How To: Draw Hair

Okay, in this tutorial I'm going to help with the basics for hair. I'm just going to teach you how to do one hair style today. I'll do a video soon of how to draw some other hair styles.

For some people it's easy just to draw from your imagination.  If you want your drawing to become more realistic though, you'll draw with ether a model who is posing for you or get some pictures. I'm going to draw from pictures. I'm going to be drawing my friend Sophie's hair. I'm going to explain how to do the basics, and then you can look at the video (when I post it) to see some other hairstyles.

Okay to start I've already drawn the shape of her head. You want to decide where your light source is (your light source it where the sun/light is falling on your person.).  I've drawn arrows showing where my light source is so you guys can understand a little more. Your light source will create a highlight on your model so you want that spot to be white as posible. But, before I get into that, let's start with the contour line (The outline.).

One of my art teachers always say that when someone is drawing a portrait they always draw their hair flat against their head. DON'T DO IT! You're hair has shape and volume, don't plaster it on to someone's head. To start, I'm going to draw a rough contour line for the top of her hair and draw the basic shape.

Once you have that drawn you're pretty much done to tell you the truth! All you need to do now is add some values. (shadows and highlights.)

The hair is always darkest around the head; along the part(in the hair), the jaw, and the neck is where you'll find the darkest areas (Or where the hair overlaps like in Sophie's braids).

HELPFUL TIP! As you draw the hair, make sure your pencil strokes flow in the same direction. There might be individual strands blowing off in some weird direction and it's okay to draw those strands. But you're not going to draw your pencil strokes horizontally because your hair doesn't sit that way. You want your strokes to start at the roots of the hair (top of the head) and have them flow downwards.

Don't use the pencil stroke on the right if you're drawing realistic.
Use the stroke on the left to draw realistically. 

As we start to draw the hair, remember we can't draw every single hair on someone's head. We need to draw clusters and make the illusion that we are drawing ever single hair. To do this, I draw a strand and then I fill it in. I'm drawing very lightly right now because I need to add value.

As you draw your strokes, think about your highlight. Where the light is hitting your model, you'll want to have thin light strokes. As the hair falls away from the light source it becomes darker and so you'll press harder with your pencil and make your lines 'thicker'. This helps create value and makes your shape become a form. (Three Dimensional or 3D.)

Notice how much more realistic her hair looks now!

So to close, remember that as you draw you need to make sure it looks life like and not fake. What I mean by this is, you don't want to have geometric shapes as you draw hair. You want organic flowing lines that give your model personality. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't look right. If something looks off to you, look at it through a mirror and you'll see somethings that you didn't catch before! Good luck!


See ya later!

Apple Tree

We all have regrets, right? Well one of my regrets happened a about two or three years ago. I really like to draw outside with sidewalk chalk. I was drawing at my grandma's house and my grandma and my great great Aunt Helen(she was 100 years old at that time) came out to watch me. I asked my Aunt Helen what she wanted me to draw for her. She thought for a moment and then told me that she wanted me to draw her an apple tree. I said okay, and started drawing. I had just learned how to draw a somewhat realistic tree but the drawing wasn't working. I sort of just finished it and went to a different drawing.

My horrible drawing of a tree...Photo Credit Me

Some of you may think, Well that's a cool story... Why is that a regret? Well, it's a regret because my Aunt died the next year. I really loved her and I was super sad to see her go. She was very old and it was good for her to die but it still hurt. As I think back about it, I really wanted to make it up to her. She loved the tree, but it wasn't my best chalk drawing so I drew her another apple tree. But, because it is super cold outside, I drew it inside and with charcoal. What do you think?

Sorry I threw the background together really fast! Also, the main
tree in the center, the model for that was Newton's tree. The one
that dropped and apple on his head.

I just wanted this post to be a little bit of a tribute to my Great Great Aunt. She was truly amazing! I looked up to her because she was super funny, kind, and mischievous. She was always fun to be around even when she had a hard time remembering things. She always would let us play with her things at her home and she would always be positive! I loved that! She was truly an amazing lady! Well, see ya!!

Valentine's Cheesecake

I wanted to make a fun Valentine's dessert and while I was looking around on the internet I saw this super cute cheese cake that look's like the conversation hearts that you get around Valentine's day. I looked at the blog and got the recipie. I didn't have much time but with my mom's help, we got it pretty much done.
Okay, here is the recipe:


Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (15 squares)
pinch of cinnamon
1/2 stick butter (melted)
16 ounces (2 blocks) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring - pink, purple, blue, green, yellow, and red


Supplies Needed:
stand mixer or a mixing bowl and hand held mixer
rubber spatula
Wilton Heart Shaped Silicone Moldsfine tip paint brush (new or food only brush)
roasting pan big enough to fit your heart shaped molds


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. You will need to bake this in a water bath (view the original blog for an explanation). Fill the water up to about midway up the pan around your cheese cake (remembrer the water will rise when you put the cheese cake in it.)

Now mix the graham crackers, cinnamon, and butter. You want it to look like wet sand when you're done mixing. (Mash up the graham crackers before you mix the ingredients together.) Now take the mixture and make it the crust . Smooth the crust mixture out flat on the bottom of your pan. Keep the crust cool in the fridge until you're ready with the cheese cake.

Now, whip the cream cheese till there are no lumps. You want to add the cup of sugar and mix it on medium for about 1minute. You then want to add the eggs and mix it all together for 1-2 minutes (Scrape the sides once). Then, add the sour cream and the vanilla. Mix it till it is all mixed up and creamy/liquidy. 

Okay, I just did one big cheese cake so I added drops of red food coloring for my heart. (It looks REALLY cool when you mix it up!!!)

After you have found the right color, you will take out the crust from the fridge and pour the cheesecake on top of the crust.

 

With the next step you will put it in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes! I had to leave to babysit and I gave incorrect instructions to one of my family members so I cooked it for much longer but it turned out ok!

 Now, once it is cooled you will want to write your Valentine's message! I just did a simple Be Mine. It's okay if your words are not centered because sometimes you get ones that are just crooked. To write it on, get a paint brush(one that has not been used before and that has had no paint on it) and dip it in red food coloring. Then, write your message! 

Sorry about the crack in the cake and how off my words are,
this was my first cheese cake and I wasn't really home for the
 baking part! 

Here's a picture of me with the cheese cake uncooked.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to take the cheese cake out of the water or else it will seep in! Have a great day and bon appetite!