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’What is hair and how i can render it?’

I got this question and I really wanted to show on very simple examples how to render hair. Because it really is… simple! Following this guide you will be able to paint hair in few minutes.

This is called the ribbon technique.

It is used by many artists out there. I just wanted to show you a couple of examples. As you can see I picked Adam Hughes and J. C. Leyendecker. Look at it and see how they paint the hair. It doesn’t look like a mop. It looks more like big, overlapping shapes organized in some fashion.

Try to imagine a string of hair like a ribbon. Ribbon symbolize a large portion of hair. Don’t focus on every single hair string, instead of this imagine it as bigger shape. It will catch light in highest point and it will have core shadows.

Establish where light is hitting the hair and where it turns dark. Start with big shapes. big brushes to get the lights and volumes right. Then You can go into details and paint small brush strokes to add details like single hair strings.

I attached two examples. First is very simple where you can clearly see and understand the similarity between hair and ribbon. Second example is theory put into practice. But it’s basically doing the same things as shown in simple example.

Let me know what you think about this?

I based my knowledge on James Gurney blog (author of Dinotopia and Light and Color book)

RANDOM

MAP

GENERATOR

WITH

EDITING FEATURES AVAILABLE

IT DOESN’T REALLY DO LAND MASSES OR ANYTHING BUT IT SURE AS HELL WILL MAP THAT CITY/VILLAGE/SHIP/DUNGEON/WHATEVER THAT YOU’VE BEEN MEANING TO MAP OUT FOR YOU

People are asking us how the art we share can be so good.

The answer this time isn’t so simple. An artist has his own way on shaping his style, he takes his time to experiment and so it becomes quite difficult for others to try learning his art style and making it their own. It’s even wrong.

But we can tell you that many artists learn by getting inspired by others’ art. Watching an artist while he paints can be motivating - and of course it can teach you a few technical tricks.

So, here there are ten YouTube channels you should check out.

1. FZD School of design

It’s a school founded by Feng Zhu, amazing concept artist with a lot of experience in video games, films and commercials. His videos are real episodes/lessons and they are very helpful. And, well, they even have a school in Singapore…

2. China digital painting

This channel doesn’t feature tutorials but shares full video processes by Chinese artist. In this period we are seeing many young artists inspired by an art style that’s typically Chinese - it features dramatic lighting and mood. Though such a technique can be found in other artists like Bouguereau and  Rembrandt.

3. Ctrl + Paint

A channel dedicated to the digital painting in Photoshop. Very helpful for those beginners who want to learn how to use this software and how to get better with art in general.

4. Level Up!

One of the most known groups of digital art of Facebook can be found on YouTube as well. The founders are Wojtek Fus and Darek Zabrocki. Each session (episode) features a different digital artist. This is great because you can compare the different painting processes. The main theme of this channel is concept art and fantasy/sci-fi illustrations.

5. JJ canvas

This is the channel of Jorge Jacinto. He uploads speedpaintings, but they are very inspiring if you want to look at how a wonderful surreal landscape can be created in twenty minutes - in time-lapse of course.

6. Webang111

Another channel with time-lapse videos. Very inspiring if you are into colorful and cartoony illustrations.

7. Ross Draws

His art is wonderful and his videos are super funny! Check out his channel if you want to see how a fantasy illustration can be created from a simple idea - I mean, he starts with two rough lines to close the video with a breathtaking illustration. Crazy.

8. The Portrait Art

Okay, we know. This channel is not about digital art. But it’s amazing art anyway and if you are into realistic portraits, you can get inspired by watching these videos.

9. Cubebrush

Another channel with time-lapse videos, but a few are commented. The videos are about 2D and 3D paintings.

10. Noah Bradley

This artist is a master in the concept field and he doesn’t only talk about his digital method but about his career as well, giving lots of hints on how to become a better artist and how to enter in the art industry.