How I Draw Realistic Hair with Pastel Pencils (Simple Techniques That Work)

In this video I'm going to show you how I draw realistic hair with pastel pencils and share the techniques I use along the way. This is part one of a full portrait and if you'd like to follow along step by step the real-time lessons are available in the membership. Now let's get started. Okay so let's start picking out the colors and we can start by looking at the skin tones guide and I look at the reference photo and I look at which color I think matches the most. So one of the lighter ones and I don't see any blue on her face or on her skin. I see pink and I see this beautiful kind of like a golden touch. So this is the one that's closest to the skin tone that I see for her hair. I'm going to use the orange the 187 and I'm going to also look at the mixing guide and we created this one in one of the lessons available in the basics so if you want to create one for yourself and you haven't yet you can check that out. But with this guide I check and see so I look at the orange colors and I see which colors we can add. So if you look at her hair you see this beautiful orange we can use. If you look at the highlights you can see that when you add white or cream it makes it lighter for the highlights. So that's great. The dark blue and the complementary color it looks like it makes the orange look a bit more green. So I'm not going to use those but here you see this beautiful dark brown great for the shadow colors and that dark brown is the 175. So I'm going to add that and yeah if you look at some other colors like the oranges here you can see that beautiful green with red kind of looks like this pre-mixed color. See that looks pretty much the same. These mixing charts are great but you can then check if you already have a pre-mixed color. If you don't have it then you can mix it yourself. You can also if you don't have this orange remember we mixed the yellow and the red together for this orange and then if you add a bit more yellow you get this yellow orange. This is also great you can just use a red and a yellow for the hair. I'm just going to use the pre-mixed orange 187 and then I'm also going to combine the 188. This is like a red orange and then I think the burnt sienna for the shadow colors. I'm going to use the 175 dark brown for the shadow colors. I have my sketches available to download and I create the sketch on a separate piece of paper and then I transfer it on the pastel mat. This is the 176 medium dark brown and then I just want to map out all of the sections that I'm going to color in. This hair is already in sections that each area you can think of it as a section so we're going to start and go one by one and with hair you don't have to be that precise if the curl is a bit more curled or if this part is a bit lower that doesn't really matter. The most important part is her face her eye that the nose shape is the same that her lips are the same and that will be the most important and then the value so we want the darks we want the mid-tones and we already have mid-tones here with this paper so then you want to be sure that you have the darks and the lights that's what will really make your drawing pop. I'm working on this section I want to follow the direction of the hair and yeah I'm going to go over the darks first and I'm going to start with this area first I think that's better to work in smaller sections that you don't get lost or at least I think so yeah there isn't any right or wrong you can use this step and go over everything this part is quite dark so you see how light pressure I use just going over everything here there's hair going over the background okay so we're going to leave that lighter and we have a lighter part and here's all dark so don't press harder if you need it darker you want to switch to a darker pencil okay so focus on the darks now and focus on the smaller sections that you're drawing now I have the red orange and the lighter orange so I want to start with this orange and then I can always go over that to make it less red orange I think that here at the back where there's more shadow it's more red orange and then here where it's lighter it's more orange okay so this is the 188 let's see how that turns out I'm going to go over the dark okay here it's lighter so I'm not going to go over that because you can go and lay over that but you don't want to add too much pastel if it's not needed so yes you can add multiple layers but if it's a lighter part and I don't see this color there then I'm not going to add it get a beautiful red brown here but we need a darker so we're going to go over this later okay so now again I'm looking at where I see it's more red brown and also just to add a color here so that the brown won't be too brown if you look at this darkest brown it's like almost black it's a really dark dull brown so to add a bit more color we're adding a touch of the 188 or you can just use the regular brown on top of that to make it more yeah brown because this color this hair color has lots of beautiful colors and again you just need to start somewhere even though you think oh this color isn't looking good this value isn't looking good let's move on to the orange 187 actually okay these highlights here where it's orange it's lighter than the background or than the paper that I have so what I'm going to do is use let's see I can either use the white or this lighter peach you can also use these colors actually for the hair that's also great but what I want to show you is that this is the white so where it's lighter than the paper you can use the white and