in 3 simple steps
No matter if you are drawing the hairstyle roughly or very detailed and realistically like this ball-point sketch here: the method is the same – it’s an alternation of dark and bright parts of the hair.
No matter which haircut or whether it’s curled or not … it’s all about shading.
The contrast of light and shadow is of utter importance.
This contrast is made with lines that are fading out towards the middle of the strand. The lines should not be parallel to each other but more diverse in their thickness, length and shape.
You can draw a lot of bright, fine lines instead of a few dark lines, as it is much more difficult to keep the right pressure on the pen when drawing the dark lines all at once.
You easily mess up the drawing this way.
The dark areas of this braid here are created by lots of fine lines on the same place. I am drawing fine lines over and over by only slightly changing the position of the pen. As one line isn‘t always drawn the same way, an irregular hair texture is created this way.
Interested in drawing more together?
In the Portrait Drawing Focus Class you'll learn simple but powerful techniques how to define proportions & different perspectives of the human face and how to express emotions of female and male portraits.
✅ lifetime access
✅ in English with English subtitles
✅ over 21 videos with step by step explanations
✅ over 4 hours of drawing lessons
I'd love to see your hair drawings - feel free to tag me on Instagram, when you post your sketch so that I can give you feedback and a feature.
And you're welcome to join us in our private, creative Facebook group to share your drawings!
Hallo, I'm an award-winning illustrator and drawing tutor from Austria. After great experiences in the Marketing and Database sector, I finally realised that I simply need to follow my enthusiasm and fascination for drawing and illustrating.
What fascinates me most, is this way to communicate without using any words. So expressive, so global. And this leads me to my second fascination about drawing: the exchange with others, with you! In my drawing courses I simply love to see the enormous developments of each participant - initiated by exchange and practice. That's what I like to do here, too.
The idea for this blog comes from the bottom of my heart: to get you close to drawing and to show you that you too can draw #drawinggang It's all about learning to feel the drawing!
© 2025 Barbara Baumann Illustration. Feel the drawing.
