Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tuesday Tutorial Colouring Hair with Copics

Hi everyone.
Are you ready to get colouring?  Today I'm going to show you how I colour hair using Copic markers.
To try it my way you will need a good image with lots of "hair space".  I've provided an image sheet for you to download and practice on.
Next you'll need 3 Copic colours E13,15,17
I like to use as few colours as possiable when creating hair,eye and skin tones.  I do this because it saves time and I won't need a dozen colours to get one effect. 

Here we go....
Step 1 Pretend a light source is at the top of the head.  The areas closest to the sorce will be lightest and the areas farthest away will be the darkest.
Add a hightlight area in a half moon shape to the top of the hair and other areas as shown.
 Step 2 Add the midtone E15 by using a brush stroke from the top of the head towards the hightlighted areas.
Always pull the darker colour toward the lighter colour.
 Step 3 Add the darkest colour E17 with the same brush stroke.  Always starting away from the hightlighed areas and pulling in towards it.
 I've add  additional strokes of E15 to the image.
**Random strokes work best.
You can create a brush stroke by placing the pen tip to the paper and quickly pulling the pen away and up from it's starting point.  Or "flicking" the pen.
 
Click here to download the practice sheet.
I've had a few emails from people wanting sample sheets of hair and skin tones just like the one I did for eyes.
Click here to see the eye colour tutorial.
Here are my colour combo for hair and skin tone with the Copic numbers.
Skin Tones
I used chalk to create blush on faces.
 Blonds
 Brunettes
 Reds
 Misc.
Here are more hair,skin and eye colouring samples using our Geisha images.


I hope this tutorial has been helpful.
  Have a great day!

27 comments:

Tiffany said...

Wow!! Great tutorial!!! I really need help with hair!

LindaC said...

Melyssa, this is an awesome tutorial. I have several Copic user friends on FB so I posted it there. They will appreciate it for sure! LC

Shirley N said...

Wow, this is fantastic! Thank you so much for doing this!!!

Jan Hunnicutt said...

Thank you for the hair tutorial and sample sheet to download and practice with! I remember your eyes tutorial and have the practice sheet in my "copic coloring book". I can't wait to try out some of your hair color combinations.

Zarah said...

Fantastic tutorial!! I don't even use copics, but it still helps! :D
Thanks SO much!!

Jessica G. said...

Awesome tutorial; it's bookmarked for future reference. Thanks so much for sharing!

Anne Temple said...

Excellent tutorial. Thanks for sharing.

Heather said...

Wow! This was such a helpful tutorial for me! tfs

Gloria Westerman said...

Thank you so much!!!....This is so helpful.....now all I need is to go and buy these colors......

Kim said...

This is amazing, thank you!!!

Sheri Gilson said...

WOW!! Amazing tutorial Melyssa!!

scrapsnsuch@gmail.com said...

You are the best!!! Thank you for sharing all these tips. I am new to copics and up until now had no idea what colors to get for hair.

Nazeema Calypso Thompson said...

Amazing tutorials!!
I hardly have time to practice, but you made the tutorial very easy to follow, so i think I'm going to give these tips a try.

Calypso

Thanh Vo said...

I've been waiting... and waiting... and waiting for this tutorial!! Thanks for sharing how you colour, Melyssa. xo

Linda said...

Wow this is amazing! Thank you so much!

Karen said...

Love your tutorial. I am new to Copics and need lots of help! Thank you!

Roxx.T Barnes said...

I want to try Copics soo bad!!
UBER AWESOME tutorial!!
Thank You

Kelly Schelske said...

Love this, thank you so much!! I will keep it bookmarked for reference!!

Travelschus said...

Thank you so much for the great tutorial AND the practice sheet. I can't wait to try my hand at coloring hair...on paper!

Nannieflash said...

Really useful tutorial. hugsxxxx

Margaret said...

Great tutorial. Found it by searching on Pinterest.

Joanne said...

I was SO happy to find your tutorial! It really helped me a LOT! Thanx for taking the time to do this for us Copic loving learners! Much appreciated, it made all the difference! Aloha Joanne.

Shuly said...

brilliant, fantastically useful
thank you
great idea the head practice!

Mary Decker said...

You are so kind to post so many tutorials on how to use Copics. Thank you so much!

Mary Decker said...

It is SO thoughtful and kind of you to post such a great tutorial!! I love that I can download a worksheet to practice, etc.

You are a great person to offer this blog. Awesome!!

Miss. Mary

Crazy Bird said...

Thank you for posting this tutorial! However, the link to the practice sheet is invalid :(

Barb said...

THANK YOU I found it most helpful