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Heyo,

I'm an above-average painter, but I don't paint enough to become really good. One of the things I've never really figured out is how to paint hair. I'm not neat enough to paint individual strands, and when I try to drybrush hair, it just comes out chalky-looking. I try washing it to make it look smoother, and the highlights disappear.

Help! How do I paint good looking hair? Right now I'm trying to get a unit of Witch Elves together, so I'm looking at white or black hair.

I've always done main coat-drybrush-wash-drybrush. I've never had a problem doing it that way. If it's coming out chalky, maybe you could try drying the brush out (getting the paint out) a little longer? I'm just guessing though, to be honest.

Don't drybrush. Paint 'streaks' along the 'strands' (you don't need to hit each and every one). Effectively use a feathering method.

I don't know how helpfull those are for you but here are the links to GW's painting articles for faces. They also have some small tips for painting hair.
GW website might not have links on it but the files itself are still there.

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2570007_PaintingFacesMasterclass.pdf

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m820035a_Painting_Faces_Redux.pdf

Well, I took some of the advice you gave me to heart, and tried again, and it turned out... okay-ish. I don't think it's an ideal unit to start out with because the hair on the witches are kinda all over the place, but I'm pretty happy and hopefully I'll improve as I go along.

I tried taking some pictures but you couldn't really make anything out in them. Once I have the first batch of ten completed, I'll probably make a log about the project anyway, so we'll see then.

Thanks!

I have become a firm believer in 'undercoat - base color - highlight - glaze' on just about everything. It makes for a much more even transition of color. That final glaze also removes the chalky texture from drybrushing quite effectively.

The hair color combos I use are (yes, using the old GW colors; I don't have very many of the new ones yet....):

Black: Chaos Black, P3 Coal Black, Codex or Shadow Grey, Nuln Oil (Badab Black didn't cut it, the final result looked too grey)
Dark brown: Chaos Black, Scorced Brown, Bestial Brown, Badab Black
Medium Brown: Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown, Snakebite Leather, P3 Brown Ink

You can probably figure out the method from there, using lighter browns and yellows as you transition from browns to blondes. The secret to a good blonde is to continue using brown ink for the final glaze; you just use thinner dilutions the lighter the desired result.

A nice auburn color results from Scorched Brown/Bestial Brown/Vermin Brown/Chestnut Ink. I haven't done any work on redheads, sadly.

 Vulcan wrote:

You can probably figure out the method from there, using lighter browns and yellows as you transition from browns to blondes. The secret to a good blonde is to continue using brown ink for the final glaze; you just use thinner dilutions the lighter the desired result.

You are actually best off avoiding using yellow in blonde hair or if you do use very little.

Natural blond hair doesn't have yellow tones, its basically brown that heads towards a white colour.

I'd recommend this tutorial posted here on Dakka for blonde hair. It's quite amazing.