I started hair punching the Kijimuna on Sunday. Because of the shear volume of hair I'm after, I've decided to use a crown needle for all the hair who's roots will be covered by more hair. I'll stop around 3 inches short of the hairline and begin punching 1 hair per hole to hide the chunkier roots and give him a realistic hairline. I'm using 16" Yak hair from Banbury Postiche so I can style it after punching (fake hair/fibres is harder to style I find). I used normal off-the-shelf hair dying kits to colour the hair different shades: Dark brown, light brown, red/ginger, blonde.
Even though the Kijimuna's hair is described as bright red, I'm attempting to give my model a sense of believability and bright red hair on it's own would look too 'fantasy' for the look I'm after. From my research during this project I liked the idea of the pigmentation of animals' skin affecting what colour hair grows out of it (often but not always!). I'll be punching a red/light brown mix into the orange patches on the skin and a dark/light brown mix into the parts in between the patches. I'll be punching blonde hairs around the hairline to act as 'baby hairs' and help integrate the hair into the rest of the head....
Hair punching is a very repetitive and mesmerizing process so I've forgotten to take many photos at key points. The photos here show close ups of the hair punched with a crown needle and the single-hole hairs.
He has a lot more hair than is visible on my Photoshopped design as I wanted to be able to change my mind during the hair work if \I saw it wasn't working....
