Learn to draw a hair braid

Learning to draw a hair braid?

Follow the post till the end and you find it is not so difficult at all.

Here's a simple pencil sketch for kids, beginners or anyone who is keen to learn the art of pencil sketching. This sketching was done by my 11-year-old daughter who loves sketching with pencil and insists on using pencil nowadays more than color pencils. So while she was struggling to make this sketch, I clicked the pictures of the steps as she proceeded with the sketch and made a picture tutorial for all you with tips for improving the sketch. 

Hair Braid Pencil Sketch

Materials required:

HB pencil, 2B pencil, paper, eraser

Procedure:

Step 01:

Start with the rough outline of the braid, using an HB pencil.

Step 01: Draw Braid outline

Step 02:

Using the same HB pencil, draw the interlocking braid pattern as shown below.

Step 02:  Interlocking braid pattern

 Step 03:
Continue the pattern as you go downwards. Make sure the pattern becomes thinner as you go downwards as the braid becomes narrower towards the end.

Step 03: Continue the interlocking pattern downwards

Step 04:
Now, using a HB pencil only start hatching the braid. Start with a downwards stroke following the curves.

Step 04: Start hatching with HB pencil

Step 05:
Now, using a 2B pencil darken the top and bottom strokes, to accentuate the pattern.

Step 05: Darken the strokes using 2B pencil

Step 06:
Notice, that the mid part is left grey. Use an HB pencil to soften the strokes. You can fill up the middles part which looks white with a very light shade of grey using an HB pencil.

Step 06: Leave the mid parts white or fill up with light grey using HB pencil

Step 07:
Now the final step is to add some loose strands to make the braid look more realistic. Use HB pencil to make the loose strands.

Step 07: Add loose strands

Finally, the braid is done. Observe the sketches of the hair braid below. The long one looks incomplete, with strokes not evenly made. The second one of the left has made over-use of hatches, making it dense and it has lost the realistic effect. The third one on the bottom is closer to the effect we wish to achieve. Clear hatches and pencil strokes, with the 3D effect we wish to achieve.

Hair Braids 

Tip:

• Use a well-sharpened pencil to make clear strokes. Keep sharpening them if the lead of the pencil becomes blunt in between.
• Try cross-hatching to make it more realistic.

The picture below shows the final result we wish to achieve with cross-hatching.

Hair Braid Pencil Sketch

Happy sketching. Have a nice day ahead and stay safe.

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