Painted Hair Tutorial

Gather supplies needed. In this tutorial, I will be using the Little Dreams Collection Paints (LDC). Refer to my free tutorial on Doll Dreams to blend the LDC paints.

~LDC Tutorial on Doll Dreams~

I have my pallet filled with colors that I might use for the particular doll I am working on. I have selected the color of hair that I will be rooting over the painted hair and have chosen colors to contrast and match that hair.

My brushes of choice are a #3 Liner, #5 Liner and the Little Dreams Collection hair painting brush (however, I ended up not using the LDC brush for this doll~but I had it ready just in case!)

It is a matter of preference and how you see things as to where you would start painting the hair on your doll. Most of the times I start at the crown but sometimes I start at the back of the head. Try different ways until you feel comfortable. first, I will paint a few strokes starting from the crown going towards the forehead. I check my paint color choice with the chosen hair to see how the colors match.

With my #3 liner, I continue long and short strokes from the crown toward the forehead but at a "growth pattern" to the left (dolls right). The face is towards me.

Continue in a single layer (you will add more layers and colors later) painting stokes into a natural growth pattern that you think will look nice on the doll you are working on. Think ahead to rooting hair over the painted hair. Make sure that you have the ability to root in that direction.

It takes me at least one hour per color and layer of hair that I am painting. Here I am just continuing the strokes of hair. The hair is looking more "real" as I add. When I first started in the pictures above, you can see that it sure did not look like this paint job would turn out well. It's a building and layering process and takes time.

Use pictures of real babies to guide you into painting the hair as a real baby's hair would grow.

As I mentioned, I will be rooting hair over this painted hair so I am not filling it in as much as I would if I were to leave the head just painted. A lot of the painted details are pushed into the vinyl when rooting but some remain and I like using the painted hair as a guide for rooting, especially if there is a specific style I am wanting to achieve.

Now I begin adding my next color. This color ended up being my final color on this doll. I did not use any of the other colors in my pallet, just two colors did the trick on this doll.

I use this color on all of my painted haired dolls. It's just amazing! It's a pinky/flesh color and adds so much to any color I use.
It's especially wonderful for those fine baby hairs around the face.

If this head were to be left just painted I would spend a lot more time on it, refining the crown and adding more depth and dimension. I have painted her eye brows with the same colors.

Now she is ready for rooted hair :)