How I Color Hair on GIMP

So this is just an experimental thing. A lot of people have told me they like the way I draw hair, so I thought I'd go through a step-by-step process. This is just one of the ways I've experimented with. I'm not saying I'm very good at this, but I figured GIMPers might be interested. So please let me know if this was helpful or if there were parts you didn't understand!

I basically zoomed in on another pic a drew this week, so if you want to see the full version, it's here: topic87221.html

Alrighty, here goes.

The first pic here is just the outline. I usually colored digitally over sketches that I've drawn by hand.



The first step you gotta do is choose your base color. For this girl, light brown. So to make the original lines of the hair show through, set the layer to Multiply, and then color the area completely with a basic brush. I usually just blob the color on, and then erase the parts that went out of the lines.
*tip* Instead of using a solid eraser, I always use the Smudge tool. I think it helps to get the tips of the hair more wispy and less blocky. I dunno.



Next, I add shadows. Set a new layer to Multiply. Change your tool to the airbrush, and select a slightly darker shade of your base color. On this pic, I also made it a little more vibrant because I decided I wanted brighter hair
Take the airbrush and color in the areas that would be coverend by shadow. Usually, I make the tips of the hair dark, and also the roots, leaving an area of shine in the middle. Also be aware where strands of hair overlap each other.



The next step is just like the last one. New Layer, set to multiply, using the same tools and the same color. Just go over the same areas again, making it a little darker.



Next we add the highlights. New layer, this time set it to Soft Light. Still use the airbrush tool, but change your color to solid white. Now, find the area in the strands that would catch the sun. It's usually around the middle somewhere. On this pic, I pretty much made it so that each section of hair had shadow, base color, highlight, base color, and then shadow. But there are a zillion different ways to draw hair so don't just follow this.



Final step, and that is just reinforcing the highlights. Do the exact same thing. New layer, Soft light, airbrush, white, and go over the highlights that you already added, making them a bit brighter. Easy peasy! Now the hair should look all shiny ^-^



So that's it! Let me know how this was xP

love it!

Hmm, que bueno.
I've always had a problem with making realistic hair, this looks very nice.
Also, if you want a more "cartoony" look--with the pen outline outside of the color, use the fuzzy select tool to select a continous region, (a shape with unbroken lines) and do exactly what the black sheep said. The color won't go over the lines that way, and you can use the bucket tool.
Pros: It's fast, streamlined and clean, with no erasing needed
Cons: It looks flat and lifeless, and it's harder to get highlights and tones.
Great tutorial!

Pretty good tutorial; nice and simple, and easy to follow.

I find that using different sizes of brush adds a lot of volume and definition to hair especially. Going back through with the smallest brush and drawing strands following the contours of the hair adds as sense that each clump is really just a grouping of individual strands rather than flat strings of shiny plastic.

The one thing about using the layer settings with the same base color is that they make the color values all the same, which makes the picture itself feel muted and a bit flat. Picking lighter/darker values with completely different hues can add a lot of character to a picture.

Ha, I color my sketches using Gimp too.

I actually did four character portraits that will be part of a fantasy e-book of mine.

I'm kind of novice at using digital programs to color but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

I've only colored using gimp, I think seven different pictures, no 8. But yeah. This was a great lesson. Thanks.