WildIxia

I disappeared entirely from social media in 2019 (mostly due to my mental health), but 2020 is here and... your girl is back

And with a new extra af Gladio

Captain Shiro 💫

I GOT YOU, FAM! 

It’s ironic that I work in education but I don’t know how to make an art tutorial, so here’s my sad attempt! Forgive me if it’s useless.

I LOVE drawing hair, it’s always been my favorite, although I’m a bit of a perfectionist and therefore hair is usually the part that takes me the longest when I work on a piece. It involves a lot of experimentation and drawing the same lines over and over until I get the right shape or flow and it requires a lot of patience (at least for me). Is there a right way to draw hair? Of course not! That’s the beauty of it. Every artist is unique and will have their own style, it’s all about trying new techniques to see what works best for you. *blows kiss*

Okay here we go! 

I generally have three main steps: a loose sketch, a more refined sketch to build a cleaner design, then the final lineart. I also tend to make about 3 or 4 sketches to find the right hairstyle or flow. (I’m also indecisive as f**k)  

Things I think about:

Action, dimension, shape, flow, movement and how it’ll interact with the body or what’s around it

Is there wind? Is the character outside? What are they doing and how would the hair respond to that? Is it pulled behind the ear? Wrapped around the neck? Tied up? 

Texture, length, hairstyle. Thick hair? Thin hair? Curly? Straight? 

References and inspiration - I always use a reference of some kind just to remind myself what I like or what I want to see, it’s the best tool to keep myself on track. Sometimes I even use my own art just to see what how I’ve done it before and what I liked about it. Don’t be scared of reference! (Example: Alphonse Mucha’s art is a major inspiration, I LOVE his use of line weight, shape and flow)

Using Gladio’s face from a wip I’m currently working on, I tried to draw some of my process out:

 (Is it blurry!? Did I screw this up? Oh well, let’s keep going!)

Steps:

Sketch - Loose and messy gesture lines to show the general shape and movement. It’s okay if your sketch looks like a hot mess, it’s supposed to!! I have a hard time staying loose myself, so I’m working on that. Usually my sketches are very dramatic haha. 

Refined Sketch - This is where I start to actually define the strands and the general shapes. By using my sketch as a guide, I can then build the design and the more individual strands and how they interact with each other. This can take a while (like it takes me hours). I try to go slower and I’ll end up reworking it a few times before I’m happy. Tip: reverse your canvas! It helps you see if your hair is more or less balanced or if something looks off. 

Final Lineart - At this step, I strengthen my lines and erase lines where I want the flow to be more continuous. I also add detail lines and extra strands or flyaway hairs for a more interesting or complex design. The example above is still too messy or simple for what I normally like, but that’s okay. Also, what the heck is up with that messy bun? What am I even doing? 

Final points:

Find inspiration and examples of what you like! This can be from other artists, movies, nature - literally anything. References are your best friend.

Experiment and try new things - I’m always trying to push my designs further and learn new skills

Keep your sketches loose and messy! I like to warm up by drawing circles, ovals or like the infinity/8 shape over and over again. 

Play with line weight and thin vs thicker hair strands. Have the hair interact with something, whether it’s an ear or a shoulder or itself. Push yourself for an interesting design. (Gotta push myself too! It can be a frustrating process)

The more you practice, the better you get (cliche, but it’s so true)

Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing half the time and my skills have a long way to go. So we’re on this hair journey together! <3 

BONUS!

Here are a couple Gladio sketches that I never posted on tumblr as an example of a messy sketch vs a more refined sketch 

I’m SO happy you enjoy my older Gladio art! He’s a total guilty pleasure, drawing him is my safe place where all my troubles just fly away. I’ve always loved drawing hair ever since I was a kid, so he’s the best excuse to keep practicing new techniques and hairstyles. I really should get to drawing the other chocobros, but Gladdy pulls me in every time. 

I love Nyx! *happy sigh* That man is just perfection, I could watch him all day. I didn’t actually watch Kingsglaive until after completing the game, so I’m kicking myself for not seeing it sooner to really feel the impact of everything during the game itself. Nyx was a really great character and it hurt to see him sacrifice himself the way he needed to, but he was also such a badass while he did it. 

I’ve never tried to draw Nyx, so you inspired me to make a quick sketch! And I say quick, but I’m me and I have a hard time not spending time on a drawing, haha. Thank you for the ask, hope you like! <3

Oh my gosh, hello love!! It’s been so long, I hope you’re doing well! <3

So, I have a story for you about your ask. You sent it to me right before I went out of town, so while I was away, I worked on drawing your Gladio for you. BUT! Here’s what happened, I had your ask wrong in my head. Because I only read it once and lost internet for a little while, I thought you wanted to see just teen Gladio with shorter hair, since I always draw older him with long, flowing locks. And only now did I realize what you actually wanted to see. 

So here’s what I drew before: 

And now that I properly re-read your ask, I did a quick (like super quick) redraw to give Gladio the most awkward mullet ever:

IT’S SO AWKWARD, I’M DYING. I hate it so much, both Iris and I want to chop it off. But you’re so right, he would’ve had to have that weird in-between stage when he was growing out his hair. But he’s a pretty confident guy, I bet he would’ve rocked it regardless. I like to think that he started having the shaved sides early on and kept them until he decided to fully grow them out later in his twenties.