Transcripts
1. Introduction: If you have ever struggled with creating realistically
looking hair, then this class is for you. Hi, I'm Gabriel Hell, and today I will teach you
to paint hair in procreate. Ever since I was a small child, I love to create different characters and
bring them to life. I've been very fortunate to make this pass in my career and have been working as a professional
illustrator since 2014. Since then, I have worked on
a variety of projects and video games creating
character illustrations from games such as Thought Trek, and worked with many writers on the book covers and
book illustrations. I'm super passionate
about creating beautiful fantasy illustrations with expressive characters. In this class, I
will teach you how to easily paint
different types of hair. You will learn the basic
techniques and starting points to creating a
realistically looking hair. I will teach you how to
sketch the basic hair shape, find the right colors, create volume, and add
realism to your painting. Using the provided
a procreate file, you can paint along or practice your own hairstyle using the knowledge I will
provide in this class. Additionally, you
will get my brush set for painting hair. Lastly, I will show you some tips and tricks
on how to add some finishing touches and
make the final image send out. Can't wait to see all your beautiful illustrations
in the class project. So when you're ready,
let's get started.
2. Class Orientation: If you're into painting any type of illustration
featuring characters, then you've probably came across the topic of painting here. When painting a portrait
or character illustration, here is one of the elements
that can drastically impact the quality and
final look of your image. Knowing some easy steps to
painting realistically, looking here can help to
bring your character alive. In this class, I will show you my process of painting here. I will help you to
break it down into a few very clear steps so that you can apply to your
own character painting. For the class project,
I've prepared a Photoshop document with the pre painted character
bust without here, so that you can practice painting different
types of hair. You can download it from the resource section and open it in procreate or any other painting
software of your choice. I will also attach
my procreate brushes that I use for painting
here in the examples. Unfortunately, those will work exclusively for procreate users. Using the provided
character bust, you can start with
painting hair directly and practice different
hairstyles and types. Here is a lot of fun
to paint and different hairstyles can
drastically change the feel and look
of your character. If you're interested in
learning some basics of character design and paint a whole character
in the process, feel free to check
out my other class. For the class project,
I encourage you to choose a few hairstyles
you would like to practice and used to provide the procreate file with a
pre painted character bust. Prepare your tablet and your
digital painting software, Gravity, and let's
start painting.
3. Basics of Lighting: Before we dive into painting, let's take a few moments to review some basics of light and shadow and how we can apply those principles
to painting hair. Just like any object here follows the simple rules
of light and shadow. Keeping the basics in
mind will help you create life like hair
regardless of the lighting. You've probably come
across this image before. It's often used to show the
basics of light and shadow. When a lighting source
hits the sphere, it creates different values
or tones on the sphere. Depending on the angle and
intensity of the light. The part of the sphere that
faces the light source directly is the brightest and
it's called the highlight. The highlight is usually a small spot of white
or very light color. The light that is scattered
in the atmosphere and reaches the sphere from all directions
is called ambient light. Ambient light is a general
and diffused light that affects the overall value
and color of the sphere. The part of the sphere that is gradually turning away from the light source is less bright and it is
called the half tone. The half tone is the area where the form of the sphere
is most visible. And it shows the color and
texture of the sphere. The part of the sphere that is completely turned away from the light source is darker
and it is called a shadow. The darkest spot
between the sphere and the ground is called
ambient occlusion. This is the spot where no
light reaches the ground. The boundary between the
halftone and the shadow is called the terminator
line core shadow. And it is the edge of
the light of the sphere. The shadow that is
cast by the sphere onto another surface is
called the cast shadow. The cast shadow is a dark shape that follows the
outline of the sphere, but it is distorted by the angle and distance
of the light source. The light that is reflected from the surrounding objects or the surface onto
the shadow side of the sphere is called
the reflected light. The reflected light is a
subtle and soft light that adds some value and color to the shadow side
of the sphere. If the object, in this case
the sphere, is glossy, it will reflect some light
back into the shadow, making it appear less dark. Let's apply the same
principles to here. The high lights reflect
the most light. They are slimma and chapa. The ambient light is
the main color of the hair when illuminated
with a soft light. It's sometimes tricky to spot as hair oftentimes consists
of several different colors. The half tone is where the
most texture is visible. We can show it in our
painting by drawing different hair strands and showing the direction
of the hair. Parts of the hair
that are turned away from the light
source will be in shadow, especially in wafy hair. We will find some shadow
parts between hair strands. Those are the occlusion shadows. The core shadow marks the
transition from light to dark. Since hair is not
the perfect sphere, it's not always visible, especially on wafy hair. But it's important to keep this in mind when painting each log. In the next video, we will apply what we just
learned to hear, following the basic principles
of light and shadow. So see you in the next class.
