How To Draw Hair In Illustrator

You'd call up that long hair was the hardest pilus to render... well that and curly pilus, still I accept news for y'all. From my experience from vectoring hundreds of vector portraits, short hair has always been more time consuming and required more precision.

The reason being is that long hair benefits from the weight of gravity pulling the hair down and it avoids many of the natural kinks in the hair that brusk hair has.

I'll be using a stock image from PhotoDune (no longer available) in this tutorial. He's got fabulous wavy pilus with a lot of shine in it. Use this image or one of your own for this tutorial.

While my new Tuts+ Course, Mastering Male Vector Portraits, shows yous how to render two different styles of short hair, it would be expert to meet some other manner of short pilus rendered. And this is what I'm going to cover today.

1. Create the Hair Base

With long hair, it's easy to create the base of operations shape for the hair as information technology doesn't tend to have many kinks and curls in it, which makes for a much simpler shape to create. However with brusk hair and especially hair with a slight whorl in information technology, the base shape is a lot more circuitous.

The base of operations shape with pilus is mainly used to lay your strokes upon it and as a shape to create a clipping mask with. So the more precise the base shape is, the better. That existence said, it's OK to deviate from information technology slightly if the hair is gratis flowing.

Step ane

First allow's begin past creating the base shapes for the t-shirt and skin. These won't have any details added to them in this tutorial every bit nosotros're focusing on the hair alone. I've used the Pen Tool (P) to create these shapes and kept them on their own layers.

Footstep two

Using brushes you'll need to create from my first form, Vector Portraits for Beginners (this is a free to view course!), use the triangle tapered brush to create 10pt strokes around the outside of the hair, where it doesn't overlap onto the skin.

Stride three

Select these strokes and go to Object > Expand to catechumen the strokes into filled paths.

Stride four

Then select all of those expanded strokes and use Pathfinder > Unite to create ane shape.

Pace five

Use the Pen Tool (P) to create a shape which fills in the space between the expanded strokes and the rest of the hair.

So select all of the shapes and employ Pathfinder > Unite to combine them all.

Step 6

Now nosotros're not focusing on the hair which overlaps the face, don't worry about this, only utilize the base of operations shape of the pare and Pathfinder > Minus Front to cut away the skin from this shape and then you're left with the following:

Step vii

Repeat the initial steps to create the strokes over the front of the skin base, Expanding them and Uniting them with the balance of the pilus base. You lot'll be left with ane complete hair base to work with.

2. Add the Hair Strokes

Step i

Now that the hair base of operations is consummate, we can showtime adding strokes to the hair. With the reference image visible underneath, apply the Paintbrush Tool (B) and a tapered brush at both ends to draw the strands of hair where you tin can encounter shine in the hair.

Don't worry likewise much near getting all of the hair, this is just a guide to the direction of the pilus and placement of any areas which stand up out. For example, at the front end of the hair, the hair is longer and appears to be more than waved.

Step 2

With your guiding strokes now created, fill up in the residue of the hair that it clearly visible. Underneath the pilus isn't and so visible as it's in shadow, and then don't experience you accept to render this.

If you're confident enough, at this phase you can do abroad with the reference prototype and use the guiding strokes as the direction the hair is flowing.

I've then selected all the hair and reduced information technology'south Opacity to 5%, Blending Mode Screen.

Pace 3

You lot may have noticed on the previous step that the hair crosses over the hair base. This is completely fine. We should be aiming to fill up in the tips of these areas to create a consequent distribution of pilus.

I'thousand going to tidy this up now by duplicating the hair base and using it to create a Clipping Mask (Command-7).

3. Employ Gradients to Create Shadow

Pace 1

Even the darkest of pilus volition have shadow and darker areas of the hair. This can either be from shadows cast by the confront and hair itself, or even from darkened roots (either from beingness chemically treated or from exposure to sunlight).

I find the all-time and most consequent way to add shadow, peculiarly at the root, is to use transparent radial gradients. If you were to draw darker strokes in the root area, in that location would be areas which aren't as dark as they should exist. Alternatively, over rendering an area may make your work wait messy. And so a transparent gradient tin aid create a smooth distribution of shadow in specific areas.

I've placed my initial shapes using the Pen Tool (P) and the Slope Tool (Yard). These are in the undersides of the pilus.

Step ii

I and then use the Pencil Tool (Due north) and the aforementioned theory to add shadows in the gaps of the strokes placed on the hair. This creates more depth to the hair.

Of form when you're done with these shapes, Grouping them (Command-G) and add them to the previously created clipping mask grouping.

4. Create a More Natural Expect

Stride 1

You could leave the hair how it is, merely we want it to expect more vibrant and realistic. So using the tapered brush and a higher Opacity, add together strokes to the peaks of the curls in the hair to add the impression of shine.

Remember to follow the direction of the pilus to ensure information technology looks natural.

Stride ii

At present pilus doesn't merely naturally gather together in fifty-fifty clumps. These masses of hair are varied in size and depending on the light hitting it, varying in colour.

Then with the tapered brush and the Paintbrush Tool (B), I'1000 going to add together strokes underneath the hair base of operations with different shades of greyness to create this effect.

Awesome Work, Y'all're Done!

I hope you enjoyed creating this look and if you want to explore other ways to render short pilus, why non check out my new Tuts+ Course, Mastering Male Vector Portraits.

Not just men have short hair, so it's worth checking out anyhow if you're primarily focused on creating portraits of women. Enjoy and see yous next fourth dimension!