Making hair look like...well...hair. XD

[Koiyuki]

What techniques are best for rendering hair and givin' it that shine?  

[Kitsuta]

Well, it kinda depends. Actually, it depends a lot on what you are using to make the hair. Pencil and paper? A digital art program? A 3D program? Tiny colored grains of sand on the floor? @__@  

[Koiyuki]

Kitsuta

Well, it kinda depends. Actually, it depends a lot on what you are using to make the hair. Pencil and paper? A digital art program? A 3D program? Tiny colored grains of sand on the floor? @__@

Well its a mix of traditional sketching and digital editing. I'm looking for what method are best used to color in hair and make it as realistic as possible.  

[Catani]

well it really depends on the program you use... :

one of the methods i use:

1. you choose color pallete you want and place it roughly on the picture to see if it looks good, and you correct any highlight/shadow placing mistakes...

*start with middle color as a base and use 1/4 to 1/7 from each light and the dark end...
**making a pallete remember to make it from very dark color to very light one, you won't use them much probably but they'll give the depth to the pic...


2. add mid colors to get that soft gradienty feel - but don't yet use (one or two) darkest and lightest colors...



3. now the details; for this you really have to have at least mediocre control over line path; you take the thinnest brush and you first take the base color and start making some lines (folow the hair direction!) in the highlights area and shadows area, then take lighter color and make some thin lines in the highlights and all the way towards the shadows, but less and less as you get closer, and the exact oposite with the darker colors - and at the very end use the lightest and the darkest color...


4. few more tips:
- try to imagine 3d and where the light would hit first (closest to the light source), that will be most highlighted
- hair shine more where they are bent...
- you can try doing step one and too with a gradient, it's not easy but is doable...
- experiment

and that's all in this method, everything else is practice...
*thats just one way of soft style hair, prolly not the best... =_=


or if you find that method to time staking you can make highlight painting over hair with: big brush, low opacity, light colour - doing a zigzag or a line around the head...  

[Koiyuki]

Thanks for the tips, though it sounds like a tablet would be a big help in the process. xd  

[Catani]

Koiyuki

Thanks for the tips, though it sounds like a tablet would be a big help in the process. xd

it really would xp
but there are many people that do those things with a mouse ( eek )
try serching for pentagram tablets - dunno if they are avalible in states - but i got a 8x6
for about 80$

i warn you it's not wacom but it's a tablet and works fairly good....  

[124-C]

Well, for the traditional pencil and paper method (my personal favorite...) this tutorial is probably the best I've found! As for the digital, I found this one, it goes over the process of painting in photoshop and goes into a little detail of the hair...

Hope it helps!  

[Catani]

Tsujigiri-san

Well, for the traditional pencil and paper method (my personal favorite...) this tutorial is probably the best I've found! As for the digital, I found this one, it goes over the process of painting in photoshop and goes into a little detail of the hair...

Hope it helps!

 

[Lyaeko]

Catani

well it really depends on the program you use... :

one of the methods i use:

1. you choose color pallete you want and place it roughly on the picture to see if it looks good, and you correct any highlight/shadow placing mistakes...

*start with middle color as a base and use 1/4 to 1/7 from each light and the dark end...
**making a pallete remember to make it from very dark color to very light one, you won't use them much probably but they'll give the depth to the pic...


2. add mid colors to get that soft gradienty feel - but don't yet use (one or two) darkest and lightest colors...



3. now the details; for this you really have to have at least mediocre control over line path; you take the thinnest brush and you first take the base color and start making some lines (folow the hair direction!) in the highlights area and shadows area, then take lighter color and make some thin lines in the highlights and all the way towards the shadows, but less and less as you get closer, and the exact oposite with the darker colors - and at the very end use the lightest and the darkest color...


4. few more tips:
- try to imagine 3d and where the light would hit first (closest to the light source), that will be most highlighted
- hair shine more where they are bent...
- you can try doing step one and too with a gradient, it's not easy but is doable...
- experiment

and that's all in this method, everything else is practice...
*thats just one way of soft style hair, prolly not the best... =_=


or if you find that method to time staking you can make highlight painting over hair with: big brush, low opacity, light colour - doing a zigzag or a line around the head...

Wow, that's gorgeous! O.O
- must take notes -

 

[Catani]

Lyaeko

Wow, that's gorgeous! O.O
- must take notes -

thank you ^^ - though lines are not by me they sweatdrop are by: ItoMaki-chan  

[Krystal_digitaliS]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/hula_kitty743/more-hair.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/hula_kitty743/wig.jpg

not my best example but i'm about to make one for you, so hold on til my next post while i open photoshop. I'll be using a doll base, mmkay?

i forget who the first bse is by, unfortunatly  

[Koiyuki]

Is there a certain mode it has to be in for it to look like that? I have it on 1 px in Ptohoshop CS2, and it keeps comin' out blocky and pixely...

._.  

[Krystal_digitaliS]

Koiyuki

Is there a certain mode it has to be in for it to look like that? I have it on 1 px in Ptohoshop CS2, and it keeps comin' out blocky and pixely...

._.

well what i do is use the smudge tools and the blur tools and lots of dodging and burning

here are the steps:

ONE:

on a NEW LAYER Draw the outline of the hair in the darkest shade you want the hair to be with the ONE PIXEL PENCIL!!! not brush... PENCIL!!! ok

Two:

Choose a slightly lighter colour and fill it in (phwoar, easyness)

three:

OK tricky-ish part now., get the magic select tool (i think its called), and select the hair, , then copy and paste that onto a new layer. on this layer choose a few colours that are darker and lighter than the origional shade and using the no.14 natural brush, draw in the strands on hair in the direction you want the hair to look like its growing.

four:

copy and paste previous layer , then get out the trusty dodge and burn! highlight and shade where it looks right.. you should know this.

five:

get the smudge tool and use the no. 14 natural brush again, to smudge GENTLY in the direction of hair growth, do this until you get the desired effect.


if it looks crap.. don't kill me  

[Koiyuki]

Krystal_digitaliS

Koiyuki

Is there a certain mode it has to be in for it to look like that? I have it on 1 px in Ptohoshop CS2, and it keeps comin' out blocky and pixely...

._.

well what i do is use the smudge tools and the blur tools and lots of dodging and burning

here are the steps:

ONE:

on a NEW LAYER Draw the outline of the hair in the darkest shade you want the hair to be with the ONE PIXEL PENCIL!!! not brush... PENCIL!!! ok

Two:

Choose a slightly lighter colour and fill it in (phwoar, easyness)

three:

OK tricky-ish part now., get the magic select tool (i think its called), and select the hair, , then copy and paste that onto a new layer. on this layer choose a few colours that are darker and lighter than the origional shade and using the no.14 natural brush, draw in the strands on hair in the direction you want the hair to look like its growing.

four:

copy and paste previous layer , then get out the trusty dodge and burn! highlight and shade where it looks right.. you should know this.

five:

get the smudge tool and use the no. 14 natural brush again, to smudge GENTLY in the direction of hair growth, do this until you get the desired effect.


if it looks crap.. don't kill me

Thanks for the help! I'll try it with my next commission. Anyone have some pointers?