how to draw braids
How To

How To Draw Braids Realistically In 4 Easy Steps

Drawing the braids is an interesting part of hair drawings. And in the beginning, most of us consider that we can’t realistically draw braids.

Are you also a beginner and suffering from the same thoughts?

Let me give you a cushion!

This article will deal with some easy-peasy steps, and you can draw 2D and 3D braids even if you are a beginner. So, without further ado, let’s make a start.

How to draw braids
Best beginner guides-drawing braids

Things You Need to Draw Realistic Braids

You Need Simply 5 things to draw braids like an expert

  1. HB pencil
  2. 3B pencil
  3. 4B pencil
  4. A good quality eraser
  5. A soft paintbrush

How to Draw Braids in 4 Easy Steps

People find it difficult to draw braids because they think they can’t draw hairlines smoothly. And also afraid of shading them. But here, you’re going to be introduced to all the basics, and you’ll be able to draw from a beginner to an expert.

1: Draw Border Lines

Draw two vertical border lines for your convenience using HB pencil. The borderlines are a bit wider at the upper end and become slightly thin at the lower end.

2: Draw a Line of Actin

The line of action plays the role of backbone in drawing. So, identify the line of action of the braid style. It simply shows the style and flow of the braid. Line of action is necessary to draw even if you are drawing straight braids. And much helpful if you are going to draw a curved or flying braid.

How to draw braids
Line of action of the braid

3: Make Y shapes of zigzag edges

After drawing borderlines and lines of action, make a vertical zigzag line in the direction of the action line.

How to get better at drawing
Drawing zigzag at center

And then close the zigzag middle lines from every corner towards the borderline, making it a curved C line. It’ll make a Y shape increasing towards the borderlines.

Hiw to draw braids
Straight braid drawing

Always make sure not to draw reference lines too dark so that you could erase them easily.

4: Add Graphite Shades and Make Realistic

Erase all the reference lines carefully. Now, we can start shading to make its breadth visible. For this purpose, draw simple, slightly curved lines with an HB pencil from the lines towards the inside. Make sure lines should be close to each other and light in color.

Have you done it finely? Great

Now, take a soft paintbrush and blend the strokes. Don’t blend the braid outlines and slightly blend all the inner lines with a soft hand.

Now, take a 3B pencil and start drawing thin strokes towards the inside. Don’t draw the strokes in the whole segment but only draw at the edges because the segment’s central part looks like it is omitting the light. Thus, it’ll remain white.

How to get better at rawing
Shading and blending

Again blend the strokes with a paintbrush. Make it a bit darker at the adjacent lines and lighter in the center. Now, it’ll look more realistic than a flat pencil sketch.

After that, repeat the whole process of shading with the help of a 4B pencil. I hope you’ve got a better idea to draw the braids.

How to Draw Box Braids Quickly

It seems tremendously difficult to draw box braids, but when you have learned to draw straight braids. You can also do it easily. So, let’s start practice.

At first, draw the shape of the head and draw boxes or vertical lines over the head. Then find the braids’ lines of action (as many as you want to draw) and draw the border lines for each action line.

Identifying the line of action and motion or style of the braids is crucial in drawing the box braids. Be much careful when you draw it.

How to draw braids
box braid drawings

Now, you have a clear pattern on which you have to draw the braids. Use the methods of drawing a simple braid in all the borderlines and use the same shading and blending rules.

Practice the best shading and blending, and you’ll soon be able to draw perfect 3D braids.

How Can You Draw Braids Anime Easily?

It is also very easy to draw braids anime. The first two steps are the same as the simple braid drawing. After drawing the borderlines and line of action, draw the upward down heart shapes. Then draw the lines starting from the heart middle corner towards the borderline.

Final Thoughts,

It’s not easy to draw anything realistically in the first few tries. But it’s not impossible to achieve a pro-level. I hope when you’ll try the easy steps mentioned in this article; you become an expert at drawing braids.

Here is another masterpiece of guidance for you to get better at drawing.

FAQs

How to draw braids easily?

You can quickly draw braids within 4 steps,

  1. Draw the borderlines of the braid
  2. Draw the main action line of the braids
  3. Draw a vertical zigzag line over the line of action and in the middle of the two border lines
  4. Add shades gradually and form a 3-dimensional look

How to draw box braids?

Draw the head shape and make boxes over the head surface. Then draw the reference lines. Within the reference, draw simple braids.