Best LEGO Ombré Hair Pieces and How To CHEAT to Create Them

A hair piece is ombré if it has colors or tones that shade into each other. And I find it makes any hair piece more interesting.

Ombré (left) and non-ombré (right) LEGO hair pieces
Ombré (left) and non-ombré (right) LEGO hair pieces

While ombré hair pieces are not exactly common in the LEGO world, there are several hair pieces in this style. Today, I'm taking a look at how LEGO achieved the effect with the intent of recreating it myself. Because I need more shaded LEGO hair pieces in my life. Obviously.

Unsurprisingly, the best ombré hair pieces came from the LEGO Elves theme. The soft shading makes the hair seem magical, so magic wielding elves were the perfect candidates for it. My only squabble with this logic is that I think other LEGO themes could benefit from magical hair as well.

Gorgeous ombré hair colors from the LEGO Elves theme
Gorgeous ombré hair colors from the LEGO Elves theme

Looking up close, it's apparent the color at the bottom was spray painted onto the hair piece. Spray paints are exceptionally good at creating the illusion of one color melting into the other, so I'll assume this method was chosen precisely because LEGO wanted the elves' hair to have the ombré look.

A close up look at the spray paint on the LEGO Elves hair
A close up look at the spray paint on the LEGO Elves hair

I myself, don't have any spray paints and my wallet is begging me not to get any. So, what I want to know is: can I recreate the effect with my trusted acrylic paints?

I found the inspiration I needed on some other LEGO hair pieces. There, the appearance of a color transition is achieved by zig-zagging.

"Fake" ombré created by LEGO
"Fake" ombré created by LEGO

Unfortunately, the examples I found had only strands of hair colored, so the pattern on them isn't as noticeable as I would have liked. However, it was enough to set me on the zig-zagging path.

I realized quickly that a simple zig-zag line between the two colors won't be enough. It was too geometric and therefore unnatural. As a possible solution, I tried painting the lower color as if I was painting a wall of fire. The flames pattern that emerged was fairly easy to paint and recreate. Even more importantly, it looks lifelike.

The flames of ombré
The flames of ombré

A third option for creating the ombré look is only available to LEGO. They could create the hair piece using the technique where the two colors get injected into the mold at the same time, causing them to mix at their intersection. Every piece created this way is unique for the colors always mix differently. Which can be seen as a bug or a feature. Depending on what you need.

Maybe this method isn't be able to consistently produce a realistic looking hair piece and that's why LEGO doesn't do it, but I would love to at least see them try it out.

Colors mixing inside the LEGO piece itself and working exceptionally well for flames
Colors mixing inside the LEGO piece itself and working exceptionally well for flames

It may also be that, to get the full benefits of the colors blending, at least one of them has to be translucent. Which might not work as well for hair pieces in particular.

But let's get back to what we can do.

My (Endgame) Black Widow and Gamora are happy with their hair pieces. Or, better said, they will be happy with them as soon as I paint the rest of their bodies.

Black Widow and Gamora dollify in progress
Black Widow and Gamora dollify in progress

I still like the spray painted illusion of ombré more than the flamey one. But the flames I can paint on any hair piece with the materials I already have at hand, whereas the spray painting would require substantial investment of both money and time to procure the utensils and learn how to use them. 

With the assumption you have more acrylic than spray paints laying around and you want to create some ombré LEGO hair pieces, the flamey color method is the one I would recommend.

 

1 comment

  • Hey! So I really want a long woman white hair, and anywhere I search to buy its I never found any. So I think I must paint one. I read your page and I found out that its possible (even possible with heavier hairs) and I rly liked the idea of painting these. You know I live in Hungary and I dont know what paint should I use. PLease could you tell me a concrete type of painting which can work? I tried using nailpaint, it didnt look bad, I just dont know if it works… Thank you very much!

    Ria

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