How would you shade this part (hair)? @_@

[Viniciuskk]

Hello, I'm a newbie artist and am currently learning to color hair, but I seem to have tackled something beyond what I can handle. To make it short, how would the shading look in green the highlighted area? The light source would be a bit higher than her height.

Also, how'd you rate the shading in the yellow area?

Don't mind everything else, it's all WIP.

[hemspekilegur]

For the yellow area it looks like you're shading the braid cohesively, but I think you want to shade each segment of the braid separately to bring out the that they are separate... so like each segment has it's own range from a separate highlight to a separate shadow. (It might help if you look up a reference picture, I also often draw a sphere or something like that to mark where the light-source is). It was hard to articulate, so I apologize if it doesn't make too much sense... I hope it's helpful though.

Anyways, I love the highlights on the top of the hair, they look really good!

[Viniciuskk]

Oh, I am guilty of just airbrushing everything as one I'll try what you mentioned, thanks!

And really? I thought it was out of place. Good to know!

[Draziya]

Nice work so far!

I notice you said the light source is "a bit higher than her height" but you didn't specify what direction. If it's coming from the right, the green circled area makes sense. However, the highlights coming from the left in the section above it, which would indicate that some light should fall into the green circled area as well.

The braid looks good! Besides from the advice already given to you (making to shade each section separately) I notice it is more detailed and refined than the other sections. Is it right to say that when the WIP is done all of the other sections of the hair will be similar? Because if that's not the case that looks quite out of place.

In general, I'd advise you to try and shade all of the hair at once. Figure out where the shadows and highlights are on all of the hair, and then focus on specific areas when you detail it. That will general give your work a greater sense of cohesion and consistency.

Keep up the good work!

[Viniciuskk]

My bad, it should be right in front of her, slightly above her height.

I did get the feeling the braid had a much better quality than... Everything else. Tbh, I have no idea how it ended up like that and it didn't even take me too long. I wish I knew how to make the green area look as good as the yellow area ._.

Yeah, doing a quick shading seems the best to do. And drawing a ball should definitely help!

[Per K Grok]

Don't know if this is of any help to you.
Done with watercolor and smudge brushes in Firealpaca.

[biscotti]

How I would approach it. Really think about the clumps of hair as sections. This sounds silly but watch a couple of figurine sculpting videos/try sculpting yourself a little bit and it'll really help you get a better grasp on form!

[Viniciuskk]

That looks great! Thank you for the example! It's so much better than what I ended up with