Devblog #33 - Hairdos and don'ts (Patreon)

Howdy! Nix here.

I wanted to do a small devblog regarding hairstyles, which we made a handful of for our reworks of Astoria and Susan. These will be part of the update that's currently close to completion, and I thought it'd be helpful to walk through how we actually approach hair design in WTS from start to finish.

So, how do hairs work in WTS?

The Initial Design Phase

First off, we begin with a rough draft of what our hair should look like. This is where we figure out the overall silhouette and vibe. We want to keep their existing aesthetic intact and make sure that the hair actually looks like it's growing from their scalp, so we design it with that in mind. It's easy to slap some hair on a character and call it a day, but it takes a bit more care to make sure it feels natural.

Layering is super important during this phase too. We have to think about what parts are going to be on the front, which ones are going to be behind the character, and any parts that are supposed to sit in front of or behind clothes. Getting this wrong can make the whole thing feel off, so we plan it out carefully.

Building the Lineart and Colours

Once we've got that foundation set, it's smooth sailing from here. We render in the lineart, trying to keep it consistent with the existing artstyle. This is where the hair really starts to take shape and feel like it belongs with the character.

Next up, we put in the different colours. This is a pretty straightforward step, but it's crucial because it makes hair colours fully customisable. We can adjust the palette later if needed without having to redo the whole thing.

Shading and Highlights

After the colours are locked in, we add soft accent shadows to give the hair some dimension. Then we layer in hard shadows using Multiply layers, which gives us those crisp shadow definitions. We finish it up with a Screen layer to render in the highlights, which really makes the hair pop and gives it that polished look.

Final Polish

Once all that is done, we QA the hair to make sure everything layers properly with the character model and that there aren't any weird clipping issues or visual artefacts. And voilá, you have a new hairstyle!

It's a pretty straightforward process once you get the hang of it, but there's definitely some finesse involved in making sure everything comes together right. Anyway, hope you all dig the new hairstyles when the update drops!