now we have that highlight and now we can go over that with the 187 this orange see how that goes see we now have a brighter orange because if I use this orange just like this that's it's not bright enough so because of the mid-tone of the paper so you will create a mid-tone of this orange but we in this case we want to highlight so you can also use white after but you can also use white before to create the highlights okay so these are the steps I'm going to use to draw the hair and this will take time you'll need to be patient and just go layer by layer I'm going to finish more of this and then you can see how it's going to start to look because maybe you think this is not looking like hair at all I want to use the white again and just those lighter highlights just go over them as you see some lighter areas here and you can see the shadows that we started with aren't dark enough so those are like the mid-tones now that we're adding the highlights and then once we darken some more you will see that it really starts to pop and the more pastel you have the easier it will be to go over so we don't have it all filled in with pastel yet let's move on to the darks with the 175 I want to go over the darkest darks light pressure I'm still using light pressure see how you really push these parts back and create some more depth that way look at where the darks are let's see this is actually my first time really creating hair with pastel pencils yeah the other portrait that I drew was a girl with a hat and a scarf so there wasn't really any hair so I'm just yeah with my years of experience with regular colored pencils these techniques are a bit different and the good thing or the thing I love about pastel pencils is that I can just go back and forth so I'm not worrying about the colors or the values yet I'm just starting somewhere I'm just adding pastel and value and just there's an any right order that you need to follow because we can go light over darks with other medium that you can't go light over dark then of course you always start from light to dark and then you plan your layers so I don't really have a plan I just see how this goes see how this is turning out do I need it lighter I add light lighter do I need more color do I need more orange do I need more brown okay yeah and if you're ever hesitating or you want to create a portrait of your own you're thinking but I don't know the steps I don't know the techniques you can continue to layer as long as you use light pressure of course you don't want to fill in the tooth all at once so you can just go like back and forth let's go back over the lights okay and now that I'm adding the lights back I'm looking at the color so the value is important but also the colors and now I'm seeing which color do I need I need more just brown here like the mid-brown I think I'm going to add the mid-brown again and then I can see if I need more orange or maybe I can add a touch of the peach so I'm going to use the 176 and go over the mid mid-tone browns and also a bit over like this highlight you see that texture there like hairs here in between okay so add this color back oh I need to add more darks here so you don't really see that red orange anymore but it's mixed in with the brown giving the brown a warmer touch a warmer color still just continue to use light pressure step by step yeah you want you really need to trust the process and try not to go too fast like you want to move on to the details already that you need to work in stages like the messy ugly layer first before you define it all okay so really trust that it is going to look better so don't start to use more pressure because you just want to fill in the tooth let's use the white to add this here focusing on the darks again and let's add so I see some red orange and some brighter orange so let's use the 188 first and 187 okay I'm using this orange here adding it where I think it's all a bit more orange and again I'm just using light pressure you see I'm just this is how I'm just adding it I also try to keep on turning my pencil every once in a while to keep a sharp sharper tip and now I'm starting to notice that I have more of the tooth filled in so this is a better layer to work with but try to keep on using a light pressure with the 175 again go over the darks here it's darker so now you notice if you're at the same stage as me that you that the pastel layer becomes a bit softer you can also hear it you hear that and if you hear that where there's less pastel and here there's more so just light layers and the details are last don't have to go for the texture yet okay so the values and the colors first with the medium brown 176 I notice that I need to add more pressure have this show up so I'm going to use the 175 on the darks again okay now what I want to do is use the peach colors and because the Caran d'Ache pastel pencils are more opaque they go beautifully over the rest so let's see how that goes first with the 542 this is called butternut interesting and yeah you can also smudge but I don't have to smudge yet okay so look at how beautiful this is also great for the flyaway hairs maybe look at that and I use an electric sharpener so I got this one quite sharp so you see how you can beautifully and yeah this is great okay so I think this would be great for those hairs on top okay so I think we can even go a bit okay so this this stage we will be going a bit back and forth darken and then lighten but the drawing this hair I think will take the most time take enough breaks in between and just again take your time I want this lighter so 541 eggshell let's see where it's really