Free Guide

How to Draw Anime Male Short Hair: A Step-by-Step Guide by Japanese Pro Artists

The short answer: Split the hair into blocks before you draw a single strand: bangs, sides, crown and back. Then decide where it grows from: the whorl, the part or the hairline. Only after that do you draw the outline, about one size bigger than the skull, and the short overlapping strands go in last.

If your anime boy's hair keeps turning into a helmet or a mop instead of that messy short cut half the shonen leads you love have, the trouble usually starts before the first strand. This is how Japanese pros build short male hair: blocks, starting points, then the front and the back.

The same anime boy with short hair, drawn from the front and from the back Illustrated examples
The finished hair from the front and the back. Steps 03 and 04 build each one from guide lines.

The four stages at a glance

Anime boy's short hair colored by block: green bangs, blue sides, pink back, with a red dashed part line 01
Split it into blocksBangs, sides, crown and back. Short back hair stacks up in three layers.
Anime boy with red dotted arrows spreading out from the whorl on top of his head 02
Find where it growsEvery strand flows from the whorl, the part or the hairline.
Finished short hair on an anime boy, seen from the front 03
Draw the frontHead and hairline guides, bangs, the outline, then strands.
Finished short hair on an anime boy, seen from the back 04
Draw the backCross two guide lines to find the whorl, then build the layers down to the nape.

Step 01 · Split it into blocks

How do you split anime male hair into blocks?

Treat the hair as a few big bunches: the bangs, the sides, the crown on top and the back.

Most people start with strands. That's where it goes wrong. Hair grows out of four areas of the head: the front around the bangs, the sides, the crown in the middle and the back. Rough each area in as a long, curved bunch. The book compares the shape to a bunch of bananas. Do that and the silhouette of the whole hairstyle is there before any detail.

Start at the part and work outward: bangs, then sides, then the back. On short hair, and on boys especially, the back is a pile of short strands overlapping from the whorl down to the nape. Count it as three layers: above the ears, the middle, and the nape.

Red-pen checkThe colors are only for planning. If you can't tell where the bangs stop and the side starts, the finished hair won't read either.
Anime boy's short hair seen at an angle, colored by block, with labels for the part, side and bangs
01

The blocks at an angle

Green is the bangs, blue the sides, pink the crown and back. The red dashed line is the part.

The back of an anime boy's head seen from above, with the whorl, the part and three pink layers of back hair
02

The blocks from above

The whorl (red dot) sits at the back end of the part. The back hair is split into three layers, and each one gets shorter toward the nape.

Step 02 · Find where it grows

Where does anime boy hair grow from?

From three starting points: the whorl, the part and the hairline. Use one, or combine them.

Pick one, or mix two or more, and you can get the flow of almost any hairstyle. One catch with the whorl: don't pull every strand out of the exact same point. Hair that sits far from the whorl should start a little further along the head, following its curve.

The part and the whorl are linked. The back end of the part becomes the whorl. So before you draw the back of the head, decide both. Then the flow almost draws itself.

Red-pen checkWhen every strand shoots out of one dot, the hair looks like a lid. Spread the roots along the head.
Anime boy from the front with a red dot on the whorl and red dotted arrows following the hair outward
03

The whorl

Set the whorl on the top or the back of the head, then let the strands spread out from it along the shape of the skull.

Anime boy with a center part, a red dotted box around the part and arrows flowing left and right
04

The part

Draw a guide for the part first, then flow the hair left and right along the head.

Anime boy with swept-back hair and red dotted arrows running from the hairline toward the tips
05

The hairline

Start at the hairline and draw toward the tips. Hair pushed up, or caught in a strong wind, changes which way it flows.

Step 03 · Draw the front

How do you draw short anime male hair from the front?

Lay down two guides first, the skull and the hairline, and the hair has something to sit on.

Draw the bald head and the face. Add a back-of-head guide a little wider than the face outline, and a hairline guide from the forehead to just above the ears. Draw the bangs off the hairline guide. Then draw the outline of the hair around the whole head, roughly one size outside the skull line.

