Hallo all.

Quick question for anyone who can answer...any tips, suggestions, replies...all welcomed.

I'm new to the forum. Loved the lesson on drawing long straight hair by Brenda though i'd like some tips on how to draw short kinky hair...the kind that you could call African. Anyone with any ideas? Hair always gives me a headache.

thanks

Tight 'kinky' hair is like any other kind, in that you try to create values of light and shade in it and accent some hairs in the foreground to bring it to life. Hair, no matter if it lies flat or is curly will always have areas of light and dark, so once you establish those, you should be well on the way to acheiving a likeness of it.

Study some drawings or paintings of individuals with similar hairstyles and see how others approached the subject and that may help as well.

Also, If it is extremely curly you can use circles to get the soft fuzzy texture. Just remeber there will still be dark and lighter values.

Good advice guys.

Any chance any of you could show me a sample of how to combine the texture effects of the circles with the contrast shading? I do get what you said but i'd probably understand it better with a little sample...doesn't have to be a full portrait.

thanks

Shrep - I agree with all said above. However, Brenda does have lessons on kinky hair.

Have a look at this and at this as well as this.

You might also care to look at this tutorial.

Loads of thanks to you Farfallina...i'm sorry that i haven't quite been able to go through all of Brenda's tutorials but i intend to do so. They've all given me some pretty good pointers.

Keep them coming everyone :-) .

This isn't hair, but it shows how I used circles to create the soft texture.