lighter okay I think we need some darks again with the 175 I'm going to create this lighter highlight again follow the direction of the hair and then this highlight with 176 the medium brown see if we can create some texture lines because we have more pastel now so we can create more finer lines the 175 a bit darker texture okay at this stage it's time to move on to another section and then we can move back because I really keep on focusing on this but once we have more of the hair and then you look back and they think okay this is what I always have when I'm drawing something I think I'm not satisfied what can I add what can I change so I can always go back remember we're not going for the final details now just yet the darks first so here it's all pretty dark and let's see which section we're working on here I wanted to flow a bit more it's a bit too straight a bit more darks like that so yeah the important part is also the direction of the hair to have it all like flow so maybe this part okay again we can come back I keep on looking back but let's just move on to the next section like I already said okay so this part like this v-shape here then we have a section here it's all over lapping a bit like here to the left I think I'm going to just work on this section and then here and then at last this lighter parts let's use the 188 the red orange you also see that it's a bit lighter here so let's use the white let's see this section these highlights see if I can make them brighter but we will need to compare once we have more darks here onto the hair okay with the 176 this is all dark I'm just filling this in still light pressure though always just light pressure so if you're ever wondering only on the last layers I might use a bit more pressure okay now we have the mid-tones here a bit more color 187 and then we can lighten or darken if we need to I'm just going to use this to add a bit more pastel starting to make the layers a bit smoother okay now with the dark 175 dark brown again here we need it darker and then we can add the light with the peach colors so with the dark I do notice that I use a bit more pressure than light really light pressure so I just go over it and I notice okay I need it a bit darker then I press a bit harder so that's where you can use a bit more pressure if you need so you start with a light layer and then you notice okay I can go darker you use a bit more pressure or I just go the 542 let's see we have this part which part we have it going a bit down here so now I'm focusing on the smaller sections and which direction I see that it's going the same for this pencil I start with light pressure but if I notice okay I can use I need a bit more pressure then I do that I use a bit more pressure I'm going to map out the sections same I did here and here we have smaller sections it could be a bit easier starting with the darks first and if you're also new to pastel pencils and working with pastel matte it's just really interesting paper because it's textured but the pastel just really glides really easily and yeah the first layers are still a bit rough and textured but look at how once you layer more it's just really interesting beautiful kind of paper and it's something you will need to feel for yourself like when putting down the first rough layers and that's not what I'm a fan of but once you have more layers and you really work through those textured rough layers and then start to define more and once you have more layers to work with you can just really go back and forth with pastel pencils that's what I really love it's just so different than regular colored pencils where you eventually needed to start using more pressure to get rid of that white grain or texture of the paper even though I was using bristol smooth paper eventually you needed to really burnish the layer and use more and more pressure but then once you burnish the layer you don't really have any room to still continue and work so if you make a mistake for example or you think oh I still want to add a highlight there can't really and you can also use regular colored pencils just regular colored pencils on pastel mat but I think the layering will take a lot more time I just like using the pastel pencils and then if needed regular colored pencils on top for any final details okay now I want to use the white and go over the lights or where I see that it's brighter where it's lighter than the paper where the light is shining on the hair so keep looking keep on looking back and forth at your reference focus on all the lights that you see now the 188 first I'm not going to go over the white because I'm going to keep that brighter for the orange this is the red orange and then I'm going to go over this with the brown and then it's not that red but then you create more like a red brown look at these ugly stages that we need to go through to create this yeah again this is my first time drawing hair so I really like me to get used to the techniques and see what works and what doesn't so I'm explaining my thoughts how I go and what I think maybe you have a bit more experience with pastel pencils than me but not with portraits so if you have any tips I would love to hear them yeah because again I've been creating portraits but not with this medium so the techniques are a bit new but so far it's just working like how I wanted to but maybe I'm missing something like certain technique or certain way yeah I don't know I think I already have some experience with pastel pencils to know what I'm doing created features we drew some eyes with pastel pencils in the features collection and this is just