#build-a-pit

I almost always start with this larger strand in the center. If you can nail this first piece, you can easily refer back to it to get an idea of scale and the locations of the other strands. It’s a great starting point because it’s leads back to the root of the rest of his hair. The front, anyways. The starting point is usually aligned roughly above his right eye! It’s a good rule of thumb, but always refer back to your references! You wanna utilize that sense of depth so his hair and head aren’t flatter than they are.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve been told when looking at a reference is to check your angles! Sometimes lines are completely different than how you look at them at a glance. Looking at the outline of an object can also help if you’re struggling to get the shape just right! Where was I— oh yeah, bald Pit. 

After the center strand I like to draw this little strand to the right. I usually like to make it smaller than it is for more variety in sizes. Speaking of, try to add a little variety to the strands to spice things up! When looking at the model for reference, it’s super easy to get into the habit of making them all uniform, even diamonds. Which is fine if that’s your style, but for me, I like to mess around with the shapes to make it feel more natural. 

After his little strand I like to move up to a piece above that. This is like your holy trinity, because everything else will usually fall behind these three strands. 

Next! I usually draw this horizontal piece at the same time I do the three above. The root of this strand sits just behind the front-middle and the top-middle strands, but you can also get away with just making it the same “layer” as the first three. Hey it’s starting to look like a starfish! Or a plant! Or weird almonds! 

Next strand! At this point I started to notice his head-to-hair ratio seemed off, so I made his head larger. I like to use the liquify tool to move things around that I notice while drawing. 

Last strand in the front! Past this point I tend to be messier and sorta roughly follow whatever reference I’m using. Depending on what angle I’m drawing him from, whatever piece is the furthest from the camera (So if this were flipped, the orange strand above) I tend to mess around with more to make his silhouette look more appealing. It’s also good to note that the pieces that cover the front of his face are really useful to make whatever angle your drawing him from easier to define because they usually make a line. 

Next! The hair that swoops down the side of his head. I tend to play around with the shape of these a lot but for the sake of this thread I did them closer to the reference. My general rule of thumb is that the piece closer to the camera will cover a little bit of his ear from this angle. Make sure to pay attention to how far out the further piece goes from your reference. 

This is where I focus more on general shapes, because these outer pieces will define his silhouette and really determine if your Pits will look spikier, rounder, etc. Add some curves to the ends to make him curly! Have fun with it! 

Mullet time! I like to add curvature to the piece behind his ear and to the bottom hairs so they don’t look as flat. 

Add some more little hairs as you please and there you go!!

Aaand he’s done! I’ve been drawing his hair for years, so I’m at the point where I can pretty confidently freehand this process, but I still need help now and then with more complicated angles. I can’t state enough how helpful it is to have references!! 

Also to your other question, my banner is from Nintendo’s E3 2011 presentation where they showed off a bunch of cool 3D demonstrations! Here’s a link of a high quality rip. It single-handedly made blades my favorite weapons class