the hair parts and meets the scalp, but there are also separate sections that don't connect to the part.

Even flat-cut edges aren't exactly flat, if they were then prove me wrong and send me to the gallows. as you can see, there are some chunks that are flat and others that are pointed, this is a simple way of making "flat-cut" hair have a bit more definition. separating the parts are key.
now we get to the front, the bangs, I call it "front-hair" using our favorite little alchemist as an example, see the bangs and how they look. they aren't straight up, they have a ridge leading them back down and making them more natural.

You probably have no idea what I mean by "ridge" take a mountain for instance, mountains don't just stick up like an isosceles triangle, do they? no, they have another mountain on one, the other or both sides leading it back down to the ground. using this with bangs that stick up give it a much more natural appeal to them. Now take the "short" head at the far left, the bangs look kinda funny right? one strand sticks down while the others go back behind the ear. sometimes it's natural to make each strand stick out on it's own to help make it natural but here it doesn't (trust me, I checked) in the end, this was the most natural look I could come up with(still not happy with the back hair on it though =.=)
I know I'm confusing, but try to stick a little longer, you'll get it!

I know that's a lot to read, but I really hope this helped you out with the hair department, feel free to suggest more tutorials, the next are eyes and I'll get it up eventually. (not the shading or coloring per say) I hope you like it though ^^


PLEASE NOTE! Hair is not weightless! the longer hair it, the stronger wind you need to move it, long hair doesn't move as freely as medium hair. same goes for short hair

[Spirest]

Nice Tutorial, lovely.

I love the LOOK MA! I HAS HAIR in the corner! .3.

[troblsomtwins829]

XD thanks! It's a space filler there will be tons, COLLECT THEM ALL! XD

I hope it helped you though

[~punkstache]

very nice tutorial, as someone who has a tough time with drawing hair >.< I found reading this quite helpful

[troblsomtwins829]

thanks, I'm so glad this helped out! I can't wait to see what you make from it!