This tutorial covers the basic fundamentals of hair, such as basic construction, placement on head and chosing the right hairstyle. Also, I have added a few tips and tricks about braids and woven hair styles.

The easiest way to think about anime hair, is to imagine it in little sections or clumps. When starting out, trying to perfectly illustrate each and every stand is rather hard and very time consuming. Instead, think of chunks of hair, perhaps a few strands or inches at a time, as illustrated to the left. Going clockwise, starting the upper most left corner, I have shown basic chunks of short hair, very long hair, spikey hair and medium length hair.

Anime hair is VERY exhagertated for the most part. If a girl has long whispy hair, then it's extra long and flies about eveywhere. The same thing applies to boys with spiked hair. It is usually very spikey and rather tall.

I suggest keeping your hand loose and drawing in light and fluid motions to create the intial flow. After that, you can go in and thicken the design up. During the sketching of the hair one should be the most relaxed, and almost taking the whole process with a grain of salt. Swoop and loop and draw until you've got a full head of hair. If you're not happy with the result, that's what erasers are for.

Before I even draw ONE strand of hair, I always draw the entire head and leave the line of the skull showing. This can help with hair placement. Not knowing the true shape of your character's head can make the hair look too flat or look out of place. Also, don't worry if the top of your character's head is not a perfect circle, because...it shouldn't be. The human head is kinda weird shaped and has lumps and bumps. Your character's head will not be perfect either. Keep those minor distortions in mind when laying the hair over it.

To the left are two (crappy) examples of right hair placement (^_^) and wrong hair placement (X_X). Not compensating for the rest of the skull WILL make your hair look out of place, make your character's head look flat, or just cause the "hmmm something's wrong" syndrome.

Don't be afraid to leave the skull line in when drawing the hair over it. The skull line can easily be erased or wiped out with your paint program.

Just as it is very important to you how your hair looks, it's equally as so to your character. Choosing the right hairstyle is very important. A hairstyle can help to define your character's personality, likes and dislikes and even help to determine sex.

To the left I have used the same basic face with four very different hair styles to demonstrate how hair can make your character more definted. Listed clockwise from upper most left, we have a spikey male hair style, then a shoulder length woman's style, a cute girl's style and a longer male's style. Same face, very different hair.

Also, notice how the skull line remains while sketching.

Practice what I call "Hair in Motion", which is basically, different drawing different head angles and trying to mimic how real hair would naturally move. This is great practice if you ever want to draw the windswept look, or someone hanging their head. When you are not sure how natural hair would flow, use yourself or a friend (provided they don't have a buzzcut) and tilt your or their head in different directions, making note how the hair moves. Adding motion can add lots of character depth as well as make a scene more complete. Also, strategically placing wisps of hair over features that you cannot draw as well help to keep the intergrity of your picture without making a lackluster feature standout.

Braiding Tips

I usually take three very simple steps to make braided or woven hair styles. The picture to the left will help illustrate this.

Step 1 - I usually figure out where the braid will start, as seen by the two lines at the top. Then I establish where the braid will be tied off, as seen in the very bottom. Then, between those two points I just draw a simple wavy line.

Step 2 - With top, bottom and middle established, I draw lines extending off from the middle point like branches on a tree. I usually draw them extending off from the crest and valley of each curve.

Step 3- With the "branches" in place, I then connect each branch to the line above it. Once that is done, I can go in and add more details and end the tail off.

Just as learning to braid in real life takes practice to make the weave smooth and correct, so will learning to draw it. If you can braid in real life, that will help you when trying to draw it. Sometimes I practice on my hair, look at it in the mirror and then draw it on my character.