4. Techniques: In this section, we will take a closer look at some basic
techniques for painting hair. Now that you better understand how light and shadow
behave on hair, let's paint a realistic
strand of hair and learn the required
techniques to do so. Hair is one of the
most challenging and expressive features
of a character. Knowing how to paint it well can make a big difference
in your artwork. When painting hair, especially
the straight or wavy type, I like to imagine it as
some silky bands of cloth. If we simplify it, part sta, turned towards the light source
will be lighter, followed by a darker
part that is in shadow with most hair texture visible right after
the light part. In the half tone.
The core shadow marks the change from light to shadow and can be found on each lock or in this
case, wave of the ribbon. The most practical thing to
do when painting hair is to follow the movement of the
hair with a brush stroke. Different types of hair will
have different textures. Some will be silkier and
thus reflecting more light, making the high light
appear much stronger. Others will be freezer, and therefore the highlights we will choose will be much softer. You can also play
with different tones, warmer for the base
and cooler for the lighter parts, or
the other way around. Most of the visible hair
texture will be right where the half tone is between the darkest and the
lightest spots. That's where we
will leave some of the brush strokes of
single hairs most visible. Let's paint a
strand of red hair. To better demonstrate
the principle, I like to start by choosing a base color that is not
too dark or too light. Usually the half tone or
the core shadow color that I have room to add darker
and lighter tones later on. The brownish red will provide a wonderful undertone for the ginger highlights
I'm about to add. I use my smudgy soft brush to paint most parts of the hair, as it provides the
perfect mix of soft strokes and light
smudging when painting. Now that we have
chosen our base color, let's move on to the next step, adding the middle tone. Here I go for a more
saturated orange and painted following the
direction of the hair. I use a somewhat less
saturated yellow and draw the highlights in. After we have added
the highlights, we can start working
on the details. I add a few more brush
strokes of the middle tone. This is optional, but if you notice that you over
painted a few parts, feel free to go back and
add some more color. I switched to my
Smug tool and using the same smudgy soft
brush as for painting. I start carefully creating
smoother transitions between the different tones following the
direction of the hair. Easy, right? While I paint, I try to leave some
of the texture of the strands in
between the half tone and the ambient light color. After I'm satisfied
with the base, I switch to my detail brush and start adding some
separate strands of hair. I pick the color
directly from the image, first adding some
darker hair strands, and then picking
the lighter color and adding some single hairs. I keep layering the
hair strengths and switching between the Smatchtol
and the detail brush. In the end, I choose a lighter
yellowish color to add some sharp highlights and to make the hair
appear more glossy. While you know how to paint hair now let's go see how that will look
in an actual painting. In the next lesson,
we will paint a beautiful mane of red
hair on a character. See you in the next video.
