Steps to Draw Anime Hair Styles for all Your Manga Characters

By Rick Feathers

Short hair, long hair, spiked hair, no hair you name it and your manga can use it because hair styles shape and define a character. Coming up with a hair style is easy once you know where to look and following a few simple tips. So let us get started.

I got this tip from my wife and her sister who is a hair stylist. When she was looking to try a new hair style her sister gave her a few books on all sorts of cuts and styles. I was amazed at all the vivid details showing a front, side and back view for both men and women. She also had magazines of many hair styles.

Step one is that you want to get a few of these magazines and booklets. Just go to a hair styling shop and ask the stylist if they have any old magazines and books they would like to get rid of and most likely they will because they probably have a subscription and get them every month. Tell them you are looking for hair styles for your manga characters, they will interest and want to help. You may have to go to a few shops before receiving any.

Step two is the fun part. Look through the pictures and find a few styles you think would look good for your manga character and have a few of your drawings available to compare by placing it next to the hair style.

Step three is the drawing part. Take some tracing paper and lay it over the picture and sketch out the basic outline of the hair. Think of as a black silhouette of the hair style and trace the outer line and highlights because most hair styles are solid in color anyway. You will want to draw a simple outline of the face and such to give a little context. The reason for the tracing paper is also to have a mirror image as discussed in an earlier tip.

Step four is the part you will enjoy the most. Take all the sketches and color them solid with the color you think would look best on your manga or you can leave it as an outline a color later. These are called your hair style templates.

Place them over your already drawn manga character and interchange till you see one you like the most. If they are different sizes just redraw the silhouette sketch to match because you already have the style. This is also a time to be creative and imaginative by improving the style as you sketch on the tracing paper.