I don't know of a tutorial but I can show you some of my process in how I do hair if you wish

with an emphasis on the I because it would be very subjective

First thing first go through and find the sections of the hair.
Though hair is individual strands which you should acknowledge the strands usually behave in a group called locks(or sections) :P.


I started showing the sections/locks of hair with my green line work
very rough and quickly done. but for you I would build off this idea


Edited by Cryssy - 05 February 2007 at 3:42pm

main problem i see is that you shaded horizontally instead of vertically, so it doesnt really look lik hair at all

This is of my old version, looks a bit familiar, but im gonna do that part again, in photo and pixel... Edit: Green lines added to the hair on the photo (if not visible, you might have to refresh the page)...

Edit 2:



Before I begin editing the hair, I want the palette right (at least the number of colours) cause I found that the old version had 36 colours, which is too much. I found colours that I didnt replace well, I removed some colours and replaced them for existing colours to get a 22 colours palette... (You might think the palettes are from photoshop... That's right, I wanted an overall picture of the colours i used, because you cant see the palette itself in paint)

Edit 3:



Old and New Hairlocks comparisation. Before i can go any further, could someone tell me how to get the highlights and shadows in the right place when shading the hair???

The hair isn't bad in this version, but really doesn't look like what you originally wanted with the links to pixelled hair you were trying to emulate. I suggest showing groups of 1px or less thickness lines like the references did and using those groups to emulate the structure of the hair in the reference. Notice how the brightness of the bunched hairs increases in some places and decreases in others; that's what you need to do to give the hair form and shape as well as make it realistic. Your "Old Hairlocks" pixel needed more contrast in the hair and better representation of the lightness of the reference's hair in those places, as well as the representation of single strands of ahir to give it texture.

Sorry for the veeeeeery late bump, but i decided to do some more editing and ask you people to decide whether the face matches better or not, and what i should change on the face...



Things ive done since the previous edit:

- Attempt on making her face less chubby (cause it was too chubby according to some people)
- another edit on the eyes
- less round and smaller forehead
- small changes on the shading
- Making the nose a bit larger

(Edit: Maybe i should make her chin a bit smaller too..?)



Edited by Varock Shade - 02 April 2007 at 10:18am

i dont really see wrinkly things, or do you mean the rough dithering on the cheek at the moment?

i am gonna work on the palette, cause the colours are indeed not like on the photo...

Ill take a second look at the chin but about the neck... im still working on some things so dont worry, ill be editing that cause i know, its far from the photo (im at the moment more asking if the face looks like the photo...?)

edit 6:


The black lines are gonna be in the reds too, and it will (hopefully) finally look realistic...?


Edited by Varock Shade - 03 April 2007 at 6:30am

ok tnx ill give it a try

to me, she looks like a completely diferent person.

edit 7:

  

Edits since last edit:
- Finished Part of the Hair... I think it looks reasonable, but i need comment on this...

And pixelblink, you have a point with the lightsource... but well, im keeping lightsources the same... i guess mainly cause i dont want to spent another lot of hours on the colouring of the new hair AND the face...

im looking at your edit you made in the first thread of this portrait cause i think i can improve it by comparing them

i think the hair is at last in armony with the picture. like pixelblink said, Varock's using the photo only as a reference, since the ligth source on it is messed with the Camera's Flash.

keep up the good work Varock! i'm rooting for you!

the last ear was fine, now is a bit blurry and hard to 'identify' as an ear

the eyes are perfect, no more edits on them.

there... those are the spots you need to focus. the mouth need another revision.

almost varock. almost

that's rigth. i just needs a bit more definition on it. less dithering maybe.

sorry, the ear.

I have a question about editing the face... Isn't it easier to start from scratch with the colouring?
cause i also wanna change the palette, and I tried it two times and all i got was that the face starts to look worse instead of more realistic, and i think i might want to have a good palette before i start editing the face again...?

If so, can anyone tell me what edits the the old palette needs to get a new, fresh and fitting palette?


(For the people who want to make edits, sketches or whatever to help me, here is the face without the old colouring)


Edited by Varock Shade - 17 April 2007 at 11:20am

thats cool, tnx

And i think that isn't the eye, but those plastic supports of the glasses that keep it from putting pressure on your nose... but well, ill see what i can do with this

Edit: should i consider a higher contrast on the skin than my previous palette?


Edited by Varock Shade - 18 April 2007 at 10:35am

Squinting your eyes while looking at the picture can also help with defining how light/dark areas really are.

First off, I'm going to say that her eye needs to be moved back towards her ear a little. Try looking back and forth between your drawing and the photo quickly, and you'll begin to see where things don't match up exactly. The curve of her eyelid/eyelashes should also be a little sharper, but that's me being nitpicky.

Now, the skin tone. You have the right color just about where the lower part of her is, but... the color on the rest of her face is far too dull and cold. She has rosy cheeks and a nice bright color to her. Try eye dropping the color of her skin (from around her cheeks, the edge of her nose, etc,) and you'll see there is a subtle difference between her actual skin tone and the one you used on her face. Try and brighten her up!

Hair is one of my favorite things to do, so I feel I might be able to help you a whole lot with it. Now, with hair, you have to think of the areas of the hair as merely general chunks of different lights and darks.



I used Snader's color reduced image, so please compare this simple diagram with that one. Her hair consists of 4 very basic color areas, with a warm highlight, cool highlight under that, a medium base color, and then the darkest areas.

You'll notice that the darkest color hardly appears in the area above her glasses, while the highlights don't enter the area below her glasses much at all, either. The line where her glasses are mark a distinct difference in how much light hits the hair. If you put down those basic colors, you can then work to add more transitions between the shades, or choose to do some super dithering.

I hope that all made sense... and that it could be of use to you.

PS: The warm and cool highlights are key to complimenting each other, and will make each other brighter in the process. It's worth it to try and render them.


Edited by Stitchy - 18 April 2007 at 2:14pm

i'd say start from scratch, or you'll still be influenced by the errors of the past versions.

edit 11:
  

Edits since last edit:
- Finishing Face colouring
- Adding Freckles
- Detailing Ear
- Reflections Glasses
- AA on glasses

Well, as i didn't get any comment i hope it's alright... anyway, i dithered the colouring, added some details... I'm gonna put a few edits in the shirt now, please post c&c on the face, (other things are welcome too but i especially need c&c on the face) cause i need to know if it needs edits before posting...

It's now finished:
http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/20318.htm

Hope you all like it...


Edited by Varock Shade - 02 May 2007 at 1:12am