When you look at your favorite manga character, what is one of the first things you notice?
For many characters, it’s their hairstyle.
Hair is much more than just something you add after drawing a character’s face. In manga, a hairstyle can tell the reader a lot about a character’s personality, age, lifestyle, and identity.
In our latest MANGA DOJO Online Character Illustration class, students learned how to draw manga hairstyles directly from a professional Japanese manga artist.
Let’s take a look at some of the ideas we explored in the lesson!
🎨 Why Are Hairstyles Important in Manga Character Design?
A good manga character should be recognizable even before they speak.
Hairstyles can play an important role in making that happen.
For example, changing the hairstyle of the same character can make them look:
- Energetic and outgoing
- Calm and serious
- Cute and innocent
- Mature and sophisticated
- Wild or rebellious
- Mysterious
This is why professional manga artists don’t simply think about “how to draw hair.”
They also think about:
“What kind of hairstyle represents this character?”
When designing your own manga character, try thinking about their personality before deciding on their hairstyle.
✏️ Start with the Shape of the Head
One common mistake beginners make when drawing manga hair is focusing on individual strands too early.
Before adding details, think about the basic shape of the character’s head.
Hair sits on top of the skull, so it usually extends slightly beyond the outline of the head.
A simple process is:
1. Draw the basic head shape.
Start with the face and skull before adding the hair.
2. Decide where the hairline begins.
Think about where the bangs and sides of the hair will start.
3. Create the overall silhouette of the hairstyle.
Don’t worry about individual strands yet.
4. Add the major sections of hair.
Think of the hair as several larger groups rather than hundreds of individual lines.
5. Add smaller details at the end.
Thinking from large shapes → smaller details can make manga hairstyles look much more natural.
💇 Different Hairstyles Create Different Characters
Another interesting exercise is to draw the same face with several different hairstyles.
Try changing:
- Hair length
- Bangs
- Hair volume
- Straight or curly hair
- Ponytails
- Twin tails
- Braids
- Accessories
Even without changing the face, you may be surprised by how different the character feels.
This is one reason hairstyle design is such a powerful tool when creating original manga characters.
👀 Think About Hair from Different Angles
A hairstyle that looks good from the front also needs to work when the character turns their head.
Manga artists frequently draw the same character from the:
- Front
- Side
- 3/4 angle
- Back
Instead of memorizing what the hair looks like from one angle, try understanding how the hairstyle wraps around the character’s head.
This makes it much easier to draw the same character consistently throughout a manga.
🇯🇵 Learning Manga Hairstyles with a Professional Japanese Manga Artist
In this week’s MANGA DOJO Online – Character Illustration class, our students practiced manga hairstyles together with a professional Japanese manga artist.
The instructor demonstrated techniques live while students followed along and created their own drawings.
Students can also ask questions during the lesson, and live English interpretation is provided, so you don’t need to speak Japanese to participate.
The goal isn’t only to copy a drawing.
We want students to understand why manga artists make certain drawing and character-design decisions, so they can eventually apply those ideas to their own original characters.
🎨 Want to Learn More Manga Drawing Techniques?
MANGA DOJO Online offers two live online manga classes every week.
Character Illustration – Beginner
Recommended for beginners and anyone who wants to improve their manga character drawing skills.
Topics include:
- Manga faces
- Eyes
- Hairstyles
- Facial expressions
- Faces from different angles
- Body proportions
- Poses
- Clothing
- Character design
Manga Creation – Intermediate
Recommended for students who want to go beyond individual illustrations and learn how to create manga.
Topics include:
- Panel layouts
- Reading flow
- Speech balloons
- Sound effects
- Storytelling
- Plot development
- Storyboarding
- Inking
- Backgrounds
- Character relationships
- Manga pacing and composition
Every lesson features a different topic.
You can join a single class, or continue learning through our 4-Lesson Pass or 12-Lesson Course.
🌎 Learn Manga Online Directly from Japan
You don’t have to live in Japan to learn from a Japanese manga artist.
MANGA DOJO Online connects professional manga artists in Japan with students around the world through live online lessons.
👨🎨 Professional Japanese manga artists
🗣️ Live English interpretation
💻 Live online classes
🎨 Beginner & intermediate courses available
🌎 International students welcome
Interested in joining us?
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