Tutorial: Simple Braids

There are plenty of excellent tutorials out there for doing hair, including several very good ones for doing braids, but most of them feature styles that are slightly too large for the "normal"-sized dolls that I favor. I stumbled across a very easy technique and I thought I'd be nice and share it. :)

I did this in MSPaint. You could theoretically use any graphics program, as long as you set the paintbrush size to one pixel.

I am going to assume that you are familiar with using MSPaint (or whatever program you prefer) to make dolls, or at least the essentials like getting colors from your palette using the dropper tool and basic shading.

I tend to write a lot. You can probably figure it all out just by looking at the pictures. ;)

Stage 1: Set-up

1. Give your doll a face, including ears, and pick a palette.

Allow me to digress for a moment. When your hair is braided, your ears usually show. Therefore, your doll is likely to look odd unless you give her ears. Here are three simple styles that I have used - play around until you find one that you like.

Tip: Look at your face in the mirror. Your ears come approximately from the top of your eyes to the bottom of your nose. Mine stick out at least the width of my eyeballs, though it depends on the angle.

Sometimes you can get away without ears. It all depends on the hairstyle that you choose! Just don't leave them out if they ought to show - it looks funny.

You'll need a palette of four colors. The area you'll be working with is really too small for the shading to get as far as five colors. You can use one of my palettes or your own - remember that for hair, you usually want the shades a bit more distinct than with clothing.

Stage 2: Outlining

2. Eyebrows are important. (I just felt like saying that. Use your second-darkest color.)

3. Draw the outline for the top part of the hair. Use your darkest color. You can clean it up later.

4. Add another line to the top and draw the lines for the braids.

What you do on top of her head depends on what style you are going for. If you draw at least one additional line, then you're good. If you leave it an open space, you may have to use additional shades (more than four).

This is also a good stage to clean up any messy spots from the last step.

You can make the braids as long as you want. Loop them, drape them over her shoulders,or put more than two. (If there's just one, it'll be thicker if it's her whole head of hair.) I'm keeping it simple here to cut down on the file sizes.

It's okay if they're a bit messy. You want them a bit messy.

5. Add little bits (one pixel each) to the sides of the lines for the braids.

It's easier to do it than it is to explain it. You can put them directly across from each other down both sides, or stagger them. Basically, the whole thing should be about three pixels wide most of the way down. Sometimes you'll only be adding pixels on one side - sometimes both. A little irregularity makes it look more realistic, so you really can't screw this up.

Stage 3: Shading, Part 1

If you've gotten to the point of wanting to do braids, you probably already know how to do this.

6. Fill in with the second-darkest color.

7. Add highlights with the next lightest.

8. Add extra little highlights with the very lightest color.

Stage 4: Shading, Part 2

9. Fill in the braids with the second-darkest color. Remember that you want them to be about three pixels wide.

10. Add highlights with the next lightest color. Don't go over the dark outlines. I like to sort of imagine it wrapping around the hair, going down a bit and then switching to the other side. Or you can just put the highlight on one side (particularly if it is supposed to be very straight hair).

11. Add a few extra highlights with the very lightest color.

12. Just a few finishing touches. :)

A bit of string or ribbon at the end, some stray curls where appropriate (note than in real life, a certain amount of hair always escapes the braid), and a little bit of tweaking of the ends or any rough spots. :)

And here is the finished doll! I made her on one of my little girl bases, but this technique works as well for any base with approximately the same head size.