Drawing Hair Without Fear
(Or: How to Quit Overthinking, Break the Brush Barrier, and Finally Make Your Subjects Look Like Glorious, Tangled, Real-Life Freaks Instead of Plastic Dolls)
Hair. The ultimate bogeyman for artists—right after hands, feet, and the soul-annihilating prospect of drawing a convincing background. Want to see someone’s confidence crater? Hand them a pencil and say, “Draw flowing, realistic hair.” Watch the sweat bead up.
But here’s the dirty secret: drawing hair is easier than you think—and the minute you stop treating it like some sacred, untouchable mess of individual strands, the faster you’ll start making portraits that actually breathe.
This is how to make hair—long, short, wild, kinky, curly, greasy, greasy, angelic, or apocalypse-tangled—something you can actually love drawing. And if you do it right, you’ll stop seeing it as a curse and start seeing it as the mood, character, and engine that pulls the whole damn piece together.
1. Why Hair Freaks Out So Many Artists
It moves: A static mass of spaghetti, hair doesn’t want to sit still.
It’s complex: One million tiny threads, every highlight and shadow dancing around like it’s got somewhere better to be.
We overthink: Most beginners try to draw every single hair. That’s a one-way ticket to Cramp City and “why does my subject look like they’re wearing a mop?”
Personal confession:
My first dozen portraits looked like the wigs on dollar-store mannequins: helmet hair, solid blocks of nothing. I had to unlearn what I thought I knew—fast.
2. Step-By-Step: Fearless Hair Drawing
A. See the Masses, Not the Strands
Squint. No, really—squint at your reference or model. You’ll see blocks of light and dark, not individual hairs. That’s what you start with.
Block in the major shapes with a soft pencil or even charcoal. Don’t worry about texture yet.
Think of hair as ribbons, clouds, rivers—anything but a tangled mop.
B. Flow and Direction: Hair Has Mood
Hair moves. It has weight, bounce, gravity. Decide on the direction—where’s the root, where’s the fall, where does it twist?
Draw long, sweeping lines for the general direction. Exaggerate the flow for drama. This is your hair’s “gesture”—the backbone of every great mane.
C. Light First, Detail Later
After mapping out the basic shapes, block in the shadows. Use broad strokes, blending with your finger or a stump.
Only now do you start pulling out highlights—with a kneaded eraser, white pencil, or even a blade for scraping.
Highlights give life—don’t overdo it. One well-placed streak is better than fifty random sparkles.
3. Ingredient Hacks: Mediums and Tools for Hair
Graphite and charcoal: For blending, broad masses, and subtle transitions.
Colored pencils: Start dark, layer lighter. Use the side of the pencil for mass, the tip for stray flyaways.
Ink and brush pen: Perfect for long, bold strokes and dramatic flow. Vary pressure to get thick-thin action.
Pastel: Lay down big color, blend with a finger, carve out highlights with a firm eraser.
Digital: Use textured brushes, layer opacity, and don’t be afraid of “hair brush” cheat tools—just don’t let them make every strand the same.
4. Survival Strategies: Hair for Every Head
Curly: Draw the “S” and “C” shapes, not spirals. Overlap, layer, and let chaos reign.
Kinky/Coily: Use small, punchy strokes for tight, springy texture. Don’t make it too uniform—imperfection is realness.
Straight: Long lines, big shadow shapes, and a little gloss in the right spot.
Messy: Let it fly, cross over itself, break up the edge of the head. Mess is life.
5. Confessions From the Trenches
The best hair I ever drew happened when I quit giving a damn about realism. I let the lines whip across the page, overlapped my shading, left mistakes in—and the result was wild, alive, real.
Don’t fuss over every strand. Use the chaos.
And for god’s sake, don’t draw hair with outlines—nothing kills a portrait faster.
6. The Final Dare: Love the Tangle, Chase the Chaos
If you want to draw hair that looks—and feels—alive, you have to get fearless. Go big on the shape, crazy on the movement, ruthless with your eraser, and generous with your mistakes.
Because the best hair isn’t drawn,
it’s unleashed—
a wild river, a storm, a thousand stories,
and always, always
the thing that makes your art
human.