Blonde hair??

[Argonor]

Does anyone have a good tip on painting (natural looking) blonde hair? Light blonde, that is...

I've been experimenting with bleached bone on light khaki (kommando khaki), highlighted with bone/white mix, but I'm not sure i like the result....

I know some people paint comic-like yellow hair, but I would like to avoid that.

[Hammers]

Doeds anyone have a good tip on painting (natural looking) blonde hair? Light blonde, that is...

I've been experimenting with bleached bone on light khaki (kommando khaki), highlighted with bone/white mix, but I'm not sure i like the result....

I know some people paint comic-like yellow hair, but I would like to avoid that.

There are of course several kinds of blond (including a yellowish kind), but for straw blond I use a bit of raw umber which is indeed green for the shadows. When I paint blond I basecoat with the darkest colours and add successive hilites. So I start with a yellow tan tinted with raw umber, 1st hilite yellow tan, 2nd ivory, 3rd a offwhite Reaper ProPaint called White Leather which is a yellowish ivory white.

May I add that when painting hair, don't paint individual strands but do the hilites on clumps of hair.

[Argonor]

May I add that when painting hair, don't paint individual strands but do the hilites on clumps of hair.

I'm still struggling with that bit... sometimes it works out, sometimes not...

I'll try starting with a darker basecoat, thanks...

[JollyBob]

I usually start off with a medium brown for the basecoat then use something like GWs Bubonic Brown or Desert Yellow for the mid-tone. They are quite yellowy, and little white or ivory (or Sunburst Yellow if you want) added to them will do for the highlight.

Works for me, and I prefer muted colours, but it can easily get a little too "cartoony" if you are heavy handed with the highlights.

[Svennn]

My rather simple recipe is a base coat of Yellow Ochre (desert Yellow is a decent sub), a quick thin wash with Burnt Umber and highlight with yellow ochre & increasing amounts of white.

[Hammers]

Well, try a bit of green, it will look quite realistic. (You are giving advice on blonds to two Scandinavians, you know... )

[Orctrader]

Is this blond any good?



If it is:

Bleached bone - the VGC equivalent - is what I use.  Can't recall it's name.  Base colour is Beasty Brown.  Then the Bleached bone.  Wash with the beasty brown, add Ivory or any off-white for the highlights working up to a tiny spot of pure white.

[Argonor]

Looks good. I have an idea what I could use instead of beasty brown (some mixed stuff I have from other projects).

I'll try out some of the suggestions and see which one I like best (I may have to keep all recipes for different shades of blonde).

[Aaron]

I like VMC yellow ochre with pale sand highlights over beasty brown myself. It yeilds a yellowish blond, but not (IMO) too "comic book" yellow. You can tone it down nicely with a wash or two for variety.

[The_Wisecrack]

a light sand color then bleach bone, creates enough highlight and shadow simultaneously to make the hair look natural.

[ErikB]

I'm no match for Orctrader and his elf, but here's what I use:

* Light blonde = scorched brown, beasty brown, bleached bone

* Darker blonde = scorched brown, snakebite brown, just a little bleached bone drybrushed (depends also upon the sculpting of the hair)

* I also like scorched brown, beasty brown, then snakebite.  It matches how my hair looks in real-life.