Tutorial: A Technique for Painting Long, Dark Hair | Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics)

The best process is to paint both the hair and the face at the same time, but for the sake of this tutorial, we will work up the face quickly and put most of our emphasis on the hair. Figure 16.1 shows the most basic sketch done in Photoshop. You could of course do the initial sketch and scan in your image to work on. This image is only meant to establish the position of the figure and the general areas that will be light and dark.

Figure 16.1: The basic figure sketch we will be working from.

When you have your sketch in Photoshop either by scanning or drawing within the program itself, take some time and refine the image a bit more. There is an inherent danger here. You want to refine the sketch to become more familiar with your subject, but you do not want to get a drawing that is so finished all you do is a digital coloring book exercise. In particular, with this exercise we want to show the patterns within the hair that will be painted . Always when painting you must be willing to make changes and or corrections to your work. Figure 16.2 shows the sketch that has been developed a bit further.

Figure 16.2: The sketch in a more refined state showing the patterns in the hair.

At this point the fun begins. The first thing to do is to get rid of all the white in the background. You will remember, as mentioned earlier, that this is the most important initial step. If you paint on a white background, all of your colors will look too dark.

Select the entire image and copy and paste it back into the canvas. This will leave you with a sketch on the canvas for the background and a duplicate drawing on a new layer. Change the blending mode of the layer to Multiply. This will turn all the white areas transparent while leaving the sketch visible. Make the background layer active and from the Filter menu, select Render > Lighting Effects. In this particular case, two lights are applied to the background image. The top is a warm color and the bottom is cooler . Figure 16.3 shows the sketch with the lighting effect applied.

Figure 16.3: Applying the lighting filter to the background layer of the painting.
Remember to save your file at this point. We cannot emphasize enough that you must always remember to save your files. Make it a habit to save numerically named versions of your work. One of the best things about digital painting is this ability to save multiple versions that you can revert to if you make a major mistake.
Begin to block in the darker areas of both the face and hair. Always try to establish your value patterns as early in the painting process as possible. Work on the dark colors of the face and on the dark colors in the hair using the same color and brush. In this particular case, use an enlarged version of the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush. It is best to work on the skin and the hair concurrently so that both develop in visual continuity. Figure 16.4 shows the process of filling in the darker areas of the painting. Notice that there is not a lot of concern for 'staying in the lines.'

Figure 16.4: Beginning the initial block in of the darker areas in the painting.
We will be using the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush for the majority of the work in both the hair and skin. Continue painting in the darker colors of the hair and skin, as shown in Figure 16.5. Set the size of the brush to about twice as large as you think you need it. This will prevent you from going in and drawing all of the small details. The goal at this stage of the painting is to get the larger value patterns painted in; we're not concerned about the small individual strokes. Also at this point, begin to develop some of the color within the background.

Figure 16.5: Getting all the darker color and value into the hair and face and the start of work in the background.
The steps we've done up to this point are only concerned with value. Now we will begin to concentrate on color. This involves adding color to both the skin areas and the hair. Notice that most of the colors that are in the skin are also used in the hair with only value changes apparent. Save the image. Continue to work additional colors into the background. At some point you will be adding some of the background colors into the foreground and vice versa, as shown in Figure 16.6.

Figure 16.6: Adding color into the figure, hair, and background.
Sampling color from the lighter areas of the hair and then lightening it slightly in the Color palette, paint in some light touches into lighter side of the hair. Darken and reestablish the darker areas in both the face and the hair, as shown in Figure 16.7.

Figure 16.7: Painting some lighter and darker touches into all of the hair and skin.
Using the same brush but setting it with slightly more opacity, paint in the general hair color over the whole of the head, as shown in Figure 16.8. Do not paint in individual strands of hair, and try not to cover the forms in the hair that you have developed in the earlier steps.

Figure 16.8: Painting in the general, overall color of the hair.
Now switch back and forth between some lighter and darker colors to reestablish and clean up the edges of the hair. Sample some of the light bluish-gray color from the background and paint highlights into the hair. Also paint and tweak some of the smaller details in both the hair and face that you have not been as concerned with up to this point. Add more color and work in to the background, as shown in Figure 16.9.

