THE SECRET to Drawing GORGEOUS Hairstyles on Profile Faces!!

I hear ALL the time from my students at Awesome Art School about how challenging it can be for many of them, not only to draw hairstyles, but how to come up with fun hairstyle ideas to draw in the first place! Since we've been working on drawing and shading a profile face over the last couple of weeks on YouTube, I thought we'd spend some time drawing profile hairstyles to make this part a little easier!

As you'll see in this hair drawing tutorial, one of my best tips for drawing hair (& to stay inspired!!) is to LOOK AT PHOTOS!!!

When I was learning how to draw, I didn't like using photographs for my references because they made me feel pressured.  I just wanted to learn how to do whimsical drawing, and not be bothered by all the details in a photo since I wasn't drawing realistically!

Now I know there is SO MUCH you can learn from a photo that can inspire you while you're drawing!!

To help you get you started, I made you a 4-page reference you can print out with 12 unique profile hairstyles.  There is also space below each style to practice drawing the hairstyle above it. 

The first thing you need to remember about how to draw hair on a face from any angle, is that hair has volume.

Hair will always extend out and above the head shape you've drawn - whether that head shape is an oval for a forward facing face, or a circle for a profile face.  Even if the hairstyle you are drawing is a ponytail or braid that has been pulled back super tight, there will still be volume that extends above and outside of the head shape you've drawn. 

The next things that will help you with drawing hairstyles are to add in a neck and the profile face drawing guidelines. Then you will begin to see where the hair should naturally sit. 

Once your guidelines are in place, really look at the photo you're using as a reference for this drawing.  Begin sketching  your hairstyle at the root (see above), and extend your line back, away from the face - just as if you were brushing your own hair with a hairbrush.  If you imagine your pencil as a hairbrush - it will help you draw your hairstyles realistically from root to tip. 

It can also be helpful to draw the outline shape of a hairstyle first - almost like you're drawing a helmet, then start adding in your detail, strand by strand. 

Feel free to draw right on top of the profile hairstyles PDF I'm giving out as a resource to accompany today's video - then see if you can recreate those same lines on the circle below.

Using a photo as a reference point for drawing hair really eliminates the pressure of dreaming hairstyles up on your own from scratch (unless you want to). Find a photo of a style you like, then see if you can replicate it on your whimsical or realistic face drawings! 

Let me know in the comments section of today's video if you'd like a copy of my 4-page cheatsheet so you can draw along with me! 

HAVE FUN drawing your profile hairstyles!!! ​