Learn How to Draw Endless Gobs of Hair
There's really no limit to what you can do with long hair. Straight flowing hair, long curly hair, wild and messy strands of hair, curving points, ect. These hairstyles come with bangs, strands, flips, curls, and dos. These styles are prevalent because they look so darn cool.
Despite all this diversity, cartoon hair really falls into one of three categories (ignoring realistic hair)
1. Angled hair This is hair that is made up of angles. Most of these angles are curvy, though some are straighter. These angles can have a lot of action going on with them, which is why they are used often for somewhat wild characters like the rugged hero and the mischevious imp.
This type of hairstyle seems intimidating, but anyone can learn how to draw it. Really, this style is much easier than trying to accurately draw thin, realistic strands.
The back of the hair can be drawn like the gobs of hair by drawing flowing lines that extend down from the sides of the hair. But what is more common is for artists to draw more of the same all the way down the character's shoulders. Either looks great, though they are styles that will be found on different kinds of characters.
2. Gobs of hair This is the really girly and romantic hairstyle. The hair flows like a river down the character's shoulders. This is one of the easiest hair styles to draw since artists really only have to draw the outline. Oftentimes extra lines are drawn within the gob of hair in order to emphasize texture.
The gobs of hair have four parts, which are the bangs, back, sides, and top. The top often only requires a relatively simple half-circle, though you can get more crazy and draw strands of hair that creep up on the top of the head. Adding a small symbol that looks like fireworks near the top of the head can emphasize the roundness of the head.
Usually the back part of the hair can only be seen as it descends under the head. This will probably be the largest part of this hairdo. The back of the hair is easy to get confused with the sides of the hair, which are connected to the back of the hair but are a little more complex. The sides are the hair that connects to the front of the hair. The back of the hair is the part of the hairdo that gets defined as a gob of hair. This is where you only draw the outline of the hair and possibly some lines within the gob of hair. Do not overdo the lines or else the hair will start to look more realistic and you will be wasting time.
When drawing the back of the hair, you can have the lines in the middle come together like two rainbows. This emphasizes how the hair goes around the head where it connects to the scalp.
Once the bottom is reached, you can do whatever you want. Some artists draw a perfectly horizontal line, other artists draw triangles or curving lines. You can even get really crazy with a variety of different angles.
The sides of the hair are drawn similar to the back of the hair, only shorter. If you want, you can throw some angled hair in the sides of hair to give the character a more distinct look.
With gobs of hair, the sides of the head of hair can be completely omitted. If this is the case, the bangs seem to rest on the front of the head without being propped up by anything.
Bangs are where an artist can really show off his creativity. There are few limitations for bangs other than that they usually tend to be subjected to gravity. But a little hair gel or a scrunchie can break even that rule. The only thing that is almost always the case with bangs is that they are usually somewhat curvy. Bangs are meant to follow the shape of the head, which makes straight bangs seem somewhat unnatural regardless of the type of hair that the character has. Bangs are often parted down the front, which creates a space on the top of the forehead. Hair that has not been cut for awhile can cover the entire face. Thick bangs commonly clump up and drawing this clumpiness can be a fun challenge for artists.
3. Out of control triangles This is almost identical to the first one except there's more straight triangles and the strands go all over the place. These are popular hair styles for the hero of an anime or video game. Artists can get really creative with this hairstyle.
There might be other styles, but I cannot concieve of them. Maybe you can come up with different ways to describe these hairstyles. Clearly, once you get into the realm of realistic hair, all of this goes out the window.
Alex runs Sketchinghouse.com along with Marisol and Tala. They are all college students who love drawing in their free time. They are committed to creating the ultimate resource for beginning and seasoned artists.