Figure 16.9: Adding some highlights into the hair using background colors.
Begin to refine areas of the hair. In this case, we're working on the front strand of hair that is hanging over the forehead. Use a slightly smaller brush but not too small because it is still too early to be adding individual strands (Figure 16.10). As you can see, some work needs to be done in the skin areas, specifically in the chest area where the hair covers the skin.

Figure 16.10: Painting on the front strand of hair hanging over the forehead.
The hair needs more dark color. Because you do not want to ruin any of the work you have already done, create a new layer to do this painting on. If you are not satisfied with your results, you can always delete the layer. If you are happy with the results, you can merge the two layers . Figure 16.11 shows the darkened hair on a new layer.

Figure 16.11: Create a new layer and darken the hair.
In this particular painting the head is strongly backlit. This means that there is a light source behind and, in this case, slightly above the subject. Because of this lighting arrangement, strong highlights will appear on the hair on the top and to the back of the head. A critical thing to remember when painting hair is that it is shiny. Individual strands of hair, though shiny, will not reflect enough light to make a difference; however, when hair is massed together, all the small highlights will group together and form large, dramatically lit areas. Things that are shiny in a painting will reflect the colors of the surrounding environment. In this painting, the highlights in the hair are painted using the light colors of the background. Figure 16.12 shows the highlights strongest toward the backlight and slightly smaller as you come forward on the top of the head.

Figure 16.12: Adding dramatic highlights into the hair using background colors.
As the hair becomes more refined, add smaller strands. Continue to work both the hair and the skin in the chest area where the two meet. Though this tutorial is not about painting costume or clothing, go ahead and add the shadow areas in the drapery covering the model's body, as shown in Figure 16.13.

Figure 16.13: Adding smaller strands of hair, working the areas where the hair and skin overlap, and painting the shadows in the drapery.
More work is done in the area of the drapery by adding the lighter areas. Also, include additional painting in the chest and hair, as shown in Figure 16.14.

Figure 16.14: More work in both the drapery and skin/hair.
Occasionally, you may find that you want to increase the richness of the appearance of the colors that you are painting with. An easy way to accomplish this is to select your image, copy it, paste it back onto itself, and change the Blending mode to Multiply. This initially leaves a very dark image but by adjusting the Opacity slider, you will be able to get a slightly darker but much richer-looking painting. When you have the amount of change you want, save the file in case something goes wrong and then merge the two layers. Save your work again. Figure 16.15 shows the result of this process. The image is slightly darker and richer looking.

Figure 16.15: The result of copying, pasting, changing the blending mode, and merging the two layers of the figure.
Using the same brush you have been using, begin to clean up the contours of the figure and hair. Also, blend the colors both in the figure and the drapery, as shown in Figure 16.16.

Figure 16.16: Cleaning up the figure's contours and blending colors in both the skin and drapery.
Refine the painting in additional areas. In this case, significant work was done to paint the arms and where they meet the hair, as you can see in Figure 16.17.

Figure 16.17: Cleaning up the painting in the arms.
The hair has gotten somewhat flat by this point in the painting. Never be afraid to make changes at any point in the painting process to make the image stronger. Darks are reestablished into the hair to create a greater sense of the form.

Figure 16.18: Strong darks are painted back into the hair.
Now and only now is the time to add some individual strands of hair if you want. By now, the major planes and forms of the hair are painted and unless you go overboard, adding a few individual small details will not harm the image. Be careful, though, not to add light hair into the darker areas and vice versa. Doing so will begin to flatten the form and add visual holes to the image. The majority of the work in this image is done where the hair covers the chest and top of the drapery, as shown in Figure 16.19.

Figure 16.19: Adding some individual and detailed strands of hair to the painting.
The last thing we need to do is work on the background so that it has some finish to it. Abstract (as in this case) or something a bit more realistic, it does not matter as long as you handle the background with the same care as you use for the main figure. In this stage the background has been painted using custom brushes. These brushes are available on the CD-ROM. After the background is painted, paint a few wisps of hair on the sides of the head overlapping the background to achieve that finished look, as shown in Figure 16.20.

Figure 16.20: The background is painted using custom brushes.