A question about hair?

[mariusthered]

so we all get use to seeing characters and nothing changes with them ( ask Bart Simpson!) but when you have a dram comic like mine that is more like a tv soap its good to change things from time to time.

question is how often can you get away with changing charters hair styles?

samples are just poser pics but will give you and idea of the changes im making this time around...

Sandy Finn old style..

New style...

main reason for this is the new one will be easier to draw out.

[MissMagicGirl]

I think the change is small enough for it to work. I don't think readers will be like "Who is this character?" I think she will be easy to recognise with that kind of change.

My lead characters hair has changed a lot since I started out. It was a slow change and I did not really notice it either. But her hair gets wilder evry time I draw her haha But I don't think it is a problem haha ^^

[Iaikaa]

As long as the characters stay recognizable hairstyle changes are okay in my books.

Though since fiction kinda works a little different from real life I would really strongly advocate to questioning the reasons you are chancing character designs.Just getting bored of a characters hair or finding it difficult to draw can end up with a situation where you change the characters constantly. You never want to end up confusing your audience too much!

I just come from reading some comics with severe same face and then the characters kept changing their hair and clothes all the time and you never knew who is who. Not saying this will always happen, just a good thing to keep in mind!

[miseryhunting]

I think changing hairstyles is good - shows character development. A good way to stay within a reasonable amount is using regular people as comparison - how often does a regular girl changes her hairstyle? Once a year? Once per two year? I don't know, I drastically change mine every 1 or 2 years.
However, if a reason is mentioned it could work out. Example: Ramona Flowers (with colour change only; I wouldn't recommend changing both the shape and colour as it might detach the reader from your character).

(credit: pinterest)

[mariusthered]

there is a girl on our local market who seems to change her hair daily dont plan on doing that lol

[Shanny8]

I'm kind of along the lines of doing the same but mine is more because of a time shift in the story. In my Ray Thunder story I first drew his mother with long hair, but it was in a flashback...now in the present, she has cropped her hair into a short pixie-ish type of cut.

Even Ray himself gets an hair do upgrade, but that wont happen until the next chapter. In this chapter, he has a fully formed faux-hawk- where as by next chapter his hair will be a variation of the faux-hawk, but more layered towards the front(as in the banner & avatars).

[joannekwan]

Changing a character's hairstyle can be a great way of showing the passage of time!

I think it really depends on the character for how often they change it though. Is it part of their personality or occupation to change their look on their own or another's whim?

Like Kimiko from the original Xiaolin Showdown series, her civilian outfit (hair included) changed pretty much every episode. But that's her character, and she was still recognizable from her facial features alone.

As for my own series, Andreas is a model in Heavy Horns. I'm considering a drastic hair change for him coming up in the next chapter when he goes for one of his shoots. However I was also thinking the change would be symbolic of a shift in the story. It happens at a pivotal moment in the relationship between him and the other leading man.

[VermillionWorks]

Yeah, as others have said people would at least get a bit of haircut after a good amount of time has passed, I suppose you don't have to consider that all the time, lots of series don't, but it's fun to sometimes, unless your character is like an unchanging immortal type.

A more drastic change in style could signify something bigger for the character, like "It's a new beginning, time for a makeover!" Same thing for not touching their hair for a long amount of time when they usually do. Or with guys, not shaving n' such.

Also consider that characters with long hair may also tie back/style their hair in various ways. I noticed it's kind of a thing for characters to have very long hair that's never styled. I'd think even some guys with long hair who aren't interested in styling would still tie it back in a low ponytail or something for convenience once in a while. =P

[shazzbaa]

I think how it's handled kinda depends on the comic! If there's three main characters with very strongly recognisable designs or consistent colour palettes, then you can figure out that this is the same person even if their hair changes every day. If there's a huge cast of 17 characters that come in and out, then it's easy to think a person with different hair might be a new character, or to forget "which one was she again?"

Which means how often people change their hair in real life doesn't always translate well to comics -- when I did my journal comic, it had a kind of minimal style, so hair was an important part of recognising people, but in real life people change huge design features all the time ("Oh, I didn't wear my glasses today, and I thought I'd put my hair up!" "WHO IS THAT PERSON"), so a lot of times I'd have to make note of it if they had a New Look from the last time they appeared.

I think there are tricks to it -- putting the character in an outfit we've seen before, introducing the new haircut in an environment where we'll recognise them, having another character comment "Your new haircut looks great, by the way" or "Sandy? Omg I barely recognised you with short hair!!" -- that make it a little easier to put together "oh that's right, I know who this person is."

[alaingrey]

My comic has huge hair changes all the time, because it's about a rock band. It would be weird if they weren't changing up their looks.

For the first bit of my comic, I have a character who's trying to emulate Ziggy Stardust, so he has a bright red crop, but by the next chapter he's moved on to being obsessed with Alice Cooper so it shifts to a black shoulder length cut. To compensate for a big design change, I kept his outfit the same between chapters. Once it's established he's the same guy, I switched up his clothes.

The next chapter will feature more haircuts. I think its easy because I have a 4 person cast, and one character stays pretty consistent no matter what, along with one being the only woman so she's always recognizable. The others change a lot, but one is always blond no matter what, and is significantly heavier and taller than the other characters, and the other changes so often, he's recognizable for changing. I don't think anyone's ever been confused.

I think it helps suspension of disbelief a LOT to have characters that change hair and outfits, if it makes sense to the story. The first time I saw that in a TV show was Totally Spies and I loved that their outfits changed every episode- it made the characters feel like real teen girls. I think it can add to character personality and development a lot.

[mariusthered]

"Your new haircut looks great, by the way" or "Sandy? Omg I barely recognised you with short hair!!" -- that make it a little easier to put together "oh that's right, I know who this person is."

a good tip to remember! thanks. I have over 40 people who show up in my comic so its not easy

[AngieVX]

If you want to be realistic, keep in mind that the hair grows 1,5 cm per month, so if it doesn't grow ridiculously fast it's OK. But to me the reason for changing hairstyles should be characters development, not "easier to draw" stuff, also if it's your reason no one really needs to know that, pretend there's a story behind it!

[lintvar85]

f you want to be realistic, keep in mind that the hair grows 1,5 cm per month, so if it doesn't grow ridiculously fast it's OK. But to me the reason for changing hairstyles should be characters development, not "easier to draw" stuff, also if it's your reason no one really needs to know that, pretend there's a story behind it!

Totally agree ! inspired by real people more productively on the creation of one or another image , very helpful different source like newaylook Have you tried referencing women with a similar haircut? They had a short haircut want to grow longer length again , after change color hair, after change styling again .and when changing hairstyle facial expressions and even smile changes also.

[AngieVX]

@lintvar85 I love these sites, also have a lot of channels in my Youtube subscriptions. My art teacher from my hairstylists' courses said that I should draw more hairstyles, because I was the best in the group at drawing and then try to recreate them on models, alas, most of my friends have short hair, and I don't have a connection with my Dolly the head, working with a doll makes me bored.