Hair Tutorial for Alex

My friend Alex asked me to show him how I draw hair, so I made a quick tutorial for him. For dark hair I like to use 4B and 6B pencils (and sometimes 8B if it's really black), a tortillion to shade, a kneadable eraser to pick out highlights, and one of those retractable erasers that come in a tube to erase smudges and help clean up the picture a bit.

Step 1:

First I do a quick outline of the subject in mechanical pencil, and if there are really intense/bright highlights in the hair I'll outline those. In this picture, there's only one really bright highlight on the top of her head.

Step 2:

Next I put down a light layer of 4B pencil and blend it, trying to make it as even as possible.

Step 3:

After I shade that first layer of graphite, I outline the spots where her hair is lighter. They're not necessarily all highlights, but areas of the hair that are light enough to where it would be difficult to lift out the dark pencil with a kneadable eraser and have it look right.

Step 4:

After outlining the lighter spots, I put down another layer of 4B to make it darker, and blend it. It's OK if, when you try this, you get smudge the outline of the white highlight a bit; you can lift it later, and you don't want it to be too crisp anyway.

Step 5:

 Here's where I break out the 6B. I shade in the spots of her hair that are a lot darker, and blend them.

Step 6:

Next, I use my kneadable eraser to pick out highlights and lighten up some spots that I might have smudged with the 6B. It helps if you smoosh it a lot in your hands to get it really soft, then pinch one side of it to make a flat, sharp edge so you can erase thin lines.

Step 7:

Now to make the hair look more realistic I get my 4B pencil as sharp as possible and draw a lot of thin lines throughout her hair to give the illusion of strands and locks. It's important to vary the darkness. The pencil strokes should be fast so the lines aren't too heavy, like this:

Remember that it's really important to follow the shape of the hair.

Step 8:

After I get done putting in the individual strands/locks, I go back through with my kneadable eraser and pick out more highlights and lighten up some spots I might have smudged.

Step 9:

To clean up the edges of the drawing and remove any smudges that might have gotten on other areas of the drawing, I use my retractable eraser.

Step 10:

As a last touch, to help make it more realistic again, I sharpen the 4B pencil and add thin whisks of hair around the head so it looks like little fly-aways.

I hope that helps! :) Take your time, because the longer you take and the more careful you are, the better it'll look. (Duh)

Dita Von Teese, If You Please!

Because she is my muse, I've made a couple of ink drawings of the ever-so-lovely Dita Von Teese. What a darling.

Ginger Rogers

Sharpie drawing of Ginger Rogers. OH HOW MUCH I LOVE HER! Not completely satisfied with her mouth...kind of fucked that up in the inking process, but what the hell. It's still fun. Going to do a Fred Astaire piece to match at some point in the future.

Old Art, For Your Viewing Pleasure!

Just for the record, all of these drawings are pretty damn OLD. I've improved at least a little bit! Just wanted to share, though. :)

The proportions on this one got a little fucked up, but that's alright. I based it off of an old photograph of a ballet dancer in Ziegfield's Follies. I thought she'd make a nice faerie.

I love Chicago. I love it A LOT. I'm not gonna lie, I fucked up the face, but I'm really proud of the jail bars. For some reason, I just can't draw Catherine Zeta Jones. Ever.

Louise Brooks, a.k.a. The Greatest Person In The World. Oh how I love her!

Amanda Fucking Palmer, a.k.a. The Other Greatest Person In The World.

Another one of Amanda Palmer. Got it signed by her at a concert (that's the scribbly black thing over on the side there. Epic signature!)

This one was fun: Madonna on scratchboard, colored on the computer.

Another scratchboard piece, this one of Peter Pan. Thought I needed to do something original, so BAM! Peter!

Scratchboard: one of the most famous photos of Louise Brooks. Again, wonky proportions, but whatever. I like it.

Scratchboard: another Louise.

ANOTHER Louise! This one took forever and a day to draw, and in the end I fucked up the face (are you noticing a pattern?), but you know what? Her dress looks amazing, so I'm not too concerned.

Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine. Thought it would be interesting to draw a picture of Clementine actually disappearing gradually instead of instantly. Based on a screencap. (I think it's funny that men in my drawings are less um...advanced looking...than the women)

Scratchboard: Edward Scissorhands that I made for a cousin of mine. Added color to the butterfly later with colored pencils. That sucked. Kind of wish I'd left it black and white, but whatever.

I did this for my friend Ann: It's a picture of her daughter, Capucine. :)

Scratchboard: The Beast (according to Disney. Best Beast EVER)

Annie Lennox that I drew in high school.