Hair
by Airwalker
Posted 2007-07-12
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When I began drawing way back when...  one problem I had frequently was hair.  For some reason, I couldn't draw it correctly.  When I did, it looked completely messed up.  So, here I am to spread my mountain of knowledge I have gained on to you, my fellow friends, artists, and of course, the people who randomly clicked here and have no idea what's going on.

Common Mistake
Here you can see I set out two examples.  The example on the left is what somebody starting out at drawing may do.  It's a common error to not consider how high the skull actually goes. 

As I have mentioned in other tutorials, the top of the eyes are generally half way up the head, so if you take the distance from the top of the eyes to the chin, that's also the distance from the top of the eyes to the top of the head.  Then, the hair should be layered over that, not going inside the area where the skull should be.  This is only common sense until you actually start doodling.

So, always keep in mind where the skull is, otherwise your character may have no room for a brain. ^_^
 

Other common mistakes

Another mistake beginners, and even some more advanced artists make is how they develop the hair.  Some people start drawing strands of hair until they have the image of the hair.  What you should do is plan it out, make an outline, and then start drawing the strands.

A mistake in my book, albeit more an issue of style, is drawing each individual hair.  In sketches, this works nicely, but when it comes to coloring, it does not work out too well. Anime, as well as any other cartoon style, draws hairs in tufts and strands.  That way you can color and shade inside of it.

One last mistake, one that I made in that sketch up there, is that you should vary the width of hair strands and tufts.  Hair should come from every where.  Take a look at some professional anime to get a good idea what I mean. 

And now the hair!

I could give you step by step instructions on how to draw hair, but that's near impossible with all of the different styles and flavors.  (Flavors with hair?  Why not?)  I would still like to stress that drawing is acquired by practice and not something you can really teach.  (Only aid in teaching.)  So, I'll show you some common types of hair designs.  Keep in mind I drew these with a sharpie marker to show up easier, so I couldn't erase anything.

Male

	We'll start with the boys hair since it's easier. Generally, it's become the norm to draw boys hair in big, spiky tufts.  This started way before Dragonball Z.  (Though too many people associate it with that.)  Now, basically, you have a matter of where to part the hair.  In this example, the hair is parted in the center.
	Here, the hair is parted from the right.  Also notice how the tufts are shaped in this one.  The hair has corners and looks kinda jagged.  It can help describe a character's personality.
	This one is parted from the left.  It's made as though the hair on his left all visited the right.  This extreme hair-parting shows a character's coolness, and is also kinda fun to draw.   There are some exceptions to the rule, but even the exceptions still resemble it like Keitaro from Love Hina.  (This Keitaro, not this one  ...even though they both have kinda spiky hair.)

Ok!  time to break.  Take a deep breath, now.  And if all of this black and white is getting you depressed, here's some COLOR!
 

Female

*note*  I didn't draw the back of the hair in any of these, just the front.

	With Girls hair, it's harder to draw but more fun to draw in weird styles.  Here we have a generic style.  It would be good for a main character or somebody with a conservative attitude.
	The more separate hair, the more wild the character appears as.  Also notice the antennas...  for some reason, that's a very popular trend recently in manga. Also notice how the bangs just stands up for about half an inch in the front.  I don't really know how they would do that in real life without some kind of a band, but some characters get away with it.
	With this character, she actually has something to hold up the hair.  Jewelry can be added to the hair for a royal appearance...  or a spoiled one.
	This is an example of the hair being pulled back.  When it's like that, the hair seems to be in jagged in step patterns down the hairline.  Free hair strands add to the effect of realism in a sense.
	A hat can push the hair aside too--Tomboyish characters possibly.

So, in recap form!

Notes!

Always keep in mind where the head ends and build the hair on top of that. Know where you are going when you draw. Vary the width of the hair strands Create a hair style that adds to the character.

Bonus!  Try out your hair skillz with our Practice Sheet! (22 kb, .gif image)

 

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