In this post you will learn how to draw hair buns for both male and female subjects. You will also learn the differences between male and female hair buns, how to make each look a certain way, and when to use a particular style, as each can give off a different feel to your character or subject. Lastly, I’ll teach you how to draw them in both a simple vs. detailed style, depending on the look you’re trying to achieve or if you’re crunched for time. Let’s get started!
WHAT’S A HAIR BUN?
In order to draw a believable hair bun, we first need to understand what it is, how it works, and for what reason the subject has their hair tied.
This may seem trivial at first, but figuring these points out early on will not only help you understand how a hair bun forms a particular shape but will help you give more flow and movement to your subject’s hair.
So, a hair bun is when someone ties their hair into a primarily rounded shape that usually sits on the upper half of their head with a band or hair tie. When drawings hair buns, the hair strands meet or converge at the hair band because that’s where all the hair is tied. The individual hair strands n the bun then “balloon out” in the form of a bulb because the mass of hair expands outward as it’s “free” and not tied up. See the pic below.
The oval or egg shape is the most common form of hair buns.
The ends of the subject’s hair are usually hidden within the bun or right at the edge of the hair tie. So, this means there usually won’t be too many stray hairs sticking out of the bun or from the person’s head, depending on the hair style. This adds to a cleaner, neat look. But also less tedious detailing for you 😉
Hair Buns are usually used for longer hair but there are shorter hairstyles, such as those for men or women with chin-length hair. Hair buns are used to keep hair tidy & from obstructing the person’s vision when doing an activity.
*Remember this when designing your own characters! You don’t want your lady knight defeating a tri-headed dragon with her hair getting in her face 🙃
Let’s get started with a simple hair bun tutorial below!
How to Draw Hair Buns
1. Define Your Hairline
A. This is the point where the hair starts (or ends). Adding a hairline gives a natural look to your hair bun. If you were to just draw a bun on someone’s head without showing a hairline, it looks as if the bun is attached to a bald head. This doesn’t make sense because hair buns are made of hair, so how can you have a hair bun when someone doesn’t have hair? You can’t! So you need to draw in a hairline. Plus, it gives some more volume to your subject’s hair.
B. After we’ve figured out where the hairline is, you can color it in if you’d like.
2. Decide Where the Hair Bun Is
You can place a light mark with a pencil on the area you want the bun to be. I drew a little “X” to mark the location of the hair bun. This is where I’ll be drawing my hair tie or band.
This helps define how the bun sits on the head.
3. Add a Hair Tie or Band
It can be as small or big as you’d like. I drew a kinda thick bulbous band below because I want it to support and cushion the bun.
You can try experimenting with different shapes & sizes of hair bands for different looks!
It also helps pinpoint the direction of the bun and how gravity may affect it. Buns in the center of the head are more likely to stick up because their center of gravity, is well, in the center. But if you draw a hair bun to the side, that bun’s center of gravity has now shifted to either the left or right side, causing your hair buns to droop a bit.
But don’t forget to draw one, otherwise how’s the subject supposed to have their hair all tidied up?
4. Draw the Hair Bun as 1 Main Shape on top of the band. (Usually a bulb or sphere)
Just one main shape. Nothing fancy or detailed. You can do more complicated shapes later but I want you to start off with a bulb or sphere first, as it’s the most common bun shape.
When we draw 1 simple shape for the bun, we’re drawing the entire bun as 1 object. This helps us understand the overall look and feel of the bun without getting super caught up in details. It also keeps us from drawing something that doesn’t look like a hair bun.
Basically, your hair bun needs to look like a hair bun the moment you see it.
5. Add Some stray hairs Coming From the Hair Line if you’d like
This adds more realism as real hair buns aren’t always perfect and neat. Some hair styles have shorter hair in certain areas and these stray hairs help account for that. There’re usually a few stragglers hanging out.
Feel free to color in your hair bun or hairstyle with a solid color.
And that’s how to draw a quick and simple hair bun!
To learn about the difference between male and female hair buns, continue reading below.
Male VS Female Hair Buns
Male
Men usually have shorter hair than females. For male hair buns, they’re often tied from the top third of their head. This is because in more modern hairstyles, men have longer hair growing from the top of their head, while they have either a shave or “fade” that is much shorter. The fade often starts from the back of the head and continues to the side burns and top half of the back of their neck.
