How to Draw Blue Curly Hair on Procreate [Easy Beginner Tutorial]

Drawing curly hair can be a serious challenge.

There are so many types of curl patterns and textures to draw, that it can get complicated when you’re starting on a blank slate.

I’ve already covered how to draw kinky hair, brown curly hair, afro hair, twists, and dreads.

I genuinely love drawing curly hair because it’s so versatile.

In this post, I am going to teach you how to draw blue curly hair (since this is actually a popular request).

I will only use free brushes that come in Procreate so you don’t have to buy anything extra. But I will mention drawing resources you can use to enhance your learning. You can also use Photoshop or Clip Art Studio.

I also have a few hair tutorials here if you want to check them out.

I will be breaking it down into easy steps so you can follow them no matter how old you are.

Here’s what you will learn to draw:

It looks complicated, but it’s actually really easy if you do it step by step.

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I am currently using an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil to create all my illustrations. But you can use any tool – a pen and paper or Photoshop because the drawing method remains the same.

Let’s begin.

Table of Contents

How to Draw Blue Curly Hair for Beginners using Procreate

I’ll begin with drawing the head first, and then draw the curly hair over it.

Please create new layers and keep your artwork separate. Meaning, that your outline will be on one layer, your hair color will be on another, your skin color will be on another layer, and so on.

This is because if you want to change the skin color later (to complement your hair color), you don’t have to redo the whole illustration.

So, I prefer keeping different items on different layers.

This will make it very easy to manipulate layers and change colors. If you’re just getting started with digital art, please read these posts to understand what I mean:

Step 1: Draw the character

I’m going to start with a simple cartoon face and shoulders first since the hair is going to be quite long.

I won’t go into detail about drawing the head because this post is mainly about hair.

I’ll start with the outline.

Next, I’ll just color her skin a peachy tone using the dry ink brush and add some blush to her cheeks, nose, and shoulders to give her skin some warmth.

I’m adding these colors on 2 new layers underneath the outline layer.

I’m using the Bonobo brush in Procreate (it’s free in the app) to add the pinkish blush.

If it’s too harsh for you, you can use the blending tool to blend the blush gently.

Next, I’ll color her eyes white and add some skin color lipstick to her lips using the Dry Ink brush in Procreate (also free in the app).

I mainly use the Dry Ink and Bonobo brush to draw my characters and hair in Procreate. These are very beautiful and versatile brushes.

Step 2: Draw the curly hair base

Before you draw any hair on a character, always take a moment to think about the shape of the curly hair.

This will help you draw beautiful hair.

So, on a new layer over the outline layer, I’m going to go in with a bright green color and just roughly draw the shape of the curly hair like this:

Use different curves – make them sharp and round and when you’re drawing the ends, you can make them slightly sharp and poky. Let me do the other side.

Continue with the outline of the curly hair

Next, I’m going to change the opacity of the sketch layer to 50% or lesser so that I can start drawing the curly hair on the character.

Once you’re happy with the rough sketch, I’m going to outline the actual curls on a new layer like this:

Trace over the rough sketch with a blue ink

Next, I will draw the inside outline on the face.

Take your time to draw this outline – it gets easier with practice.

And then I’ll erase the sketch layer or just delete it because we don’t need it anymore.

Next, I’m going to fill in the outline completely so that the entire hair is blue.

Fill the whole outline with a blue color

This is beautiful, but doesn’t it look a little flat?

If you really want to give this blue curly hair some depth, we need to start adding some shadows.

So on a new layer, I’m going to go in with a darker blue and add a shadow behind her head to make the hair look more thick and more voluminous.

Now, to make the hair look more organic and real, I’m going to add some stray curls.

I’ll use the dry ink brush in the same first blue shade I used earlier and just draw random flyaways around her whole hair like this:

Draw the stray curls around the blue hair

Once you’re happy with how your hair looks, we can start adding more strands and definition to the rest of her blue curly hair.

Step 3: Add curls and definition to the curly hair

Now, it’s time to add more definition and details to the curly hair.

Using a darker color of blue, I’m going to start drawing wavy and curly strands from the scalp outwards. Remember to draw the strands in the direction of her hair growth – this will make the blue curly hair look more realistic and beautiful.

I’m going to repeat the same process on the right side of her hair too.

Draw more strands on the rest of the hair

Take your time with this.

Next, using a darker color, draw some strands in the shadows of her curly hair as well.

Now, we’re nearly done.

We can definitely leave it like this. Or you can go in with another color strand.

Let’s take a lighter color this time – very light blue.

And start drawing strands over the blue curly hair like this:

Using a light blue color, start drawing the highlights

Don’t forget to darken the color a bit before drawing more strands in the shadows of her curly hair.

The more strands you draw, the more definition you are adding to her blue curly hair.

We’re done drawing the curls.

But we can add some shadows to make the hair look more 3D.

Step 4: Add shadows and highlights to the curly hair

So, on a new layer, I’m going to go in with a medium purple and draw shadows gently on her forehead underneath the overlapping strands.

This is going to be the curly hair shadow.

Remember to use the dry ink brush for this. If the shadow is scattered, then use the bonobo brush. But if the shadow is created closer to the surface, then use the dry ink brush.

Once you’re happy with how the shadow looks, change the blending mode to “Multiply” and change the opacity to 45% or less.

You’ll get something like this:

Now, I will add some highlights to the outside of her hair. You can read this post to learn more about how I add highlights and shadows to my drawings.

Using the bonobo brush, I’ll take a light blue (on a new layer) and just shade the outside of her hair all around. Then, I will change the blending mode to “Add” and the opacity to 10%. I’ll get something like this.

Draw highlights on the exterior of the blue curly hair

I will repeat the same thing to add some spots on her nose and cheeks – I’ll get something like this:

And voila!

We’ve learned how to draw blue curly hair on Procreate!

Takeaway – How to draw blue curly hair + Resources

I hope this in-depth tutorial was helpful to you, and that you were able to learn how to draw blue curly hair on Procreate.

Drawing hair does get much easier with practice.

You can also get these beautiful curly hair brushes on Procreate if you’re finding it difficult to draw curls and want a shortcut:

CHECK OUT THE PROCREATE BRUSHES

Trust me. Also, drawing with references helps! You can look at stock photos to see what shape of hair you want before you start drawing curls.

One of the best parts about drawing in cartoon style is that you don’t need to complicate things by adding too much texture. You just have to get the shape right and draw a few lines in the direction of hair growth.

I have a post that you can read on how to find your art style

If you want to see more tutorials on hair and people, just leave a comment down below. You can check out my other posts on drawing hair over here.

I will be adding more hair drawing tutorials to this blog, so keep a lookout!

If you’re looking to improve your drawings faster and want to really draw as a hobby or even pick up drawing professionally, I highly recommend picking up this beautiful online course that teaches you how to draw female cartoon characters.

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