[ Resources - Hair Tutorial ]
What you will need:
* MS Paint, PSP or any drawing program that includes the line and fill tool.
* A hair palette with 8 colors total if you choose not use the one provided.
For this tutorial, I'm using Duckie's Mystry base. I've made a few minor edits to the face so don't worry if it looks a little different. Moving on, we naturally start off with the base and color palette. Each color in my palette will be used for a certain part of shading. Going from top to bottom, it is as follows: Darkest Part, Part, outline, darkest shade, shade, fill, highlight, and shine.
Use the line tool and outline the shape of the hair in the style that you want it.
Take notice of the little stray strands of hair at her part and on the top of her hair in the back. This adds a more realistic look to the doll. I would usually include more but this hair was meant to look sleek and fancy. Next, fill the hair area in completely.
Now the fun part... shading. I start with the part. Use the frist color in the palette and outline where you want the part to go. The part is like the outline... it is not a perfectly straight line, even in styled hair. There are sections that branch off.
Now, use the second color in the palette and use it to soften the part color just a little. Basically just trace around the edges of it, adding a pixel or two off the areas of the part that stick out further than the others.
Next, use the lightest shade color (the fifth color in the palette) and draw out the areas of the hair you want to shade. I use this color before the darker shade because I always seem to shade too large if I don't. Now, when shading, remember that hair flows. It lays in layers and folds and is generally smooth. Make your motions flowing and keep in mind the way the hair would lay in the style you want. In this case, the hair is upswept, so the shaded areas have an unpwards motion at the ends.
Now, take the darkest shade (the fourth color in the palette) and darken in the middle of the shade you just made. Don't get too close to the edges. If you make this too big, it will look more like a hole in your hair than shading.
Starting to come together, isn't it? Now its time for the highlight. Doing the highlight is similar to doing the shading. Remember to keep it smooth and flowing. Avoid highlighting too much, or your hair will look more like a lightbulb ^_^ Highlight on the fill color and remember to keep to areas where the hair would be hit by the light.
Almost there! The last step is the shine, or the brightest highlight. Use this sparingly, as too much can make your hair look like a neon sign. With the shine, its okay to come to the edges of your hightlight, but don't go onto the fill color. This will make your shine look misplaced.
Aaaand, add a pretty bow and its complete!
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