How to Draw Manga Hair

Whereas the eyes are the element you particularly need to focus on in manga, the hair is where you can let go and have fun like never before! Between crazy colors, sometimes patterns, or the pure and hard shape of the hairstyle, there's something for everyone: from the most classic hairstyles to the most bizarre variations!

Rather than showing you the drawing process (something you will find in the manga training article on our website), I will explain the logic behind it. Why is manga hair so distinctive? If you have already read the article that explains how to draw hair in a semi-realistic manner, or simply if you are used to drawing hair, you are probably familiar with the basic method.

First, we define the area where the hair grows, then we determine where it originates from (a part, a cowlick, a point at the back of the skull, a braid, etc.) and from there, all that remains is to choose the type of hair in order to draw the hairstyle that we desire.

In manga, the same principles apply with a slight difference. What makes the manga style so unique is the emphasis. Therefore, we must emphasize what we already observe in reality. For this, I present to you our model of the day, Lambda:

Lambda has a face that can be either masculine or feminine, and will allow us to draw the hairstyles that we are going to analyze a bit later.

DRAW DIFFERENT MANGA GIRL HAIRSTYLES

First example:

This hairstyle is fairly classic, long, a bit wavy, parted at the top of the head by a parting line. If we analyze the hairstyle, we end up with the area from which the strands start: the center part, and then the movement of the strands starting from there. For each example, I will use the same color code:

• Blue for the line or point from which the hair strands start
• Red for hair highlights

This results in the following:

Once we have that, we can highlight what we see, including the volume and the spikes. This means that at the front of the head, above the face, we clearly see the front strands going from the scalp upwards, then falling downwards under their own weight, making a nice wave along the way. We will therefore emphasize this aspect and the size of the strands concerned.

This will ultimately give us something that looks more or less like this:

You see? It immediately adds volume and beautiful movement to the hair!

Second example:

Let's start by analyzing: the haircut is short with a nice very slight wave (this is normal since hair isn't fully straight, even when it's straight like in this case). And all the hair is gathered on one side of the head. So, we have a line on the left and the rest of the strands start from there.

Based on the exact same principle as the previous model, we'll emphasize the tuft at the front and add volume to the whole thing. We can even place a wild strand, another characteristic of manga hairstyles. You know those little rebellious strands that never want to blend in with the rest and do their own thing? The tuft is the ideal spot to place one :3

I think you're starting to get the hang of it ^^ So let's make the exercise a bit more challenging with curly hair now:

This lovely young lady has a haircut somewhat similar to the very first one I showed you, except that the parting is not centered on the scalp and her hair is quite wavy/curly, a bit like a pinup style. It looks like this when analyzed:

Here, we will emphasize the tuft like usual, but we will also emphasize the curls and their volume by styling them in the process. To see a styling of curls that works well and is frequently found in the manga environment, I also refer you to the article on hair mentioned above ^^ In the end, we get something like this:

Before moving on to the boys, let's look at one last classic example for the girls in the case of bangs:

It's a very common hairstyle in manga we have here. Let's analyze it! Here we have a central part and bangs. The hair is very straight.

Here, we won't be able to use a tuft. However, we can play with the strands of the bangs to add some volume and style it up a bit. To do this, we can cheat by adding a tuft that doesn’t exist in reality to separate the strands in question. And as always, add volume :3

DRAWING MANGA MEN'S HAIR

Let's move on to the boys!

First example:

Although the photo is cut off, we can assume here that the hair comes from a point at the back like this:

If I drew the hair in a semi-realistic manner, it would look something like this:

This works, but there's another styling, one that is much simpler and more common and is based on the same principle:

Hair always starts from a central point, but only the outline of the hair is kept, which is simplified.

Last example, but I think you've got the principle now ^^

This picture is easy to analyze, haha. The parting is off-center and the movement of the strands is clearly visible:

This is not a very common haircut in manga, but it would look something like this:

And there we have it, we've covered the mechanics used for drawing hair in manga. Knowing that we can push the stylization even further (look at the hair in Dragon Ball Z or Pokémon!). But the basic principle remains the same: emphasis!

Don't forget to pair the content of this article with the step-by-step tutorial on drawing hair already on the website ^^

Little Recap:

• Analyze the haircut that interests you
• Where do the strands of hair start? A point, a line, where is it located?
• What is the hair's movement? Is it straight or curly?
• Accentuate the volume
• Accentuate the spikes
• Simplify the forms

On that note, get your pencils ready!

Illustrator and Editor: Camille Rakjah