Basics
Border Effects tool
The Border Effect tool is within the Layer Property and it allows you to add an outline around your layers. You can adjust the line width and colour without damaging your original artwork.
If you want different line colours and thicknesses, separate your elements into different layers, or group layers together in folders and apply the border to the entire folder.
Braids in Comics & Manga
When drawing comics and manga, the drawing styles are often designed to show interesting characters BUT also be simple and efficient to draw multiple times.
The following technique ticks both boxes.
Reference
Most anime characters are designed with straight hair, (since Japanese people have straight hair). Therefore, it’s best to use photos of real hairstyles as reference.
For this tutorial, I’m using Sailor Moon cosplayers to show how braids can be drawn in an anime style. (@rinnegoddess on Tiktok)
Had to remove the reference photo due to copyright issues, but I put the link to the cosplayer.
Planning the Hair Style
Draw your head in the pose you want. Since the character is turned to the side, I’m using a cross in the centre of the face to locate where the centre of the head is.
Then, on a sketch layer, I’m drawing in where the hairline is. Then drawing a grid pattern where the roots of the braids are seperated
On another layer, I sketched in the rest of the hairstyle. The braids are layered on top of each other, so it’s important to understand how you want to design the hairstyle from the beginning
For the sake of clarity, I coloured in the character’s body to make it easier for you to follow.
On a layer above the head, I created a new layer called “Roots”. Following our sketch, colour in the grid, but leave gaps where the scalp shows through.
Drawing the Braids
The sketch we did before is going to be an important map, as we will need different layers to create the braid effect.
Make a new layer called “Braids 1” and activate the border effect button. Choose a brush size and outline colour that allows your braids to stand out. To avoid repetitive work, you can copy and paste this empty layer so that every time you need to draw some more braids, the border effect is already activated.
Start the root of the braids from the centre of the grid and draw them outwards in the direction of the hairstyle (the buns).
We don’t need to see each individual braid. The overall silhouette is more important. Because of the border effect, the braid shapes will look unified when overlapped.
P.S. you may need to move your layers around to create the layering effect.
Create a new layer called “Braids 2” with the same border effect settings, that way you can draw overlapping braids, without them merging into the same silhouette shape as the braids in the back.
Create two layers, “Front Bun” and “Back Bun”, and rearrange them to be in the correct layer order, again with the border effect on.
Draw the buns very loosely, like a ball of yarn. We want to see the texture of the hair in the silhouette.
For the ponytails, the hair will start out thicker and more clumped together where the hair is tied. As it falls downwards, we can see the strands separate.
While the braids themselves are uniformly tied, we don’t want to draw them like that or they could be mistaken for straight hair.
Because braids are 3D, they will appear thicker or thinner depending on the angle we’re viewing them from. Therefore, I’m purposely varying my line width with pen pressure. Some strands will appear thicker in some places and thinner in other places to create this illusion.
You may need to erase and redraw parts of the body, so the hair drapes correctly.
Also, if your hair is looking thin, draw more braids around the back of the head to create volume and shape the hairstyle. It’s a subtle detail that will save your character from having bald spots.
This design is already great for comics, as we can see the silhouette of the hairstyle without too much overwhelming detail.
Details
In real life, details can only be seen in areas up close where the light hits. (Refer to the reference).
Create a new layer called “Details”. (We don’t need the border effect here.)
You can draw the braids as repeating (Y) shapes (braids on the face)
OR as rounded dashes. Remember that the braids are 3D tube shapes, (diagram). We want our dashes to be curved following the shape of the ‘tube’ to keep the illusion of thickness.
Variations
The technique is the same if you want to draw different coloured braids.
In this case, we are drawing with a lighter colour (blond), but using a darker outline on the border effects. The details are drawn using a darker blond, as the black line art seemed too intense.
I used real life reference again. The cosplayer (@goodmorninglili on Tiktok) has blond extensions attached to their natural black roots. So I kept the roots layer dark, and made the braids blond to reflect this.
Had to remove the reference photo due to copyright issues, but I put the link to the cosplayer.
BONUS: Screentones
If you like drawing black and white manga or comics, you can use the Tone setting (in the same panel as border effects.)
Final Result
Try this technique and design your own braided hair characters!
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