How to Draw a Girl with Long Hair Step by Step (Easy Pencil Portrait)

Long hair is where many beginner portraits go wrong: it comes out flat, stringy or helmet-shaped. This lesson draws a smiling girl with freckles, a centre parting and wavy hair falling past her shoulders, with her head turned slightly, in 12 small steps that take about 12 minutes. It’s a focused way to learn how to draw a girl with long hair. You’ll see how hair sits on the head, separates into clumps and frames the face, while the young face itself stays soft and light.

How long hair works

Start with the head under the hair. Hair sits on top of the skull with some volume, so its outline should sit a little above and outside the head instead of hugging it like a cap. The centre parting follows the curve of the skull, and the hair falls from it to each side.

Long hair moves in clumps, like ribbons, not as single strands. Each wave is an S-curve, and the clumps overlap, one in front of another, with darker gaps between them. Where the hair turns toward the light, on the crown and on the outer edge of each wave, leave a light band. Where it tucks under, behind the neck and between locks, press darker. That contrast is what makes hair look glossy and three-dimensional.

The hair also frames the face. On the near side it falls past the cheek and partly covers the jaw. On the far side, the ear peeks through where the hair is tucked back. Darker hair next to the cheek also makes the skin look brighter.

Below the shoulders, the hair has to rest on something. Even when you can barely see them, sketch the shoulders and neck lightly first so the long strands drape over a believable body instead of floating in space.

The face follows a child’s proportions: eyes slightly below the middle of the head, a small rounded nose and chin, and full cheeks that lift into the smile. Freckles cluster across the bridge of the nose and the upper cheeks. Keep the shading on the skin soft, and let the hair hold your darkest values.