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Jun 2020

I think I'm going to alternate between writing and drawing topics for this series. ^^

So, black hair...since I'm not a painter, I'm not going to bother showing any visual examples (I literally just draw blobs...not much to explain there); I'm just gonna talk about it conceptually.

The most important thing to understand about black hair, if you understand nothing else, is that it tends to defy gravity. "Typical" hair physics don't apply until we put it into braids; otherwise it tends to stick out perpendicularly to the surface of the head (this is why afros exist). Think of it as millions of tiny, delicate springs.

There are different types of black hair, though (like, there's a literal classification system...I think I'm 3C). I don't know the details because I don't care much about beauty stuff (9w9) but basically you can think of it as differences in the 'stiffness' of the springs.
Some people have thick, tightly coiled springs that defy gravity almost perfectly (you usually see this in mens' styles) and some have loose springs that are more like 'wiggles': they still have volume, but the longer they get, the more they bend to gravity's will (often seen in women's styles).

By the way, the men/women dichotomy isn't a biological thing; there are plenty of women with "thick springs" and men with "loose springs". I'm just referring to how they're usually portrayed in media, women especially. I think I can count on one hand the number of African American female characters I know with unbraided hair that isn't 'loose springs', or completely straightened. There's a bit of stigma about it, but that's probably a conversation for another time. ^^;

I think I've rambled enough; gotta leave things for other people to say. ^^; If I had to leave you with one tip, it'd be this: USE REFERENCES! I don't say this often, but this time I'm saying it and I mean it. Use references when you design black hairstyles!

Most people (myself included) instinctively know how to design "white" hair through cultural osmosis; it's literally everywhere. I have about 6 million anime hairstyles catalogued in my brain that I can toss at a new design with minimal effort.
But when it comes to black hairstyles I have, like...10? Maybe? My point is that if you want to expand your repertoire beyond 'afro', 'puff balls', and 'wavy mountain', you gotta put the time in and do research. There's lots to learn out there.

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    Jun '20
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    Jun '20
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The defies gravity part kills me XD, but is true; it is also why at a certain point of hair growth, picks have to be used instead of combs since the hair will eat them.

Another tip, black hair is not always "black". Lighting affects the color of hair, so in minimal light, it will look black; but in brighter light, there is a grey tinge to it

Whenever I'm designing black hair I try to think of hair styles I would wear. My hair is 4A or 4B I think and for a lot of my childhood my hair was in protective styles(box braids, twista, etc). I also never got my hair fully relaxed/permed but I did start straitening it regularly in high school. I've got so much heat damage :sweat_02:.

A thing to consider when drawing black hair is what it looks like when in box braids, especially if the added hair is a different color. Depending on how it's braided in, the other color might start at different point on an individual braid. Like the color might start at the root or appear further down the shaft of the braid.

Exhibit A (It's the only example I had at the moment):

Best thing to do is not overthink it. I have a lot of black characters in my catalogs. You just need to find a design you like, and practice drawing it. Heck, get creative with the hairstyles. For example fades, I would draw the box shape first, and make it more defined before drawing the rest of the face. Also, you could try doing waves. In that case, make sure to leave room throughout the head so it's noticeable, (maybe make them dark grey so that they stand out. Just a thought.

I tend to do Black hair in different styles, just to cover a lot of the different textures and hair types:


Overall, Black hair does come in different types -- coarse curls, wavy, naturally straight, soft curls, etc. And sometimes, if you have a simplified style like mine, you can't really get into all of the details. So my good rule of thumb is to know where the part is, and how the hair is going inward towards the face or outward, as shown below:



Same goes with adding braids or dreadlocks. It's about the shape of the widow's peak, and which direction you're braiding the hair. In that regard, you can mix and match the texture. Some keep their hair course for braids and another part straightened for different styles:

You'll definitely see these tips used in my comics >.<


Using my OC Maehara as a example (and years of experience) you start with a shade of dark colour. This doesn't have to be black (come on guys, some vibrancy) but dark blue, dark green can be a good start. You shade with three slightly lighter shades to give it more depth because black hair can actually reflect various shades of colour.

Just going light grey and shade it with an even darker grey is the simple version of this, but I prefer my colours. :slight_smile: