Mane and Tail Styles

[Darkwhip 28]

Hey everybuggy, Lately i've been finding myself drawing ponies with my sister, though most of the times we do show characters, sometimes we like to do ponysona's or create OC's, in these cases coming up with mane/tail styles and colors is kind of hard, for picking color you can just use your favorite one, and for mane style we can derive from show characters, ad the ever-popular Rainbow Dash manecut.

 

With that in mind, I ask, how you come up with mane/tail styles for your OC's? Sometimes you canderive from your own haircut but it's not that simple for males.

 

Here is a pic of an unfinished drawing where i went with Doctor Whooves style and found myself in creative block to come up with something new, please ignore the wing, as i said it's a Work-in-progress.

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by Darkwhip

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

When I'm designing a character (pony or not), one of the first things I do is sketch out tons of different hairstyles for them. Just a basic round shape for their head with the hairstyle sketched over it. I try different combinations and styles from hairstyles I find online. I usually search for real life and anime ones, and of course pony ones if the character's an MLP OC. You can derive hairstyles from people you know too, yourself included.

 

One thing to keep in mind is the personality of your character too - for example, if you're looking for a hairstyle for an elegant, graceful character, a mohawk wouldn't really fit. I give calm characters straighter or 'smoother' hair, while energetic ones get rougher and 'spikier' hair. (Compare Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash, for instance.)

 

Drawing the hair from different angles is also really useful, it will help you know whether or not your hairstyle makes sense in 3D space. (ie does it still look right when viewed from behind or an angle, or does it look off?)

 

You can use the same process for tails too.

 

As for colors, I pick a color that is either close to the coat's on the color wheel (analogous color) or a color that is opposite on the color wheel (complimentary color). I usually make either the hair or the eyes a complimentary, and the other an analogous. That makes your character's hair/eyes 'pop' more.

Keep the value of the color in mind too, you usually don't want to make a character too dark or too bright, that makes it more difficult to do shading or lighting over them later on.

 

Anyway, that's how I go about drawing hair and choosing colors, I hope that was useful to you.

[Ando333 135]

I recommend watching this if you are having trouble with color selection

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alx-H_Rmpvw

[Darkwhip 28]

When I'm designing a character (pony or not), one of the first things I do is sketch out tons of different hairstyles for them. Just a basic round shape for their head with the hairstyle sketched over it. I try different combinations and styles from hairstyles I find online. I usually search for real life and anime ones, and of course pony ones if the character's an MLP OC. You can derive hairstyles from people you know too, yourself included.

 

One thing to keep in mind is the personality of your character too - for example, if you're looking for a hairstyle for an elegant, graceful character, a mohawk wouldn't really fit. I give calm characters straighter or 'smoother' hair, while energetic ones get rougher and 'spikier' hair. (Compare Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash, for instance.)

 

Drawing the hair from different angles is also really useful, it will help you know whether or not your hairstyle makes sense in 3D space. (ie does it still look right when viewed from behind or an angle, or does it look off?)

 

You can use the same process for tails too.

 

As for colors, I pick a color that is either close to the coat's on the color wheel (analogous color) or a color that is opposite on the color wheel (complimentary color). I usually make either the hair or the eyes a complimentary, and the other an analogous. That makes your character's hair/eyes 'pop' more.

Keep the value of the color in mind too, you usually don't want to make a character too dark or too bright, that makes it more difficult to do shading or lighting over them later on.

 

Anyway, that's how I go about drawing hair and choosing colors, I hope that was useful to you.

 

 

Thanks, that part about hair being tied to personality was a key tip, and makes a whole lotta sense now, but what if it's a character who's calm and say lazier as opposed to a more active but tidy character?

 

I recommend watching this if you are having trouble with color selection

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alx-H_Rmpvw

 

*Knowledge Acquired* I had no idea what to do before, thanks for the guidance Mr Ando.

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

but what if it's a character who's calm and say lazier as opposed to a more active but tidy character?

 

 

I'd give that character a simple & unkempt hairstyle, since if they're lazy, they likely wouldn't want to bother styling their hair, or doing any maintenance on it.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

I try out different mane styles on MS Paint before I find one that fits. For colours, I use the Pony maker to see what fits best, then I make a pic of the OC. Pony maker isn't as bad as some people make out, it's good for a first step, ie making sure colours fit and so on, and creating a template to make art from.

[Widdershins 9,959]

...Of the Rich and Famous!

hee!

 

   That's something I've spent alot on. Thing is though with ponies, is I always get the odd feeling like I have to compensate for the amount of neck room they have for hair. Way pony anatomy goes, their neck is more on the back of their head rather than in the middle of the head like the human head that wears the more humanoid hairstyles pony characters seem to often want to mimic. And there's where I run into trouble. Seems most male haircuts are decently short, like barely enough to fall past the cheeks. So that always leaves me with what always seems like a good foot of spare space between head & body.

 

  I do love how many manestyles one sees in mares(I especially love that curly mound you get with Pinkie or Daisy!) ,but I get the feeling there's alot less budgeroom for stallions.

 

   Take, for example, a stallion with a crew cut, looks impressive from straight on, but from the side it looks almost shaved what with the direction it draws towards the nape of the neck. So! I guess, my question is!           You think long hair can work on a stallion?

Like, mullet-length.

 

   That's the focus I come from on hair design for my ponies, is what matches their personality. I have a family of six, so I wanted a sort of repeated image to vaguely & indirectly connect them all. I chose this curled-tusk kind of shape. So in the mare of them, she's got a set of bouncy curls, one's got hair that ends in a crescent shape and so on. Trouble is...

 

   What do you all think: Male pegasus, long, bright red hair that goes all the way down to his shoulders before the ends curling up on either side. More or less together in two thick, parted sections that comes from a widows peak at the front of his hairline. Sort of like Smooth Sailing's hairstyle. (From Your OC Sucks on youtube or what have you, if you know what I'm referring to.)

    That's what I'm thinking, but that's the rub too. One kind of assumes short manes would be especially important for pegasai; you don't really want much hair flyin' about while your flyin' about too, right?

 

   Hah! I could go on for ages about mane design!