Painting hair in a portrait painting can be rather tricky! If you’re like me and have very short hair, or even better yet (or worse?), if you’re bald, it’s rather easy. BUT, if you have a head full of curls, that is a whole ‘nother story!
I’m not sure how other Artists do it, but what I do is draw out all of the details of the hair, with proper proportional measurements, and start painting it all in with layer after layer, gradually blending it all together and getting the colors right. The lighting was low when I took this photo, so the colors are a little off, but here is a current shot of where I’m at with this portrait:
I need to soften up the lines a bit more on the blending of all of the strands of hair and continue adjusting the colors some, but I’m getting there, slowly but surely!