In this free art lesson, you’ll learn how to draw a Manga Girl (3/4 view) with long hair step-by-step. All of the tutorials on How2DrawManga.com are good drawing tutorials for beginners and experienced artists alike. The online tutorials are easy to follow; they teach you the how to draw basics while showing you how to draw manga step by step.
To learn how to draw long hair, we will be using the Basic Girl Head / Face template that we created in a previous tutorial. Click on the link below to complete the Head and Face drawing first:
After you have your drawing for the Basic Head / Face, follow the step-by-step drawings below to add the long hair. The new lines in each step are shown in red, so you’ll know exactly what to draw next. Take your time and draw at your own pace.
Intro: Start off with a pencil sketch. In the beginning stages, don’t press down too hard. For every step, sketch lightly at first so that it’s easy to erase if you make a mistake.
Step 1: Starting in the middle of the girl’s forehead, above the eyebrows, draw a very long, wavy line for the first part of the hair. Notice how this line curves up toward the top of the bald head, and then back down toward the eye on the left. The line should just graze the eye on the left and then overlap the jawline. At the bottom, draw a a couple of pointy, curved, spike-like shapes for the tips of the hair. If you have enough room at the bottom of your paper, you can make this line longer so that your girl has even longer hair.
Step 2: To the left of the previous line, draw another long line for more of the girl’s hair. This line should overlap the ear and then curve at the bottom. This line together with the previous line make up a big chunk of hair. When you draw hair, don’t draw every individual hair strand. Instead, draw big chunks of hair like these. At the bottom of the line, draw a couple of extra curved lines to split up more chunks of hair. Along the top edge of the bald head, draw a couple of curved lines for the way that the hair is parted along the middle.
Step 3: On the right side of the head, draw another long, curved line for the other side of the manga girl’s parted hair. Notice how the top of the line curves up a bit at first. The middle part of this line should overlap the side of the face and should come close to the eye on the right. Add more lines at the top for small, thin clumps of hair. At the bottom, draw a curved, pointy shape for the tip of the clump of hair.
Step 4: To the right, draw a few more long, curved, vertical lines for the other edge of the girl’s big clump of hair. Notice how the hair curves out at the top and in at the bottom. Draw a couple of shorter, wavy vertical lines for a small clump of hair near the middle. At the bottom draw a curved, pointy, spike-like shape for the tip of the hair clump.
Step 5: At the top, draw a series of lines within the curvature of the previous hair chunks for the girl’s roots and hairline. Curve these lines. The lines near the middle should be longer than the lines on the outer sides. The lines on the bottom should be the same length to create the hairline above the forehead.
Step 6: Starting above the manga girl’s bald head, draw a long line that curves to the left of the head and then curves downward for the back of the hair. Follow the curvature of the head as you draw this line. The line should end at the shoulder to indicate the the hair continues on her back. Near the bottom, draw a thin, long shape for another chunk of hair.
Step 7: On the top, left side of the girl’s head, draw a shorter curved line for the other side of the top of the hair. Follow the curvature of the head as you draw the line. On the lower, right side of the head, draw a series of short, vertical lines for more of the back of the hair.
Step 8: Add a few more long, curved lines throughout the shape of the girl’s hair for extra detail on the hair strands. The lines at the top should be shorter to indicate the parted the hair. Don’t draw too many of these lines; just a few to give more structure.
Step 9: Using a pen or marker, go over the lines to make your manga girl drawing permanent. Ink slowly and carefully to avoid accidents. Don’t ink the parts of the ears that are behind the clumps of hair. If you’d like, you can draw the eyebrows over the hair like in the image or omit everything that is behind the hair. It all depends on personal style. Some manga artists draw the eyebrows over the hair because it’s a bit see-through and others don’t. It’s up to you. After the ink dries, get rid of every pencil mark with an eraser.
Final Step: Color your drawing! This drawing was colored digitally but you can achieve the same result using color pencils, markers or crayons! Using light orange or yellow-orange, color a few streaks across the side of the hair for highlights. Use orange for the rest of the hair and don’t overlap the highlights. Use light brown for along the top and near bottom of the hair for some shadows. Color lightly at first and slowly blend the colors together. For an easier drawing, just color the entire hair a single orange color. You can also use any other color you want. Manga characters are always colorful so use, green, pink, purple or any other color you want for the hair.
Use peach for the skin. Add a bit of pink to the cheek for blush. Use a bit of light brown on the skin next to the hair for shadows. Color the irises dark green at the top and gradually add light green at the bottom. Using two colors gives the iris a more rounded feel. For a simpler drawing, you can also just use a single color for the iris. You can also use any other color you’d like for the eyes. Don’t overlap the tiny highlight circles inside the eyes as you color the irises.
That’s it! Keep practicing until you get the hair right. Draw it again and again using different colors and eventually you’ll get better! Bookmark this page for different upcoming hairstyles.
Related Tutorials:
