How can I draw realistic hair with pencil?

Question

I've always loved drawing people and my medium of choice has been standard drawing pencils, but I often struggle with hair - specifically long hair. I've come across a couple techniques that have helped me make it look a little bit more three dimensional and given my subjects some body and shine, but I would like to know what you're techniques are for perfecting long hair in a pencil drawing. Do you draw the hair in large chunks? What are some techniques I can use to make it look realistic e.g.: soft, reflecting the right amount of light, not too perfect, etc.?

Answer 1

Hair is always the worst. The best method I have found is not to treat it as hair, by that I mean treating it all as a whole shape with its own set of values. Once the values and the shape itself are set, then working back into it bring out highlights and delineating strands and chunks, it tends to be a bit easier. Hope this helps!