How to Draw Hair in a Bun

Welcome to this drawing tutorial :D Below we will go over the steps to drawing a simple bun & then I will show you some examples of more complex ones. Make sure to grab the free worksheet below to help you practice :D

Step 1. Head shape

• To start off we need a head to draw the hair onto. I wont be going over the steps of drawing heads on this tutorial but I have a step by step with free worksheets available here that you can use! :D

Step 2. Bald cap Region 

• Define the area where the roots of the hair are located, I like to refer to this as the bald cap region. 

• Decide in your head where you want the bun to be located & the placement of the hair tie in relation to the head shape.

• Add a layer of hair that sits on top of the area we defined and draw the hair moving back towards the hair tie (or where you want the bun to be)

• Erase away parts of the skull that will be covered by this form.

Step 3. Ball

• Draw a sphere (or ball) for where the bun will go, this step can be quite tricky depending on the perspective of the head.

• Don’t be shy about erasing, make sure the placement of the sphere is where you want it because it will be more difficult to move once you start adding details.

Step 4. Details

• Add loose strands of hair and more detailed linework onto the foundation we have already built.

• Make sure to add extra linework towards the roots because its an area where we will usually see more details. 

• In this example I am drawing fairly simple buns, I will show some examples of more complicated ones after this section because I recommend getting comfortable with a basic bun before drawing more complex ones.

Step 5. Render

• Add shading lines onto the hair, feel free to add as much or as little rendering as you would like!

• Draw the lines in the direction that the hair strands are flowing, so the lines over the top of the head will move from the front towards the back of the head (where the hair tie is) 

Step 6. Practice!

• Yay we have completed one drawing, now make sure to go over the steps multiple times to solidify your learning.

This mini course is designed to help you learn how to draw flowing hair from imagination. We go through a series of drawing exercises to help you develop your drawing skills so that you will be able to draw hair with ease. The worksheets provide a very clear and concise way of practicing that will get you fast results. Let’s draw some flowy hair together!