How To Draw Black Curly Hair

For those of you that don't know what 4c hair is, 4c hair is a hair texture type that contains coils to small and tight that the hair appears to be more puffy rather than curly ( similar to photo below ) this is in NO WAY to exist confused with curly hair. there is a drastic difference.

As a blackness creative person that primarily draws characters with 4c pilus, I've been asked many times to do a tutorial on 4c hair then here we go~

before we get into 4c pilus, lets take a moment to fully understand information technology by talking about hair texture in a general sense kickoff

let's take a expect at this case of straight pilus vs curly pilus ( 1 type straight pilus vs 3 type curly pilus )

If you lot take a moment to compare the 2 you'll notice straight hair is flat, it has no texture. Direct hair perfectly hangs downwardly similar to liquid-like silk. Information technology's lack of coil pattern is the reason equally to why it hangs perfectly flat.

curly hair on the other manus doesn't lie down apartment and silky similar direct pilus, It'due south more thick. Curly hair in information technology's raw and unstyled state has a trapezoid like shape this is because the sides of the hair spread more than outward.

And then why is this? Why is straight hair flat and curly pilus thick?

the answer to that question is a affair chosen piling up. When information technology comes to hair texture, the shape of the hair strands aren't the only thing that matters, its how the strands coexist with each other, Curly hair strands coexist by piling up on top each other.

wet also effects hair texture as well, different hair types absorbs moisture differently, thus the thickness of each pilus type is unlike.

…..soooo, how does this all relate to how to draw 4c pilus??

Well let'south take a wait at the drawing beneath. Notice how the arrows go outward more than as the hair texture gets curlier. As nosotros've already discussed, this is because pilus piles upward, The curlier the pilus texture, the more it piles up on each other, the bigger it gets, the more outward the arrows go.

Out of any hair texture, 4C pilus has the near curls. Because of this, the hair piles up on each other so much that information technology doesn't lie down apartment like straight pilus, nor does it brand a trapezoid like shape similar curly hair, it instead becomes more deject like.❤️

This is what you need to take into account when it comes to drawing 4C hair.

Call back of it as piling upward a bunch of cotton fiber balls on each other. The nearly cotton fiber on summit of summit to lead to a bigger patch of cotton. this is 4c hair.

How to not describe 4c pilus:

Garnet fanart. Let'south talk almost Garnet Fanart. I notice a trend that when artists draw Garnet from Steven universe, her hair texture is unremarkably changed to 3 blazon curly similar texture. This subtle form of White washing has confused me because this is inaccurate.

Garnet's hair is in the shape of a cube. Though 3 blazon hair piles up on each other, it isn't curly nor thick enough for their pilus to stay in the shape of a cube. Curly hair lies down more than 4c hair. And then garnet'southward hair being in the shape of a cube is a expressionless giveaway that information technology is 4C. Why exercise you call up hairstyles like flat tops are normally seen on blackness men with 4c pilus? It's because, the 4c hair texture is thick and strong plenty to stay in whatever shape you put information technology in.

please, if you're cartoon a grapheme with 4c hair, avoid cartoon it like curly 3 type hair, this is very anti-black and texturist.

And so, how do you describe 4c hair?

honestly, its the most easy thing in the world

i wanna analyze that blobby looking 4c drawings ( like the ane on the pinnacle left ) can work depending on how cartoony your art style is.

Another thing that I want to profoundly clarify when it comes to drawing 4C pilus is, Yous. DONT. NEED. TO. Describe. EVERY. Hair. STRAND!…..like, seriously. I've gotten many messages near how 4C hair is hard to draw, and information technology's always left me confused; just then I observe out that the same people that take trouble drawing 4C hair, attempt to draw every unmarried strand of pilus. This is unnecessarily time consuming because it's merely impossible to get every single detail down, particularly when yous take a simple cartoon style. 4C pilus does not require much effort, all you're doing is drawing lumps. Information technology's that elementary, nothing more nor cipher less.

The reason why I greatly advise all of you to avoid drawing every single pilus strand is because in real life, when you lot expect at a 4C textured Afro, your eyes don't selection upwards on each individual hair strand similar direct or curly hair. 4C hair, appears to be more than undefined and cloud like, and so attempting to depict each and every individual strand is unnecessary and volition near likely end upward looking inaccurate.