Easy Stride-By-Step Instructions for Drawing Curly Hair

Anybody has a defining physical characteristic. Mayhap it'due south striking optics, total lips, or even ringlets of curls. This type of textured hairstyle might seem tricky to describe, just information technology doesn't have to be.

Finished curly hair drawing

Learn step-past-step instructions for drawing curly pilus!

For this tutorial, I'm using basic art supplies: my favorite drawing paper, pencils and eraser. I don't have a reference photo so I tin can feel costless to style any sort of curls I like.

Step 1: Start with the head and neck.

Outline of head

Because the focus of this drawing is the hair, I'chiliad just starting out past drawing an oval for my head and and then attaching a neck to information technology. I put some guidelines where the olfactory organ and eyes would be, too.

Stride 2: Draw in the shape of the hair.

Outline of hair

Now, draw in a general shape of where the hair will lay. This is an important step in the process. Here, you lot make up one's mind the length and manner of the hair based on its silhouette. You lot tin can encounter I went for a longer hairstyle that dips below the shoulders but feel costless to make the hair whatsoever length y'all like.

Step 3: Prepare guidelines for the curls.

Guideline drawing for curls

This is as simple as drawing wavy lines to betoken where your curls volition become. Since I'm cartoon a longer hairstyle, my curls volition exist long and relaxed. If y'all're going shorter, however, yous'll want to your lines shorter and more zigzag-like.

Step 4: Start defining the curls.

Defining the curls in curly hair

Hither's where the fun begins and you start to bring the curls to life. While all hair is dissimilar, there are some general guidelines when defining curls:

  • Think of curls like ribbons. They start at the part and hang from in that location. Imagine that you lot're wrapping a package and crimper ribbon. Think nigh that structure as you're drawing the hair. The strands are going to twist over onto themselves, so you'll accept parts that are the "forepart" of the roll and the "back." The front end will overlap with the back, which will announced smaller and less curved.
  • Non every whorl tin be super curly. Hair is layered, and the pieces that are toward the sides and the back of the caput by and large aren't as curly. Instead, they'll probably exist more than of soft waves. And then, to make your drawn head of hair appear natural, focus on several ringlets and imply a wavy texture behind them.
Curly hair detail
  • Vary curl length. If y'all, or you know someone that has curly pilus, they'll tell yous that layers are an important part of their hairstyle — especially if the texture is ringlets. This keeps the hair from being one large poof. With this in mind, vary the length of your curls. One most the top of the head will be shorter than what's at the bottom.
  • Longer curly hairstyles will be more than curly at the tips. The top of the head will accept straighter pilus because the length of the curls will weight them downwards.

5. Shade the hair to requite it definition.

detail of shading curly hair

In one case you've spent time perfecting the curls, information technology'southward time to shade them. This will give the hair class and depth. Since this is a sketch, you don't accept to do any intensive shading. But, do darken around the ringlets and the underside of the curls. You'll exist surprised simply how much life information technology gives them!

Shading curly hair

Accept you always tried drawing curly hair before?