One of the more striking and noticeable parts of a character design often comes down to their hair. Whether it is a well-pruned coif or a wild mane, character hair says a lot about them. Hair often signifies a personality and whether a character is simple or dynamic Designing an elaborate, eye-catching hairstyle for a character who doesn’t take the spotlight can be a distraction, especially if you’re a visual storyteller. As such, lead characters tend to get those eye-catching hair-dos. So then what is important to understand why drawing hairstyles for OCs? And taking that further, where can you find hair drawing references to help make your characters look unique?
Why Hair is Key to Character Design: The Iconic and the Realistic
Before we get into all the fun of seeking out character hair references, we should look at an important element of hair in character design - the spectrum of iconic to realistic. No matter the style, you’ll be somewhere in that spectrum when your OC is in the wild.
As we now know, hair is often one of the most significant ways to establish a character’s identity and set their design apart. However, we should consider how detailed hair needs to be for effective character design. Typically with illustrated hair, like those of well-designed OCs, you’ll find different approaches in that spectrum of iconic to realistic styles. When we talk about “iconic” in character design, we are talking about more shape-driven, simplified styles. The design elements lean toward abstraction.
A great example of this type of iconic hair design is Lisa Simpson from The Simpsons. We get the idea that the points on her head are her hair, but you don’t see the separation of the hairline from her skin. Yet, it’s obvious that her hair is present and is treated as such when animated. This is what it means to be on the more iconic end of the design spectrum. It’s all simple shapes, but we are convinced it is hair.
On the other end of the spectrum is realistic hair. The furthest end of that may be photorealistic renderings of natural hairstyles - things that can be extremely detailed and time-consuming to handle. In most OCs, hair drawings tend not to veer into photorealism, especially when there is some element of serialization to work, such as comics or animation. A great example of this is more grounded anime and manga works, such as Insomniacs After School. Nakami and Magari have details, even down to individual strands, but it’s not necessarily photorealistic either. This is about where the far end is for most OCs, comic, and animation designs.
When getting the most realistic-looking hair in an illustration, you may want to turn toward painting. That is a unique skill set, but many great painters have figured out techniques to render hair realistically. A great example of that today is Alex Ross.
“Main Character Hair”
Generally, close attention to the design of a character’s hair is a major step in creating original characters. Most often, the main characters have the most attention paid to their particular coifs. We often catch this when it is expressed in “main character” hair, such as the shonen hair trope. Let’s break this down a bit.
Generally speaking, hair is a defining detail in many character designs, and when it comes to main characters, they carry a little more detail in their hair compared to other characters. If you have ever seen a webcomic or manhwa where lead characters have fantastically detailed hair, and minor characters have simple drawings for their hairstyles, you’ll have seen “main character” hair before.
Some background characters will inevitably have simpler designs; that is just an element of producing comics and animation. However, if you don’t want a Yu-Gi-Oh! situation, then leveling the hair playing field outside of the core cast can be extremely helpful. But as we can see, it is not necessary either.
Hair Drawing Foundations: Shape
Shape is an element of character design we refer to constantly across these tutorials for CharacterHub, and for good reason. Shape language is one of the most significant fundamentals of character design. Great character design often revolves around the expression of shapes, and hairstyles are quite similar. Think of iconic cartoon and anime hairstyles and consider how those shapes influence how we may read a character.
For example, look at Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory.
Dexter’s hair is quite iconic, even as the design was adjusted between Genndy Tartakovsky’s original run of the show to later versions. This is a very shape-driven design in the hair. It doesn’t look like hair in a traditional sense, but like symbols and shapes, we interpret it as such. Would his character design be as effective with more detailed hair? Likely not.
Now, look at Anya Forger from SpyxFamily.
Shape-wise, Anya Forger’s hair is a little triangular. Wider at the base, and narrower at the top, and if we consider her little horns, we might even say she has a very square-shaped hairstyle. However, she does have more details that slide her on the hair design scale closer to “realistic.” In the anime, there are times she gains even more detailed hair, depending on the situation. This mix of shape and detail can be flexible based on the artist’s need or the implied drama of a scene.
Don’t ignore the hairline, either. A hairline influences the shape of the hair you draw. A good widow’s peak can help a character appear older.
Hair Drawing Foundations: Detailing
Beyond shape, the other way to emphasize the importance of hair can be through details. We had mentioned “main character” hair earlier. But that does not mean effective character design needs a ton of detail, either.
When applying details to a character’s hair, it can be a game of adding and removing details until you find a certain balance. Detailing can come in many forms, such as thinking of individual strands of hair, or thinking of falling hair like ribbons.
You can also imply volume through simple tricks to avoid flatness, such as overlapping features. Of course, details like shadows and highlights also go a long way to give hair volume.
Your pursuit of hair along the spectrum of iconic to realistic will help you pick up techniques and strategies for applying detail. Between observing real hair and looking at how artists you admire handle the subject, you can find your own techniques.
Hair Drawing References
Sometimes the best way of creating hair for your OCs is working from references of real hair styles and simplifying them to make them more iconic. Let’s explore some hairstyle drawing references taken from stock photos. When looking at these, be sure to consider shape and detail and see how you might translate what you see to a style appropriate to your character design.
Male Hair References
This gallery of male hairstyles presents a lot of fun opportunities for drawing. Male hair references aren’t tough to come by online either, so be sure to save sources you find for later. One great resource is Unsplash.com.
This is only a small sample of the range of male hair references for drawing. Be sure to save your favorites for later reference.
Female Hair References
Women’s hair can have incredible range and this gallery is only a small fraction of the variation out there. Female hair references can be found pretty easily on sites like Pinterest, so that may be a source to bookmark for later. Here are some great examples of hair pulled from Unsplash.
As you can see, this small selection covers long hair references and other style options. Take advantage of free image libraries to find what best suits your needs.
Cartoon Hair References
One of the best ways to build cartoon hair references is by taking your own screenshots and reference libraries. With that said, let’s look at some examples of cartoony hair as a teaser of what is out there.
Anime Hair References
The sheer variety of anime hair references out there makes it difficult to make a gallery that even approaches the variety present in the art form. But here are some great examples of anime hair you can reference in your own work. Remember you can always build a library of your own with screenshots from shows or manga panel clippings.
Share Your Hair on CharacterHub
Once you have your OC’s locks on lock, you should show off the work you’ve done. CharacterHub is a fantastic option for just that sort of thing. You can take the time to update your spotlight images in your character profile, or even start documenting some of those alternate looks they may have.
Not quite sure which hair design to go with? You can take advantage of the social features of CharacterHub to ask the community and help you find the right look that best suits your OC. Plus, with such a huge archive of original characters on CharacterHub, you can find inspiration for a new OC, or at the very least a new style for their hair.
You could even organize a character tournament over the best hairstyles.
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David Davis
David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!
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