Black hair on a flat surface? - Ninja All Stars - Moon Princess

[Arydis]

I'm painting the Moon Princess from Sodapop's Ninja All stars for a model swap.  I've made some subtle changes since these pictures were taken, but I'm struggling to visualize how to make the relatively flat surface of this model's hair into a convincing thin black hair as in the model's artwork.  Any suggestions?

 

Any critiques or comments overall?

Edited March 9, 2016 by Arydis

[Pingo]

You might want to have a look at how flat graphic artists highlight black hair.  One example would be Veronica from "Archie" comics.  Or you could do an image search on anime cels of characters with black hair.

[Arydis]

Thanks Pingo.  That's a good suggestion.  Now I'm debating on running the black hair with purple or gray.  Either way, maybe aiming for a pattern similar to this

[BLZeebub]

Yep, find some anime would be my suggestion as well (or any comic-style artwork).  You may even need to break out your liner (or cheat as I do and use a Micron micropen) to lay out some guidelines to fill in.  You'll probably have to delineate your own part and strands to look convincing, but it looks like you have the skills to handle it so far.

[Arydis]

Thanks BLZeebub - I'll start as suggested by mapping out flow in some larger areas and then start working on creating my highlights and illusion of strands.  I'll try to remember to put up a WIP or finished pic up.

[Arydis]

Here are my results.  I would paint the white on and then use a black-dark blue to thin the lines down.  The white still dried in rings and probably needs more layers.  Not wholly happy with the whole effect on the hair.  It seemed to come off much better on the crown of her head than on the unruly mop of the back of her head.  

[Pingo]

Looks good!