[1] About this Tutorial

Let’s draw cuter trendy girls by adding some accessories!

Drawing accessories are important and mandatory in many situations. The question is, are you confident enough to properly draw various styles and types?

We tend to forget to think about little details such as the knots of ribbons or the distance between glasses and the face.

 

So today we’d like to introduce an accessories tutorial: “Let’s draw fashionable girls!”

For this tutorial, the illustrator Alche explains how to draw a variety of accessories for your fashionable characters such as ribbons, nail art, glasses and hair clips!

 

[2] How to Draw Ribbons

There are several kinds of ribbons. I decided to explain how to draw three popular types.

 

 

 

■ Standard ribbon

 

First, I will explain how to properly depict shadows.

 

Let’s take a look at the three notes mentioned above.

Be aware of how the shadows radiate from the middle of the ribbon to form a teardrop shape.

 

Those shadows result from light hitting the raised parts of the fabric and being blocked out in the creases.

If you understand how shadows are produced, you can afterward easily apply the same principle to other elements.

 

 

 

■ Ribbon with ties

 

I would like to introduce you next to ribbons with dangling ties. The most important thing to note with this type is that the ties face downward.

 

I invite you to take a look at the video below this section if you want to learn how to draw the third kind of ribbon; the slender soft type.

 

 

 

■ Let’s practice drawing ribbons!

 

Let’s try to draw a ribbon. First, draw a simplified front view ribbon and change the angle with [Free Transform].

 

Once the shape is altered, duplicate the layer by pressing [ALT] and dragging it.

Drag the duplicate layer to the bottom right to generate a gap. This gap represents the width of the ribbon.

 

When the procedure is over, reduce the opacity of the layer and draw the real ribbon on top of it.

 

The ribbon is now finished!

 

[3] How to Draw Glasses

Continuing, let me show you how to draw glasses! Same as ribbons, there are plenty of glasses shapes. I decided to cover the styles I judged to be the most representative.

 

 

 

■ Important point when drawing glasses

 

When drawing glasses, pay close attention to the space between the lens and the face.

 

Accurately depicting the space between those two elements from various angles makes your image look more natural.

 

The most common mistake can be seen when drawing characters in profile; the lens seems to cover the eyes instead of being placed in front of them. Such a mistake turns regular glasses into goggles.

 

 

 

■ Let’s practice drawing glasses!

 

Time to practice drawing glasses by using the illustration below!

As I did with the ribbon, I draw a front view of the glasses and then alter the shape and angle.

 

I use the [Free Transform] tool to adapt the shape of the glasses to the face of the character.

 

Paying attention to the perspective is imperative as you alter the glasses.

For this reason, I transform each lens separately to ensure that they are properly adjusted.

 

Next, I would like to teach you how to add light reflections to the lens.

First, I make a new layer and set it to blending mode [Screen].

 

Then, to make the lenses look realistic, I use a soft brush such as the [Airbrush] to paint light white reflections on them.

 

[4] Nail Art, Headbands and Hair Ties

I would like to continue this tutorial by talking about a variety of manicures, headbands and hair ties.

 

 

 

■ Manicures and nail art

 

You might think that manicures are nothing but a trivial detail covering a tiny part of the body, but individualized nail art adds a glimpse into the personality of your characters.

 

A wide range of manicure variations exist; for example, single color, french manicure (only covering the tips of the nails), and many other decorative versions.

 

Notice how the whole atmosphere of the illustration changes just by adding individualistic nails!

 

 

 

■ How to draw a headband

 

Up next, I would like to teach you how to draw a flower headband.

Following the curved shape of the headband, all the flowers point towards different directions.

 

When you draw a headband, keep in mind how it passes behind the ears from one to another, but also how it does not rest on the middle of the head, but instead sits slightly toward the front.

 

You can draw it quickly and easily following these five steps.

1. Draw an arch

2. Draw a guide line following the curve of the arch

This line marks the height of the flowers.

3. Sketch some circles

4. Establish the direction of each flower

5. Draw the flowers following their specific orientation

If you want to learn more tips on drawing flowers, Palmie has a tutorial on their website for that too. Please do not hesitate to take a look if you are interested!

(*Please note the following website is in Japanese.)

 

 

 

■ How to draw hair ties and barrettes

 

I would like to conclude this tutorial with commentary on drawing hair ties and barrettes.

Many types of hair ties exist, with and without decoration.

 

Making sure that the rubber band is not visible when drawing this kind of accessory is crucial.

In other words, there is no problem with just drawing the decoration directly onto the hair.

 

Let’s take a look at the three different ways to use barrettes.

1. Holding the hair

2. Showing the ears

3. As decoration

 

It’s essential to properly draw the part of the hair that indents when you push the hairpin into it.

 

With this, we draw to the end of this tutorial. For further explanation about drawing manicures, headbands, and barrettes, please check out this video. *If the video does not display, please try reloading the page.

※ The video is in Japanese.

 

Over 100 free tutorials are available on Palmie's website! Do not miss the opportunity to check it out!

 

・Artist Profile: Alche

It is a pleasure to meet you! My name is Alche.

Making tutorials is a little new for me.

Regardless, I genuinely hope that those tips will be helpful for you!