Hair Basics

This tutorial covers how to create and detail in hair styles by starting with shapes. A tutorial for hair in movement and complicated hair styles may be added in the future, but these should be enough to give you a good start.

The first thing that you should remember when you begin to create the hair is that hair grows out of the scalp along the hairline in a fanning out motion. The hairline can recede with older men, but for most women and young men, it falls along the line shown in this dummy.

The first style I'm going to try is a long haired style that covers the face partially. I start out with the basic shapes and get those looking correct before I go in with hair detail.

I add chunks and strands that grow out along the motion of the shape and in the motion of the hairline. This shorter style also follows the same basic principle. Note how the hair falls down into two halves. Most hairstyles have a line like this, commonly in the center, that splits the hair into two sections.

Here's some gravity defying anime hair. Note that as I detail in the chunks I start where the hair grows out of the scalp, and then go along the motion of the shape.

Chunky bangs. Once again, the same basic forumla still applies.

Hair that is pulled back will pull from the scalp to the point where it bunches up in a single sweeping motion. From there, it will branch out and fall according to gravity in a pony tail or other such hair style. This dummy does not have any bangs, but bangs or other accents can be added.

Hair styles are complicated because the hair is pulled along unnatural paths into the desired style. Here is an example of a bun. There is a tie in the back and the hair branches out from the edges and pulls into the center. Complicated hair style can be confusing, so don't be afriad to use photo refrence if you're unsure of yourself.

A braid is another complicated hair style that flows along unnatural lines. Here are some cheats to make a braid-like hairstyle without having to weave your lines together. The basic formula is shown in red and you can then chunk out the shapes however suits you.