Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 6

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 6

            I spent the last week working on the hair and have it nearly completed.

            Even though the hair is lighter – very blond – it still has a tonal range. It goes from very light, even white, tones in areas which are directly hit by sunlight, to darker areas that are tucked up into the pigtails. The range of tones is similar to that of the face. If her hair had a darker local color (i.e., natural color), the range of tones would toward the darker end.

            Also important when drawing the hair is to avoid drawing individual hairs. I’ve tried (not always successfully) to handle the development of the hair as masses or forms of hair and not individual hairs. The general hair mass, as it envelopes the head, can be thought of as composed of smaller masses, and those smaller masses composed of yet smaller masses – all the way down to individual hairs. But we don’t go down that far. Each one of the masses has a three dimensional form, a roundness, and that’s what we have to keep in mind as we add tone to it. The smaller forms of each of the pigtails go in different directions, and each of those forms seem to separate a bit from the larger form they are composed of, so the shadows must be indicated. Superimposed on these substructures are thin single hairs or, at most, a few hairs that were not drawn up into the pigtails. These latter hairs go in different directions and catch the sunlight. They’re indicated by whitish streaks.

            In order to draw in the smooth curvature of the masses right, it is almost necessary to turn the picture sometimes so it’s easier to draw in the curve. The hair masses flow, and I’ve tried to indicate that, almost feel it as I run the pencil along the curve.

            I also did some touch ups to the face as things popped out. They were small changes but necessary to the whole.

            By next week I should have the clothing drawn in. I’m nearly finished.