Ask Ninja: 10 vector hair
Ninja December 7th, 2007
Q My kid brother: How do you draw hair in Illustrator?
A This is how I go about it…
Oh, before we start, I should mention that I work on a mac. If you’re working on a PC, substitute “Ctrl” for “Apple” in the keyboard shortcuts.
Using the pen tool, draw a basic face. If you’re not familiar with the pen tool, here’s a helpful introduction. I drew half the face, then copied it and reflected it (Object>Transform>Reflect). I then used the Transform palette (Window>Transform) OR (Shift + F8) to make sure everything aligned properly. After you’re finished drawing the face, name that layer (double-click on the layer in the layer palette) and lock it.
Give your girl some bangs with the pen tool. Name this layer “front hair” and lock it. Create a another new layer for the wispy strands of hair. Start drawing some basic curvy shapes with the pen tool (see above) on this layer.
Selected one of the shapes with the black arrow. Then use the swirl tool to make it swirly.
Use the knife tool to cut your swirled shapes into sections. These bits will be used for the strands of hair.
Continue to make different starting shapes of varying sizes. Then use the swirl and knife tools to create more strands of hair. Start placing some of the strands on the head.
On a separate layer, use the pen tool to create a guide for where you will place the bulk of the hair strands. Name this layer “guide,” move it to the bottom of your layer palette, and lock it in place. The reason I’m stressing locking your layers (when they’re not in use) is because while trying to select individual strands, you may be moving other parts of the face by accident.
Start positioning your strands. Move this strand layer underneath the “face” layer. Toggle the “guide” layer visibility (by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer in the layer palette) on and off for placement reference.
Continue adding more strands of hair. I created another layer for the small strands and moved this layer above the “face” layer.
Lock those strand layers. Unlock the “front hair layer” and fix your girl’s bangs. The wind is coming in from the right, so it doesn’t make sense for her bangs to fall straight down.
Using the pen tool, I drew larger shapes to fill in some of the gaps in her hair. I also gave her shoulders.
And here are the steps to make her eyes transparent so the background will show through. Select the eye, lashes, and eyelid with the black arrow. Open the Pathfinder palette (Window>Pathfinder) OR (Shift + apple + F9). Select the first shape mode and hit expand.
The above screenshot shows the paths in outline mode. To access this mode, hit (apple + Y). This mode is helpful to see any stray points or wonky paths. To exit out of this mode, hit (apple + Y) again.
Now select the new combined eye shape, the eyebrow, and the face shape. Hit the last shape mode button (subtract overlapping shapes) and hit expand. Repeat these same steps with the left eye.
Choose a photo (go to File>Place to import it) for your background (I took this one during my trip to Australia). Move this layer to the very bottom of your layer palette. And there ya go!
Questions or comments? Send me an email at ninja [at] ninjavspenguin [dot] com. Replace the [at] with the@ and the [dot] with a .
Happy drawing, everyone,
Ninja ^__^
PS. Good luck on your final projects, Ray!
Related link:
+ Ninja’s analog (pencil) hair tutorial
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