Digitally Coloring Hair with Photoshop

by: J. Phan

Digitally Coloring Hair

With just using the technique of layering tones and highlights, getting a great mop of hair can be easy. The more layers and individual strands you put in, the more detailed and realistic it'll look!

There are three basic steps you need: base color, lowlights, and highlights.

And never feel limited to do just a "solid hair color." As you can see, I chose to incorporate chocolate brown, so now it adds a little something special. Feel free to play around with combinations, and be creative!

No tablet needed. It would help, but it's not necessary. If you have good mouse contol, then that'll work. I do everything by mouse, so yes, it is possible! Just get friendly with your "undo button..."

Step 1.

Alright, so first off you need to choose your base color for the hair.

It's extremely important that the color flows with your existing piece, and that it looks natural. I like going with more muted, and neutral colors instead of crazy wild neon shades.

So I ended up with a pale blond color because it goes well with the rest of the peachy shades I already chose.

Slather on the basic shape of hair. For the strands around it, use the smudge tool. And experiment with different sizes! Don't stick to just one brush.

Step 2.

Next, color in the first set of shadows. Make sure to emphasize on the different strands, and remember

Do variations!

Real hair doesn't just flow downwards, but there are some strands that will stick out in random places.

And also try using textured brushes instead of just a circular one, because that can make the process a lot faster.

Then, added on some highlights. It's a good idea not to over-do them, but only paint in a few here and there.

Step 3.

Now you're adding your second set of shades. Make this slightly darker than your first set.

If you want to have a more realistic hair, you can continue adding more shadows, going darker each time.

But I wanted to keep my hair looking more semi-realism, so I stopped.

Step 4.

We're almost done!

I want to add my brown sections now. So I followed the same process with the blond parts and transfered it onto here.

Now that strange empty part of the hair is gone. We're practically finished here.

Well. . .if you want just a realistic hair, then you can stop at this step. I decided to do one more thing.

Step 5.

After all that coloring and staring at his hair for a moment, I decided that "something" wasn't right. . .

The hair looked too realistic to match the rest of the face.

So I added a faint outline around the edge of the hair. This makes the hair have a more 2-D flare, so it goes with the rest of the neck and face.

Now we're done!