Tutorial - How to do white stray hairs
By Joanna-Vu
167 Favourites69 Comments6K Views
Hello awesome people! 
A lot of you have been asking how I do white stray hairs and I promised a tutorial ... a long time ago!
Well, better late than never right? 
A big thanks to Angelic
. Rogue (from X-Men) was her suggestion and I think she was a perfect reference for this tutorial! (I hope you think the same! 
)
And I can't believe I forgot to mention the name of the technique!
Oh, God! Anyway it is called INDENTING!!!
UPDATE: I was informed that "impressed lines" is a more common name for the technique. Hope it is helpful!
Here is the finished artwork:
PS: If you can't see some images clearly, I can upload them in my scrap folder. Just tell me!
A lot of you have been asking how I do white stray hairs and I promised a tutorial ... a long time ago!
Well, better late than never right? A big thanks to Angelic
. Rogue (from X-Men) was her suggestion and I think she was a perfect reference for this tutorial! (I hope you think the same! )And I can't believe I forgot to mention the name of the technique!
Oh, God! Anyway it is called INDENTING!!! UPDATE: I was informed that "impressed lines" is a more common name for the technique. Hope it is helpful!
Here is the finished artwork:
PS: If you can't see some images clearly, I can upload them in my scrap folder. Just tell me!
Image details
Image size
2000x1959px 1.82 MB
Published:
© 2013 - 2021 Joanna-Vu
Comments68
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Oh my, this is super smart! I always use a kneaded eraser, put you have to have lots of patience haha. I was only wondering, what if you smooth out the pencil? For example, by rubbing a paper or your finger over the surface, will the graphite fill up the lines?
Thank you! 
Sometimes if you rub the paper, eg blend with a tissue, there will be some filling of the lines. But it seems that the graphite that has been transfered stays on the surface, and I find it very easy to remove it using carefully a kneaded eraser. 
Sometimes if you rub the paper, eg blend with a tissue, there will be some filling of the lines. But it seems that the graphite that has been transfered stays on the surface, and I find it very easy to remove it using carefully a kneaded eraser. Thank you for the reply, I am going to try this soon
So this is not a normal pencil to draw such amazing art ..
thank you for tutorial
thank you for tutorial
I was searching for something like this!!! 
This tutorial is really helpful, thank you so much Joanna!!
~Electro.H
This tutorial is really helpful, thank you so much Joanna!!~Electro.H
Thank you! Glad it's helpful! 
This is very helpful. I tried it out as soon as I read about it. I didn't know about this trick before so I'm very thankful that you chose to share it, and in such a neat tutorial as well 
Aww, the pleasure is mine. I'm very happy to know that it is helpful! 
Very interesting!
Thank you! Hope it helps!
Hope it helps!It actually really did lol, you see I've been drawing for yrs and I've dabbled with PS n Painter n Pencil Crayons etc etc, but I love sketching however I have 2 downfalls in my sketching abilities at the moment 1. I always press really hard even when I'm trying not too x.x 2. I learned how to draw by tracing and never learned how to shade or draw still life and 3-D objects, I also never learned how to draw realistic people I've drawn anime nearly all my life but I can't stand Digital artwork bc it takes so long that I wind up getting frustrated and mad at my art plus I will never give up pencil and paper so I figured it was time to perfect that medium and the way you shaded all your pieces and that neat trick with the white is very interesting and I'll definitely give the white idea a try, plus your pieces are perfect for me to study when it comes to shading *Study not duplicate or steal dw (^▽^').
But tell me, how do you keep your sketches so clean? I always smudge my pieces -.- lol I have heard that some people use a clean piece of paper under their hand when they draw, do you do that?
But tell me, how do you keep your sketches so clean? I always smudge my pieces -.- lol I have heard that some people use a clean piece of paper under their hand when they draw, do you do that?
I use a clean piece of paper under my hand, indeed! Some people start drawing from left-to-right (if right-handed) to keep their hand away from graphite, it doesn't really work for me but it might work for you.
And I am really honored that you think my pieces are perfect for study! 
Yea I figured that u did lol I'm still trying to get used to that x.x while I learn not to dent the page with my first line xD along with constantly knowing where my light source is, etc lol I will try out drawing left to right as I am right-handed ^^
Right now there's a lot of experimenting going on as I recently was given prismacolor pencil crayons, a bender for them, and an artists loft sketch kit with everything (blending stumps, kneeded erasers, sepia colors, charcoal, granite sticks, etc, etc lol and I'm used to a mechanical pencil and an it's eraser xD so these tools are very new for me but I'm having a blast with them >3
The one thing I seem to have trouble with atm is over shading, as in my main character who is pale as heck looked African American when I started shading -.- lol but practice makes perfect and I copied that piece about 8 times to practice many styles on it ^^
And your pieces really are perfect for study, they're gorgeous! And I can see how you've done certain things and based on the items I'm now using and testing I'm starting to see which tools you use for what so that's really neat to see too ^^
Right now there's a lot of experimenting going on as I recently was given prismacolor pencil crayons, a bender for them, and an artists loft sketch kit with everything (blending stumps, kneeded erasers, sepia colors, charcoal, granite sticks, etc, etc lol and I'm used to a mechanical pencil and an it's eraser xD so these tools are very new for me but I'm having a blast with them >3
The one thing I seem to have trouble with atm is over shading, as in my main character who is pale as heck looked African American when I started shading -.- lol but practice makes perfect and I copied that piece about 8 times to practice many styles on it ^^
And your pieces really are perfect for study, they're gorgeous! And I can see how you've done certain things and based on the items I'm now using and testing I'm starting to see which tools you use for what so that's really neat to see too ^^
Bravo Joanna, cool creative solution!!!! Sunexise etsi dunamika, tromerh douleia
E, emeis oi traditionals prepei na vriskoume kolpa gia na prosomoionoume ta layers!!!
Awesome! I've seen this technique before but haven't tried it yet. I think I'll give it a go now.Thanks, Joanna!
Well, you don't need it Kath! Your newer artworks seem to improve ... exponentially!!! 
I'm getting there. But I seriously need to work on hair. I think I'll have to do some graphite pieces that focus on hair so I get some practice.
Oh wow I'd never heard of this technique before, I'll definitely give it a go
That's cool, I hope it works for you!
Thank you for the tutorial. I've tried this technique before but I always regret where I made the mark because the hair I draw always takes life of its own, and the white hair would end up in the weird spot. I'm too noob for this hahaha!
Haha, don't worry, everybody has been there! I hope you'll make it work!
I hope you'll make it work!
Now that is a cool trick to know. Thank you for sharing.
You're very welcome! I hope it is helpful!
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