How to Draw Black Hair Styles

YO! In this tutorial, I’ll be exploring the different ways I draw black hair styles for my male and female characters. From short styles, braided styles, afros, and even natural hair styles. Whatever style you end up drawing, I'm gonna show you how to make them all look amazing.

 

These hairstyles are very curly. The hair texture originates from people of African descent and is my personal favorite kind of hair to draw. Mainly because it's my kind of hair; and the styles I draw are styles I could actually wear in real life.

 

Step 1:

First I draw the heads of a Male and female character. Right now, I’m not worried about the facial features. I just need a place for the hair to go.

 

Step 2:

Next, I copy and paste the heads onto another layer. ( CTRL+C then CTRL+V )

This gives me two more models to draw on. I use the transform tool to move them to the right of the canvas. ( CTRL+T )

I separate and put them in their own layer folders using the select tool.

Step 3:

Now I draw the character's hairline. For the male character, I draw a more boxy and angular hairline. For the female I keep it rounded and soft.

 

Step 4:

After that, it's time to draw the hair. The first hairstyle I want to draw is a short fade. This style of hair doesn’t have much volume and is very short; so first I outline the basic shape of the hair above the head.

 

I imagine the character just got a fresh haircut. So instead of drawing the hair with more chaotic, natural, and curly shapes I draw a simple more rounded shape above the head. This gives a straight out of the barber shop look.

Now as the style suggests, I fade the hair with hatching lines. The farther away we get from the top of the head the less dense I draw the lines. This gives the hair a faded look.

 

After that, I finish up by inking the character and adding finishing touches. What’s cool about this hairstyle is that you can also add designs into the faded area of the hair to add more personality to the character.

Step 5:

Next I will draw a more natural hairstyle where the character’s hair is not altered by combing it or picking it. This hairstyle doesn’t rely on any particular styling instructions and is very coily. The character lets their hair naturally grow to reach its full potential.

First I establish the volume of the hair by drawing a basic outline around the head. I want this character’s hair to be long.

I draw more chaotic and curly shapes near the outline.

I finish by inking the character and adding finishing touches. The natural hair style can easily be converted to an afro style or a faded style.

Step 6:

Braids are a more complicated hairstyle to draw. With so many variations and styles it can be hard to choose which to draw. I will be drawing box braids.

First I section the hair into boxes. This is where the braids will start.

Next I draw simple shapes that drape down off the head.

I then draw the braids, using this pattern. Making sure that the braid is smaller toward the end. I repeat this for the other braids

After that it’s finished. I begin inking the character and add other details. Make sure the hair inside the boxes leads back into the start of the braid.

Step 7:

The last hairstyle I will be drawing is the bun style. Instead of a ponytail where the hair drapes down off of the head, the bun style will seemingly float atop the head.

First I create two sections for the two buns to sit in.

Because the hair is being pulled back and tied, I draw a basic outline that barely comes off the top of the head. I also adjust the hair line so that it looks like the hair is being pulled back.

Now I draw two circles in each section of the hair. I want this character to have a shorter amount of hair so I draw the buns smaller.

To create that poofy and floaty feeling I draw in small curvy shapes in the buns.

This hairstyle is now complete. The more hair the character has the bigger the buns can get. Now I just ink the character and add finishing touches.

End

Hopefully this helped you understand how to draw black hairstyles. To get a more natural look in these hairstyles you can use a more textured brush and add in more natural looking brush strokes.