How To Draw Braids

Easy Braid Drawing Tutorial

Many features distinguish a person, including the eyes, nose, tone of their skin, and even hair. The way a person wears their hair says a lot about their personality. You will want to focus on all of a person’s features when you are drawing portraits or drawing illustrations of people.

It is important to practice many different hairstyles, including braids, curly hair, straight hair, long hair, and short hair if you are interested in learning how to draw people.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to draw braids, so when it comes time to draw your subject’s hair (if they have braids) your completed drawing will look professional.

Drawing supplies needed for this drawing tutorial:

• Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Board
• Drawing Pencils
• Kneaded Eraser or Tombo Mono Zero Eraser
• Blending stump or Camelhair Paintbrush

Drawing Braids Step By Step Tutorial Video

Step 1 Draw The Clumps Of Hair

Use upside-down Vs to draw the outline of the braids. Notice when the Vs are connected, they look like upsidedown hearts.

Draw the braid’s contour lightly with a 2H pencil. This will allow you to adjust the values and erase unwanted lines.

Step 2 Draw The Darker Values Of The Braid

Start drawing in the braid’s darker values after you have completed drawing the shape of the braid.

Start by identifying where the light source is coming from. If you are using a reference image, identify where the darkest values are.

Drawing tip:

The darkest areas are where light does not hit the surface of a subject.

Draw in the darker areas with a sharp HB pencil.

Do not be too concerned with making this perfect at this time. This step is to map out the darker values. You will be adjusting the values and the lines as you go along with this tutorial.

Step 3 Draw The Separation Of The Braid

The separation of the hair will be the darkest value of the hair.

Use a sharp HB pencil to draw in the separation of the clumps of hair.

Step 4 Blend Graphite With Camelhair Paintbrush

Softly brush over the braid with a camelhair paintbrush to blend the graphite and to soften the lines.

A camelhair paintbrush works better than a blending stump for drawing hair because it lightly blends the graphite.

You can use a blending stump if you do not have a camelhair paintbrush but make sure you use a very light touch.

Step 5 Draw In Highlights With Tombo Mono Zero Eraser

Draw in the highlights with a Tombo Mono Zero eraser. Do not be too concerned with erasing stands of hair at this time. The objective is to create highlights. The soft value changes and highlights will create the braid’s shapes and produce a three-dimensional illusion on a two-dimensional drawing surface.

Step 6 Blend Graphite

Softly brush over the braid drawing to remove any eraser debris and blend the graphite to create soft value changes.

Step 7 Add More Value To The Braid

Start drawing in more details of the braid. Draw from dark to light and follow the shape of the braid with each line you draw.

Use a sharp 2H pencil to draw in the darker values and draw towards the braids’ lighter areas.

Step 8 Repeat The Steps Above

Repeat the steps above and continue to add lines, blend the lines, and erase the highlights to add depth to the braids.

The more you repeat the steps above, the more realistic your drawing will look.

Final Thoughts On How To Draw Braids

Drawing hair can be intimidating you artists who have never practiced the techniques used for drawing hair.

You can spend many hours drawing a portrait, and if the hair is off, the entire drawing will look off.

The steps used for this drawing braids tutorial can be used for drawing all different types of braids, including french braids, fishtail braids, plait braids, rope braids, and so on.

Each braid will have a different shape, but the techniques used for drawing braids will be the same.

Start by drawing the clumps of hair, identify where the light source is coming from, identify where the darkest values are, and draw from dark to light. Create soft values by blending the graphite with a camelhair brush and draw the highlights with an eraser. Continue the steps until you are pleased with the outcome.

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