Evolution - Hair

My progress with hair... and I mean how I failed with them at first.^^;

I found hair to be a nuisance at first so I opted to draw them as simple as possible with none of those fric-fracs that went with it and the longer it was the better. Turned out that coloring all that length proved to be a nuisance too when I used to color my drawings then.

I still wasn't at the stage of dynamism where you draw your characters in active poses and such. If I advanced that much then I would have realized sooner that hair also follows motion if they don't often defy gravity. XD

The first time I drew hair, they weren't much to be boastful about, I just thought as long as they had something on their heads, then done!

I used to have difficulty drawing the hair. You'd have to rack your brains for different hairstyles so as not to make your characters look alike since I could only do about one kind of facial structure at the start.

It was around my senior year of high school that I practiced drawing hairstyles. I started with the everyday ones I see everywhere: ponytails, braids, headbands, etc. I just elaborated with accessories as I've seen in other animes with the over-sized ribbons or what else.

But soon, I saw that it wasn't the accessories that made the character stand out-- yes, they can add distinction but its not all of it-- the hairstyles makes the character.

What eventually caught my interest in paying attention to the hair was the curls. I have curly hair-- rather wavy from the roots and they curl like crazy at the locks. Like any anime/manga artist-wannabe the first character you'd naturally draw was yourself, right?

Turned out all I could do with curls were a bunch of squiggly lines that made no sense until I had to sort out which line went where. I eventually settled for a tamer outcome: wavy lines equals wavy hair.

That's about all I did in the following years.

Well, I improved on doing the waves. All it took was to know where to put the lines to make a difference. And the changes can show on how you do it.

I even made a curling-attempt by doing outer strokes with the lines. They turned out untamed-looking but it suits with me.

The time I finally focused on curls was when I wanted to make a character with the definite curling hair, not just the usual waves I've done so far. Honestly, the characters were from my sister's story, and she practically demanded I draw them so she can get an idea on how they would look.

I tried. The lines came out a mess since I had no idea what curls looked liked when drawn. I could picture swirls and twirls but when applied on paper they made no sense. So, knowing my sister, she drilled the how-to's into me and made me to never forget. She's a veritable slave driver.

The first attempts came out this way:










An attempt at the swirls and twirls I supposedly could picture out.

The curls turned out a little sketchy because of a failing sign pen. It was running out of ink but I made do with it.

Still, I couldn't get how to do it. My ever resourceful sister just had to help. Her means of help was to use Juri from Shoujo Kakumei Utena who had cyclone curls. Imagine having to practice doing that on your first try.

The curls changed depending on how much I practiced on them. The longer I drew them, the more I got used to them. In the end I found it fun to do and I've created even more characters with such hair, plus the added details such as the extra lines could do... without having to make them look like a bunch of excess scribbles.

Also, be careful in adding the lines. There are times they make the hair appear thick.

Additional strands can also make another kind of effect. They're especially nice to look at when you're into shoujo-ish kinds of drawings as I do.

Adding an accessory or two depends on you. They never entered my scope when I practiced with curls.

<< This drawing was done during my OJT (On-the-Job Training) at a hotel. Business was slow and I was in the Sales Office at that time. Finished it when I took over the lobby that evening. My sister did the inking, complaining all the time she was doing so that I put in too many lines. The entire drawing came to be just because I wanted to try out the border. XD And then I thought, may as well give it a try with the hair.

The character originally had straight hair when I first drew her. I wanted to have it wavy back then with a slight curl here and there. It came out this way, and we were satisfied to keep the current look. But this time, lesser lines, as requested by my sister.

Other drawings with the curls.

And I also came up with bizarre hairstyles. These started from a scratch paper filled with scribbles. I was talking to a friend and my sister when I just started connecting the lines together.

Above characters were born just from those scribbles. XD I only planned to do the head but my sister pestered me into finishing the rest. Well, I did give her something to finish over, as proven by the two in the middle. Did she have fun with them!

From the intricacies of the hair to the unusual ones I also went for the simple styles. Not all characters have out-of-this-world do's to fit their characteristics. Even the simple or ordinary ones can have just as much impact.

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Evolution - Eyes, Nose & Face

I'm going to compare my drawings from when I first started to how I do now. It's a good idea to keep your old works so you can compare recent and current developments. It's easier to see the differences with frequent practice. As for me, I do it a lot in the first few years.

Let's start with the eyes.

Since I still can't find the very first drawings I did, I'm going to use the ones I've doodled around the same time and some of my sister's old ones.

Notice that the eyelashes are drawn singularly. We didn't pay much attention to details except to getting the face done right-- leveled eyes, nose centered, mouth aligned, etc.

Unless colored, the eyes are hardly noticeable.

Its in the human brain to recognize the head and would naturally assumed it comes with a face.

The detailed eyes came just a few months later. We doodled them on anything a pen or pencil can write on. They're especially prominent in our text books and test papers... and exam papers, but we never got those back.^^;

Mostly, the eyes we practiced were influenced greatly by Sailormoon and Fushigi Yuugi, until we tried doing them on our own without reference.

Above images were doodled on scratch papers. The ones that looked alright we kept, those that didn't resemble anything like an eye we threw away.

Along with those eye doodles we also included the nose and sometimes the mouth to practice the different angles.

The above nose and mouth doodles were done much later. For the earlier nose and mouths we've done, refer to the first few images posted together with the eyes.

Also, try practicing to draw the eyes you got used to with different expressions. That way you can familiarize with it.

The eye details depend on what style of drawing I do. Then again, my current style for them varies depending on what it is I draw. I adapt the features into the character to best suit them.

And... not all my characters are entirely human...

When it comes to adding character to a character pay attention to their features. The eyes are the parts of the face that gives distinction to your character. They are the important assets that can draw attention--- unless they come with F-cup size boobs then that's another story.

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