Returning artist...

[rusty1990]

Hey guys, I just wanted some advice regarding shading of the hair, this has been a real hindrance to my art.

I have started working on a basic profile of a character (Which after not drawing for a good few years is starting to look okay) now my main problem here is what to do with the hair.

I have tried doing the highlights as I have seen in other anime / manga but mine just looks really erm, for the lack of a better word, crappy.

If somebody could just point me in the right direction or give me a little bit of their knowledge on shading I would be eternally grateful.

Below is the image in question with no highlights and with them:

[The Raging Spaniard]

Youre going about this the wrong way, first you have to look at reference more closely, for instance:



In hair you usually dont need highlights, what you need is a basic shadow to give depth and volume. What youre doing is just adding lighter lines without even thinking about where the LIGHT thats hitting the head comes from. In art you have to think and plan ahead and realize where light hits and shadows belong.

So, go back to square one, give it a good base of darker brown hair and then figure out if and where you need the highlights to go, but think about VOLUME first and foremost!

[rusty1990]

Wow, awesome reply. Thankyou very much!