This is the seventh tutorial in a series of portrait sketching tutorials for complete beginners. I have been taking a break from Steemit because it's the school holiday and it's hard to be productive when both kids are at home. I think most parents can relate to that. This tutorial is the continuation of the past tutorials. You can check out the rest of the tutorials below.

My Previous Posts - Pencil Portrait Sketching Tutorials for Beginners

Tutorial #1: Pencil Portrait Sketching for Complete Beginners - SBD Reward for Three Best Sketches

Tutorial #2: Drawing Face Outline

Tutorial #3: Drawing The Eyes

Tutorial #4: Shading Areas Around the Eyes

Tutorial #5: Shading the Nose

Tutorial #6: Shading the Mouth

In this tutorial, I will teach you to shade the hair. Shading the hair is a tedious process because you need to draw it strand by strand to achieve that realistic look. You can't simply blacken the whole area or else it will appear flat and look lifeless. Draw each strand from the top of the head to the tip. Don't drag your pencil back and forth because the process is boring and tedious. Be patient and you will achieve the outcome you desire.

In this tutorial, the hair is fairly easy to draw because her hair is straight and tied up in a ponytail.

I used 4B and 5B pencils throughout this tutorial.

So let's begin!

Shading the Hair

Step 1

Draw some lines to create 'partitions'. This will make it easier to draw the hair later on.

Step 2

Draw the hair strand by strand. Make sure each strand is following the curve of the 'partition'.

Step 3

Use your art eraser to erase the hair outline. Next, draw the hair line.

Step 4

Continue to draw the hair strand by strand.

Step 5

Continue to draw the hair strand by strand until all section is covered.

Step 6

Refer to the reference image, use your 5B pencil to darken certain sections of the hair.

Step 7

Use your art eraser to create the highlights on the hair.

Step 8

Draw some errant strands of hair.

Step 9

Draw hair strands on the other side of the head. Make sure the strands are curved.

Step 10

Continue to draw the hair strand by strand.

Step 11

Continue to draw the hair strand by strand.

Step 12

Continue to draw the hair strand by strand until all section is covered.

Step 13

Refer to the reference image, use your 5B pencil to darken certain sections of the hair.

Step 14

Use your art eraser to create the highlights on the hair. Make sure to draw some errant strands of hair.

Step 15

...and the hair should look like this!

So that's it for tutorial part 7. Is it too hard or does it help you to draw better? Please leave your comments below! Thank you.

Note: In the next tutorial we will learn to shade the rest of the face. I hope that one will be the last tutorial but if there are too many images I might have to break them into two posts.

Stay tuned!

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NOTE: I have thought long and hard about this. To encourage people to learn, I would like to offer some reward in the form of SBD to 3 people who could sketch the best portraits by the end of this tutorial series. I haven't decided on how much the reward will be though. I am thinking of giving SBD3 to the best portrait, SBD2 to the second one and SBD1 to the third. I know it's not much but I am just a lowly minnow who doesn't earn much yet, unless we have some sponsors or the response is encouraging.

So here are the rules:

1. Upvote and resteem this post
2. Draw a portrait exactly the way I taught it in this tutorial series (there will be several posts covering different facial features)
3. Make a post for your entry (add pencilportraitnoob in the tags). Make sure you spell it correctly.
4. At the end of this tutorial series, please link to your post in the comments so that I could find your entry

Is this too complicated? If you are not clear, maybe you can leave me a comment.

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Some of my pencil portrait posts on Steemit:

Jerry and Barbie - A Tribute to Meteor Garden On 16th Anniversary

Pencil Portrait of My Mother - Madam Veronica G. Bedindang

Pencil Portrait of My Husband and Son

Pencil Portrait: Luciana Zogbi - A Brazilian Lebanese Beauty

Pencil Portrait: Sabina Altynbekova - The Living Anime-Girl

Upvote, Resteem & Follow Me @coloringiship