How do I Paint Blonde Hair on My Portraits?

Blonde hair in oil painting often looks chalky, muddy or flat when the artist relies too much on white or browns. True blonde hair contains an array of hues — blues, earth colours and violets. By understanding how blonde hair behaves tonally and chromatically, the artist can mix cleaner pales, richer darks and convincing highlights.

The True Colour of Blonde

The portrait artist faced with painting blonde hair may automatically reach for titanium white and vary it with black or dark brown for shadows in the belief that these colors will create convincing blonde hair. Instead, the hair looks lifeless. What colors should the artist use for blonde hair?

How Not to Paint Blonde Hair

How to Paint Blonde Hair
Rachel Shirley

Before making changes to a portrait with blonde hair, the artist may identify what went wrong with the hair aspect of the painting, which could be any of the following:

• Making blanket assumptions about blonde hair in that it always contains lots of white paint, and allowing this to reflect in the painting.
• Darkening pale colors with black or dark brown for the shadows, resulting in dirty darks.
• Applying the dark areas prior to the pales, contaminating the pale colors when they are applied afterwards. In an effort to put this right, the artist may add more white on top, resulting in an overworked painting with dirty pales.
• Painting the blonde color mix onto a white painting surface, which appears dark by comparison. The artist may inevitably make all the color mixes paler, resulting in a washed-out representation of a blonde haired person in the portrait.

Watch my video clip on painting blonde hair

Tips on Mixing Colors for Blonde Hair

Close observation of blonde hair will reveal that it often contains lots of dark color mixes which can be found between strands and on the dark side of the head. Ash blonde, for instance, often contains earth colors; platinum hair contains a little blue.

Rather than use black or dark brown to darken blonde hair, use a complementary color. Warm blonde hair, such as honey blonde or strawberry blonde, can be darkened with a little blue and earth colour. I often use ultramarine and burnt sienna or ultramarine and a little burnt umber.

Cool blonde hair such as ash blonde or dirty blonde hair can be darkened with a little burnt umber and pthalo blue.

Work onto a toned ground rather than white when painting a blonde subject. A mid-toned neutral color such as pale brown or smoky blue is ideal. This makes it possible to key in the pale color mixes with the darks more accurately and prevent a ghostly painting of blonde hair. Working from dark to light is also a great exercise in gauging tonal variations accurately.

Hidden Colors in Blonde Hair

Apply the pale colors prior to the darks. This preserves the clean color mixes for blonde highlights from being sullied by a neighbouring dark color.

Create soft gradations between pales and darks with a soft clean sable. Keep wiping the surplus paint onto a clean rag with each stroke to prevent unwanted tonal bands from appearing on the hair.

Work from thin paint to thick, finishing off with highlights. I express light-catching strands of hair by dragging neat white paint onto selected areas of the portrait with a fine sable. I use the same method for expressing outlines of the hair, such as flyaway strands or rogue locks falling over the face. Remember to express the shadows cast from the hair, such as on the cheeks and brow.

Blonde Hair Colors for Painting

Although many color mixes can be found in blonde hair, the following suggestions may help guide the artist on which oil pigments to use for the base colors. Lots of creams, beiges and greys are not necessary. In fact, I use only the following colors for blonde hair: titanium white, ultramarine blue, pthalo blue, burnt sienna, permanent rose and burnt umber. Colors are ordered in largest quantity first.

Platinum blonde hair: Titanium white, ultramarine and burnt umber.

Ash blonde: Titanium white, pthalo blue and burnt sienna.

Golden blonde: Titanium white, burnt sienna and ultramarine.

Honey blonde: Titanium white, burnt sienna and burnt umber.

Strawberry blonde: Titanium white, burnt sienna, permanent rose and ultramarine.

Dark blonde: Titanium white, ultramarine, permanent rose and burnt umber.

Blonde-Haired Highlights

Rather than use neat white for highlights to blonde hair, use pale color mixes. White mixed with a touch of burnt sienna creates warm yet intense highlights for hair. Other pales to look out for are pale blues, violets, eggshell and pastels. Such definite hues will suggest form and depth of color to blonde hair instead of just white.

Common Problems with Painting Hair on Portraits

Painting believable blonde hair is less about adding white and more about observing the subtle shifts of colour within the strands. By avoiding black, working on a toned ground and using complementary mixes for the darks, the artist can achieve clean pales, natural shadows and lifelike highlights. With careful blending and accurate colour choices, blonde hair gains depth, form and realism in any portrait.