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Today I have more to show you on how I create flowing hair. I adore drawing long hair and their is so much you can do with flowing locks creating movement and flow.

Above to the right you can see part of Hannah's lovely curley hair. The first thing you can see is that it is quiet complicated to draw, because the curls are weaving in and out. I'm not out to replicate the hair exactly but I do want to base it on her hair as much as I can. As your drawing improves you will find your flow will improve and your work will become more complex. Another reason I don't want the hair to be an exact copy, is that I want to add my own personal touch to the feel of the theme. More on this in the next paragraph

What I tend to do when copying hair is pick out the strongest curls in the photo and draw them in faintly. I also look at the weaving of the hair, some of the strands will appear from behind another curl. I also faintly mask out all the hair so that the balance is right, plus it keeps my eye moving around the paper. Building up the curls I can see a flow and I let my pencil play enhancing the natural shape. I keep adding more curls, until I'm happy with the overall feel of the hair. Just to make sure I stand back from the drawing and have a good look at the movement, at this stage I may add some more, after that I then go back into the sketching and start darkening the curls and work out which curls are overlapping. I use an erazor here and rub out the areas where their is no overlapping, this is helpful as a guide when I start painting so I can see the individual curls. A point worth when you look at you look air hair its very rarely smooth and you have bits and pieces that have a mind of there own and I always paint these in later, its one of the finishing off touches to the painting. Layers are amazing, they create depth and the more you have the more luxurious your hair will look.

In the picture below you will notice that the right side of my hair I have not darkened this is so I can add some bubble effects, as she is submerged in the water, these will help create some more depth to the overall painting..



My Mermaid painting is about a deep love of respect for the ocean, sending out positive thoughts to help heal our waters and to clear out harmful toxins. Let me explain a little bit about reiki. Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. Our hands have energy centers called chakras, and it is here energy is released. In my painting I am going to use color to show you where the energy flowing from the hands, and will add real feeling to the painting so you can feel the warmth and love also.

Journal Skin by `BloodPromiser
Brush by ~Leichnam