5. Painting Red Hair: Now that you've learned about the basic techniques
for painting hair, let's see how the example would work on an
actual portrait. In this video, I will
paint a full hairstyle. Feel free to paint Along
in the resource section, you will find a pre painted bust that I have prepared for you. Choose a reference photo of
your choice and practice. Alongside me for the demo, I found some references
on Pinterest and Google that will serve as a rough
guide for my hair painting. I'm using the image as a guide
for lighting and colors, as well as the direction of the hair on a separate
layer above the bust. I start by drawing in
the outline of the hair. I use the smudgy,
soft brush for it, because I prefer to jump into color as
quickly as possible. But if you prefer to make
a more detailed sketch, feel free to use a pencil
and draw in the details. Since the hair has volume, I keep a significant
distance from the head. Different types of
hair and hairstyles will have more or less
distance from the skull. After I'm satisfied
with the outline, I will choose a darker middle tone and fill
in the contour. Even though we will be
layering color on top, I still like to paint everything in the direction of the hair. One thing to keep in
mind when painting hair is that it is
not a solid mass, but a collection of
individual strends that have different thicknesses,
lengths, and directions. Try to vary the size
and the angle of the brush strokes and don't be afraid to leave some gaps
in spaces between them. This will create a more natural and dynamic look for your hair. Next, I choose a darker red and paint in the
shadow of the hair. I chose a darker red for
the shadows because it creates a nice contrast with the warm orange of
the ambient light. And it also adds some richness and depth to the hair color. Pay attention to the rotation of the different hair strands. Some of them are in shadow while others are
facing the light, creating the beautiful volume. Next, I choose the
ambient light color, a saturated orange, and paint it on all the spots where
the hair faces the light. To add more complexity
to the hair, I will proceed with adding
more colors and strands. I now choose a light
orange color and start adding soft hair strengths to the lighter
parts of the hair. This will help later on to
create a beautiful transition. Before I add the high lights, layering different colors helps to create a more dynamic look. Before we add the
final highlights, let's do some detailing to make the hair more realistic
and textured. I'm saving the highlights
for the very end. And proceed to the Smuchtol. Using the smuchtol
with the same brush, I'm cautiously softening
the transitions between the different tones
while respecting the form of the hair and
the different hair strens. I use the smuchtol
sparingly because I don't want to lose the definition and sharpness of
the hair strands. I only use it to
blend the edges and the transitions between
the different tones. By going back and forth between the brush
and this match tool, I continue to layer more
colors and strands of hair. A good way to check the
values and the colors of your hair is to zoom out or
flip the canvas horizontally. This can help you spot any inconsistencies or
areas that need more work. Finally, it's the
occlusion shadow time. Occlusion shadows, as we have learned based
on the sphere, are spots where
no light reaches. Now, hair consists
of individual units, but especially with very
thick and full hair, it can absolutely block enough light to create
an occlusion shadow. The parts next to the face are completely
covered in shadow, so they're a perfect spot to add some really dark shadows and separate the
hair from the face. That also helps to create depth by showing how the
hair lies on the head. By the way, in case
you haven't noticed, I don't care too much that I'm painting over her
face at this stage. Since we paint everything on a separate layer
from the bust, we can erase the mishaps later. I feel like I over
smudged some parts in the lighter areas of the hair and I don't like it anymore. I choose a light orange color and paint some strengths on top. Again, painting hair
for me is really layering color and brush strokes until I achieve
the desired depth, just like I would do with
traditional painting. At this stage, I'm ready to
erase the parts that are covering her face as I'm done adding more
strengths in that area. For that, I slightly
lower the opacity of the hair layer so that I can
see the outline of her face. In using my smudgy
soft as an eraser, I start removing parts that are covering her
chin and cheeks. I also somewhat clean
the upper parts, as well as the hair ends, but I leave some of the
strengths to cover her face. The parting of the hair
has visible skin and it's important to show that so it doesn't
look like a wig. You can do it in various ways. I like to use a small
eraser and softly start deleting some spots to
form an irregular line. After that, I use
my details brush to add some strength on top, creating that messy
imperfection. To add realism, another way is to simply pick the skin
color and paint over the hair. I also darken the parts
next to her middle line as those have volume and
don't catch as match light. I use this match to
soften the edges. We reached the
point where we have already a very good
base established, the hair has volume, The colors match and create a nice variety, and we have created a nice form. One thing that is missing
though is a bit of realism and how to do that I will show you
in the next chapter. Let's move on to adding highlights and realism
in the next video.
6. Painting Red Hair Part 2: We already established a great base with
our hair painting, but there are still
some final touches which can add to push our painting even
further and make it look more real in a life. In this class, I will show you exactly how to do just that. We will start by
adding highlights. For that, I choose a
light, unsaturated yellow. I still use my smudgy soft
brush and minimize the size. To achieve thinner
brush strokes, I begin drawing in the
brightest highlights, stroke by stroke, Carefully following the curve and
volume of the hair. I only add the highlights on the lighter spots of
her hair and try to make the painted
in patches smaller than the already
existing lighter parts. This will help to create a better transition
between the colors. It's also important to keep the highlights slimmer
than the rest, to really just add the
spark on the needed spots. I use the smug tool to
soften the transitions. By smudging towards
the highlights, I make them slimmer
and more shiny. Speeding up the video somewhat because always use the
highlights sparingly. Otherwise they will
stop looking like highlights and more like
the ambient light color. The whole process took
me a few minutes, so I'm speeding up the video. Occasionally switch
to my soft brush on low opacity to add some soft transitions in
between the different tones. The soft brush is a great
tool if you need to add some soft patches
of color without over painting already
existing brush strokes. Now comes the fun part. I'm satisfied with
how the volume and the glossiness of the
hair turned out and will now move to the next
part where I will be adding more hair strands and
details to the painting. To do that, I like to switch to a new layer just in case I want to make changes later and switch to my details brush. I start by drawing in darker lines that
follow the direction of the hair to create
those shadowy spots where different strands
of hair overlay. I try to make the
lines irregular. That way they will look
more pleasing to the eye. And also, usually hair
doesn't part in exact parts, it looks more realistic. I'm using the colors
I have previously established in my painting by color picking them directly. Painting here is a
creative process. There's not just
one way to do it. Keep on layering brush
strokes, adding colors, and just have some fun to
make the hair look more real. I'm adding some
thin hairs outside the contour of the hair,
crossing her face. I like to switch the
colors I use for that. Oftentimes starting with
darker colors and then choosing a lighter color to add some highlighted single hairs. Don't forget about some small baby hairs close
to the hair line. And don't be afraid to add some messy thin hairs
crossing the strands. Hair never falls perfectly in place as we deal with
many separate strands. I also like to add some single, messy hairs on top of her head, just as if ruffled by wind. To do that, I
follow the shape of the head and try
to keep it loose. It's important not
to overdo that, as it tends to look messy. Play around and
see what feels and looks right towards the end. I like to choose
a lighter color, which I color pick from
the image directly, I paint some thin
single hairs on top. These look like some single unruly hairs
reflecting the light, making the hair appear more
lifelike and interesting. Again, it's important not to
overdo that at this stage. I think the hair
looks pretty good. Now, the good thing is that you can continue
layering the hair and adding more thinner and
thicker hair strands until you reach the level of
realism you want to achieve. One thing you can
add, which added in this painting as I was
focusing only on the hair, is adding a light shadow on the skin itself
from the hair. Depending on the
lighting situation, you might have shadow on
the neck and on the cheeks. I'm satisfied with how the hair turned out and consider
the image done. Congratulations on
making it this far. Don't forget to share your
image in the project section. Also, if you're interested in learning about character design, feel free to check out my
other class. See you soon.
7. Painting a Ponytail: Now that you have a
good understanding on how to paint loose hair, let's see how it would
work in a ponytail. I've chosen a photo of a slightly messy ponytail
to serve as my guide. We have room to play with
different hair strands. I once again choose my smog
soft brush and proceed to draw in the outline of the hair form on
top of her head. As usual, I do that on a
separate layer from the bust. I chose a dark brown color with hints of reddish
tones to add warmth. I follow the direction
of the hair with my brush strokes showing the volume and the
dimension of the hair. Due to the rotation of the head. The ponytail will be
slightly hidden by her head. I draw the ponytail
and the fringe. As you can see, I quickly
proceed to fill out the color directly without
creating any outline. First, it's
completely up to you. For me, it depends on the complexity of the
hair I want to paint. The more complicated
the hair do is, the more time I take before I actually
jump into painting. Next, I will start adding
the lighter parts. This hairstyle will be a bit different from
the previous one, as it doesn't have that much
color variety in the hair. For the lighter parts, I chose
a very desaturated color, nearly gray with the
hint of redness will make the warmer undertone we chose for the base stand out. I lower the size of
my brush and row in separate strands of hair following the
direction of the hair. Pay attention that
the direction of the hair that is next to
her head is moving upwards, while the pony tail part is moving downwards
in soft motions. To choose a shadow
color, I like to color, pick our middle tone
and move some values further down to make
it a rich dark brown. I raise the size of my brush to create bigger brush strokes. Paint the shadowy parts, dosa where the banks meet the head at the beginning
of the ponytail, and the parts that will be naturally in shadow due
to the shape of the head. The inner part of the
ponytail will also have a shadow in it due to
be covered by the head. I now switch over
to my eraser by choosing my round smudgy
brush as an eraser. You can erase with any
brush that suits you, but I do like the
lower pacity on it that allows for soft lines. I clean the ends of her banks at some more separation between single strands of hair
and clean the pony ends. After that, I switched
to my Smutchtol, using my beloved smudgy, soft brush to soften the
unnatural gaps on the fringe. I keep the opacity
in the middle as I don't want my smug
tool to be too heavy. Now let's add some more
layers for the hair. I switch to my details brush and start adding some cross
hairs around her face, head and punny to give the feeling of
messiness and realism, I make her fringe fuller and
make the ends appear softer. As you can remember, I
mentioned that there are several ways to create the
middle line in this hairstyle. I will use color to paint the middle line
instead of the eraser. For that, I simply color pick
her skin tone and start by softly drawing some lines in between her fringe and
the rest of her hair. I also add some lines
following the curve of her hair as skin might be visible in different
parts of the head. As I'm satisfied with the translucency of
her middle line, I color pick the shadow
tones of her hair and start adding some messy single strands to her pony tail. This is the part where I start layering different
strengths by color, picking directly from the image. I choose the lighter
color again and add some more single strands to show the glossiness of the hair. I add the most light, slightly above the center of her fringe, just where the light
source will hit the most. This will show that they have volume and aren't just flat. The same goes for the
hair on the head. Pay attention to where
the lighter parts are. We also show the most
texture right in between the light and the shadow
part in the middle tone. Add some more
irregular shadows to show the fall of the
different hair strands. Now let's add a bit of rimlight. Rimlight is a lighting source that comes from
behind the person, just as if standing in front
of a light bulb or the moon. For that, I choose
a desaturated, very light color, someone
between blue and green, as I thought it would give
a wonderful contrast to the warmer tones of her
hair on a separate layer. I start by very softly
and carefully painting thin strands of hair at
the upper end of her head. Think of it as a light source
that is hidden behind her, but that some
strengths of her hair managed to catch the
light back to us. Be careful not to add it
as a regular thick stroke, otherwise it will
look like an outline. But adding a few strands of
hair like that will create more volume and show the texture of the hair theoretically, I should also be adding the
rim light on her face and neck as it would be logically reflected in her skin as well. But since we are
focusing on hair only, I will skip it this time. The same goes for shadows that are being cast
from her hair, like under the banks and
thicker hair strands. If you're painting a complete character illustration
or a portrait, don't forget to add those. That's it, that's how I paint
a ponytail and other btus.
8. Conclusion: Congratulations on
finishing my class. You can be really
proud of yourself because painting hair
is not easy at all. In this class, we learn how light and
shadow work and how we can apply it
to painting hair, how to structure a painting, and the thoughts behind
choosing colors, and how to add
details and realism. I encourage you to keep on practicing and trying out
different types of hair. I hope you had fun and learned something new
and useful today. Check out my character portrait illustration class
if you want to learn about character design and create your own
character painting. Also, if you found this class useful, please
leave me a review. Estes will help me to
improve my classes for you. Don't forget to share
your illustration in the class project
section and ask me any questions you might have
so I can give you feedback. Thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope you had fun. Happy painting.
Gabriela Shel, Illustrator and Concept Artist
