Welcome to my hair tutorial!! In this tut, I will endeavor to
explain my way of shading hair. It's all pixel shaded, since I pixel shade. ^o^
All these images were made by me, so please do not take them and claim them as
your own. Have fun, and I hope you learn something useful! <33
Note: I'll be using the Trixie base by PPKH.
<33
Get your base ready and zoom in on the head. I tend to start with the largest part of the hair first. which happens to be the top of the head. ^^ With the smallest paintbrush size, carefully draw the outline. If it gets a little messy, don't worry about it- just use the eraser and clean up the lines. So here's my outline! ^o^
Flood fill inside the outline. (Wanna know a secret? I tend to get ticked off if something takes a while for me to flood fill. *is impatient* xP)
Okay, time to start shading. Yay! :3 Taking your 2nd color (since I flood filled with the same color as the outline), draw on thick lines on the head. Just run the paint brush back and forth until it's as thick as you want it. Again, if you make any mistakes, damage control is a snap. ^^ This doll is wearing her hair pulled back, but if your doll has another style, make sure to draw the hair in consistency with the style. ^o^
Using the 3rd color, continue drawing on the lines. Make sure to stay within the original lines, and make these lines a bit shorter.
Continue with color 4. Make these lines just as thick as the others, but noticeably shorter. That way the form of a highlight is taking shape. *o*
Ok, this step starts the highlights. Yay, fun, fun, fun!!
Shiiiiiinnnyyyyy.... *w* Just draw short, square-like lines on top of the
last color you used. Isn't she looking so kawaii?? :3
Yaaay, more highlights!! These are just like four and five
pixel squares on top of the last color. Because I like super-shiny hair I tend
to jump a bit farther into the light side of the pallet for my highlights, but
you can continue down the pallet any way you see fit. ^^
Ok, we're getting there. Just a tiny bit more highlights. As I said, I like shiny hair. ^^ You'll notice I only put a few pixels here and there of the lightest color. Sometimes it's needed, sometimes not. It all depends on how you want it to look. ^o^
This step is optional. If you like the way your doll looks, then by all means don't bother with this. I myself don't always do it. As I said, it all depends. But here, I just joined the 3rd, 4th, and 5th colors in between the lines to sort of support the shine. That way the hair looks more together.
Using the same method, finish drawing the rest of the hair.
She's so cute! I <3 pigtails. :3
This step is sometimes overlooked, but it's very important. Make sure you shade under the hairline with a darker skin color. That way, it looks more real. n-n. Also, adding a few strands here and there can really make the hair pop. *Note: Did you notice that I deepened the part of her hair? I almost always do that right at the end. I think it looks cuter that way. ^o^-
And here's the finished doll!! I really hope this tutorial was of some help to you. Thanks for reading! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to contact me.