Digital Painting: How to Color Hair in Procreate Using Clipping Mask

1. Introduction : Do you enjoy simple art techniques? Well, in this mini class, I want to show you a method for painting hair using a clipping mask. We will start with basic shapes, then adding the hair color, and finally, adding accessories, so let's get started. 2. Shapes and Color with Clipping Mask: With your base layer open, we will add a new layer above that for the basic shape of the hair. We will use the color drop feature to fill in the shapes. Then you will choose a color. It will be black for this demo. Go to the color picker, and then in the brush library, I chose a technical brush under inking. You can adjust the brush size to your preference. I use this brush for the crisper edges to create solid shapes. We will start by drawing the bangs in a dome shape. I want to make basic shapes for this drawing and this seem to fit. You want to create the shape a bit above the crown of the head for volume. But here, I did too much volume, but I will adjust that later. Next is creating a side shape that is usually tapered in banks. After that shape is filled in, we will start to create her shoulder length hair. Because this is the front view, we will focus on drawing the shape around her shoulders, then use the color drop tool again. I just chose a black hair, but you can always use a different color if you want to try out something new. Using the same brush, I am using a light pin pressure to keep the lines smaller, to draw some flyaways to show that I'm drawing hair. Next, we will add the main he color. Go to the layer section. Select the plus sign to add a new layer. This will be a clipping mask. Just tap on the square and select clipping mask helps you to keep what you add on the top layer to the layer below. Next, we will go to the brush library again to change the brush to airbrush, then select soft airbrush. Using a sweeping motion, use light hand movements to add color. Next, go to the Smudge tool and select watercolor brush. I already have it selected here because this is what I usually use in my day today. Then blending will start. To do this, gently use the pen to blend the hair into the base color. 3. Details and Accessories: The last thing we have is details. As I look at what I chose, I know that I really don't want to keep that. So I'm definitely going to have to change the style of bow that I want her to have. Because I noticed that the banks, I drew them like twice. I drew it a little too high. I was trying to give her an accessory. This scrunchy was looking a bit off, so I started to think of other ways I could give her an accessory. I chose a purple color for her accessory, which I wasn't sure about at first, but because I still need to adjust the top of her hair, I thought something was needed to be there. So I'm going to be doing more details on her bands, just leveling it out with the brush so it can mimic more of a hair texture. And here again, I'm going to be using the Smudge tool to just clear up some of those details that I want for her hair. Usually with banks, you have more level or levels to the hair. This way, I kind of just did like a straight bob cut, if you want to say it like that. This hairstyle seems to work for her, but I definitely want to adjust this accessory. To do that, I am going to erase what I have, just filling in with the same color, and I'm going to create a bow. So we're going to create the basic shape, almost like you see hands going in the air. And then you want to make sure it's curved around the top of her banks. We're going to also use color drop tool here, so you want to drag and drop the color that you're using and then slide to the right. Because we make sure we had it on another layer, it won't mess up with the hair that we already drew. So you want to create another layer and then use multiply, and then you want to use the airbrush for this. This will make it easier for you to add the color and to add contrast and a gradient to your bow. Then I'm going to use the same layer, use a different brush to make sure I get some details in here. So I want to show that I want to show that the bow is actually meeting the middle and that it looks like an actual bow. I didn't show that part, but I did an outline. I used the technical pen just to outline the bow to give it more contrast. I also realized that I want to adjust her hair a little better. So I'm going to select all the layers and then use the sparkle tool at the top next to the anchor, and I'm going to be using the liquefied tool to adjust her hair how I would like. And this is the final look.