Now put a whorl on top and add strands along the flow. Short strands overlap each other, and a few of them flick outward. To finish, add thin lines where strands overlap, to hint at the finer hair. Keep it light. Too many lines and the hair looks unnatural.

Red-pen checkWatch the size of the head. Volume is good, but if the hair makes the head too big for the face, the whole character looks off.
Bald anime boy with a gray back-of-head guide and a gray hairline guide
06

Head and guides

Bald head and face. The gray lines are the back-of-head guide and the hairline guide.

The same boy with bangs drawn from the hairline guide, gray guides still visible
07

Bangs

Draw the bangs from the hairline guide. Keep the back-of-head guide; you need it for the next stage.

The same boy with the outline of the hair drawn around the whole head
08

Outline

The hair outline wraps the whole head, about one size outside the skull line.

The same boy with a whorl on top, strands along the flow and a few flicked-out strands
09

Strands

A whorl on top, strands along the flow, and a few strands flicking out.

Finished short hair on the same boy, seen from the front
10

Finished

Light, thin lines where strands overlap. Stop before it gets busy.

Step 04 · Draw the back

How do you draw short anime male hair from the back?

Find the whorl with two guide lines, then stack the hair in layers that get shorter toward the nape.

Draw the outline of the face and the back of the head as seen from behind. Draw a line linking the ears and a line down the middle of the head. Where they cross is your whorl. Grow rough tufts from it, not just left and right but upward too.

Next, draw the outline of all the hair outside the head guide, again without making the head look too big. Then draw the flow of the whole back from the whorl. Below the ear line, around the nape, the hair is shorter than above. Finish with fine hairs, the same way as the front.

Red-pen checkBack hair cut all one length looks like a helmet. Three layers, finer at the bottom.
Back of an anime boy's head with a gray line linking the ears and a gray center line crossing at the whorl
11

Guide lines

A line linking the ears and a center line. The whorl goes where they cross.

The same head from behind with rough tufts of hair growing from the whorl
12

First tufts

Rough tufts from the whorl, going left, right and up.

The same head from behind with the hair outline drawn outside the head guide
13

Outline

The hair goes outside the head guide, down to the nape.

The same head from behind with the flow of the back hair drawn from the whorl
14

Flow

The flow of the back from the whorl. Hair below the ears is shorter.

Finished short hair from behind, with three layers getting finer toward the nape
15

Finished

Three layers, getting finer toward the nape.

From guide lines to finished hair

The same head at the start and at the end. Everything in between is the four stages above.

Bald anime boy with the back-of-head guide and the hairline guide

Start: the skull and the hairline as guides.

The same anime boy with finished short hair

Finish: blocks, flow and strands built on top.

Where people usually get stuck

Why does my anime boy's hair look like a helmet?

Usually every strand comes out of one point, or the back is one even length. Spread the roots along the head, and break the back into three layers.

Why does the hair look thin at the front?

Check where the part starts. If it begins above the hairline, the hair looks thin. Draw the bangs from the hairline guide.

Why does the head look too big?

The hair outline drifted too far from the skull. Keep it about one size outside the back-of-head guide, and compare the head with the face.

Anime male short hair FAQ

What is the easiest way to draw anime male short hair?

Split it into blocks first (bangs, sides, crown and back), decide where it grows from (the whorl, the part or the hairline), draw the outline about one size outside the skull, and add short, overlapping strands last.

Where does the whorl go on an anime boy's head?

On the top or the back of the head. Seen from behind, draw a line linking the ears and a line down the center of the head. The whorl sits where they cross. The back end of the part also ends at the whorl.

How do I draw the back of short male hair?

Build it in three layers: above the ears, the middle and the nape. Hair below the ear line is shorter, and the strands get finer toward the nape.

How do I get feedback on my hair drawings?

When you join an Anime Art Academy course, a professional Japanese artist gives you personal advice and draws red-line corrections directly on your drawing. There is no limit on how many times you can submit. The only rule: post one drawing at a time, and wait for your teacher's reply before posting the next.