the first real hair piece and I'm really looking forward to creating more because again yeah I'm just I'm satisfied with how this all is going so far we still need to create more and I'm actually also so this is all zoomed in but once we zoom out I really like how this toned paper like really creates and again it's a bit different than the reference photo the reference photo has a bit lighter background the only thing that will be different in my drawing is that the background is a bit darker but that will really make the lights stand out even more so I'm really curious yeah how this will all look when it's finished 187 from over the highlights so I'm not sure if there is a real difference like starting with the white going over it with the color or starting with the color and then going over with the white I think eventually you'll just get the same effect color and value what I'm going to do with this orange I'm going to go over everything and really just add more pastel to make it more smoother not too hard pressure we still want to have some room to work with or like some texture to the paper we still want that but I'm just adding a bit more pastel so next with the darks again and then the lights 175 dark brown again to bring back the darks and now I need more mid-tone so I have the darks and the lights and also the orange is too orange so I'm going to use the 176 and focus on one section at a time like that going over the orange a bit making it less bright and creating the mid-tone now and there you can see that again we need to darken see that in the beginning it looks really dark the the highlights it still looks dark then you add the mid-tones and then if you once you're adding the mid-tones and you lose those darks it become like the same value as the mid-tone then you know that you need to darken again and I went over that darker brown it was blurred that way let's actually blend and this has a taper point so this is really great for these thinner details because if you use the cotton bud that's a bit more thicker area and it's much too much so yeah then you only have to get this once I think this is a bit more expensive than a regular blending tool or a blending stump but yeah you just have to get one and you can use it for every pastel drawing so I would only recommend it if you're having a hard time blending with the cotton bud or you don't have any other blending tool or maybe you're using a blending stump that's also great the 541 is really brighter all the direction that you see you can soften gently with your finger so for the bigger areas I just use my finger be sure to the edges where you don't want to smudge on the background and if you do accidentally smudge too far you can just use the nail eraser remember and you can just pick that clean that up using the walnut brown regular really light pressure just using the tip of the pencil just glide okay so this is better than the pastel pencils and then let's see if we can also lighten because I want to lighten this just yeah perfect it's really soft natural to the back hairs individual hairs let's add a little more here but we can always add more later maybe feel here I'm using a bit more pressure where it's a bit darker perfect yeah these are a bit more final details but I was just really curious to see if that would work okay great see that regular pencils are also really great for those sharper final details so again I'm going to start with the darker parts and then the mid-tones the colors and then the highlights so again take your time go smaller section one at a time because this can be a lot of repetitive strokes and then you might think or feel like this is boring I'm not enjoying myself anymore but yeah patience is important so if you rush you will see it in the end result so just walk away take a break come back and continue we're already halfway there see how the orange looks brighter because of the white beneath it now that white really shines through so that's why it's important to build up the layers and use light pressure so you're actually glazing layers like glazing colors on top so that the colors underneath continue to show through and that's what's creating a realistic drawing okay so now we need the darks with the 175 and now I start to look at each smaller section you need to keep on checking the darkest values if you need to darken again because yeah every time you go over it with a lighter color it gets a bit lighter see how easily lights go over darks this is really good especially for drawing hair okay just keep on going back and forth with my eyes to the reference photo and seeing where I need the lights I want to use the white so you can when you're looking at your picture you can squint your eyes which areas really stand out those are the darks and the lights because you remove texture if I look at the reference photo squint my eyes and then my drawing I don't see those lights so with the white I want to create those lighter areas really bring them more to the front with the walnut brown it gives you just a bit more control a bit more finer detail than with the pastel okay now I want to use the white regular pencil just like I did here create those some flyaway hairs okay you can dab a bit more subtle see how easy white goes over the darks that's it for today I hope you enjoyed this video and picked up some helpful techniques along the way if you'd like to see how I finished this portrait drawing you can watch part two and if you want to follow along step by step in real time the full lesson is available in the membership thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video