In the picture below, I drew some different styles of male hair buns.
Some look messy with stray hairs, while others look neat and tidy. It all depends on the look you want to achieve with your subject or character.
As you can see, these male hair buns have all different shapes and styles. Don’t feel you always have to stick to one particular style. Try experimenting with different shapes and hair combinations!
The pic below shows a male hair bun style where â…” of the hair is shaved. You can see that in the drawing below.
On the right side, I sectioned off different areas of the male hair bun aesthetic. You can see the different parts of this hairstyle and how it might be a bit more complicated than drawing a female hair bun.
You can add a few stray hairs to show gravity if you’d like.
Here’s a quick tutorial on drawing ‘man buns’. It’s basically the same as drawing a female hair bun.
How to Draw Male Hair Buns or a ‘Man Bun’
1. Draw Your Hairline
2. Mark Where You Want Your Hair Bun to Be & Draw a Hair Tie
3. Draw Your Main Hair Bun Shape on Top of the Hair Band
4. Draw In Any Surrounding or Stray Hair Coming From the Bun
5. Color In The Hair Bun
6. And You’re Done!
Now you know how to draw man buns.
There’re a variety of shapes on how to draw male hair buns.
All you need to do is draw your main shape for how you want the bun to look. It can be anything from a sphere to a cylinder. Whatever you feel fits your subject or character the best.
Check out the image below for some quick variations on hair bun shapes.
Female
Unlike male hair buns, female hair buns usually have longer hair. What’s great about this is the infinite possibilities to style hair!
You can draw combinations of hair buns with long hair or hair buns with short hair.
Female hair buns can either look glamorous and tidy or you can opt for a messier look.
As female hair is generally more versatile in shape and style (due to its length), keep in mind the volume, texture, and form of the hair. Is the girl’s hair curly or straight? Is it light and fluffy or dense and rigid? All these details have an effect on hair buns so keep that in mind.
In the image below, I drew some different hair buns and styles from imagination. Some look a bit more traditional while other styles are more experimental, like drawing the bun to the side or drawing curly hair buns. I even experimented with different hair lines for a more unique look. And if you look closely, I played around with the hair tie/band which greatly influences the overall look and feel of the hair bun.
The main thing to keep in mind is that a hair bun is a 3-dimensional object that has volume! It is not flat.
Like in the picture above, you can design your hair bun in any shape you’d like and in any style. Many hair buns are not just all tied up on the head. Some styles have hair that’s partially tied with the rest just falling over on the side of the head. Some hair buns are tied to the side, or even lower on the head.
Heck, you can even draw multiple hair buns on one person or subject depending on what you’re going for.
There are a lot of female hair bun styles where long hair just falls to the side. It’s a popular look.
Keep reading to find out how to add detail to your hair buns!
How to Draw Detailed Hair Buns
The tutorials I showed above were how to draw a quick hair buns with little to no detail.
For detailed hair buns, they’re more involved but not by much.
You can use the same hair bun you drew on the previous tutorial or draw another one.
Let’s get started!
1. Find the Bun’s Converging Point
* The converging point is where all the individual hair strands meet at a single point. Basically where the bun is tied.
2. Draw a Simple Highlight
A quick way for me to draw hair highlights, is to make circular arches like those shown in the picture below. In this case, my highlight is one big white arching shape.
You can draw the arches following the curvature and form of the bun. When you follow the form of the bun, you’re emphasizing its roundness and giving the appearance that your bun is in fact bulbous.
*The highlight shape needs to follow the form of the bun! Otherwise it’ll look like the highlight was pasted on and won’t be as believable.
3. Draw Lines from/to the Converging Point Following the Bun’s Shape.
Basically, draw individual hairs starting or ending at the hair tie while following the curvature of the bun.
You can draw the hairs through the highlight or draw them around it. For this tutorial I drew through the highlight to show more detail on the bun.
Keep drawing hair strands until you’ve gotten from one side to other, covering the bun.
*Note: I left a few spaces between some strands to further show the bun’s roundness. You can do that if you’d like.
Lastly, as shown in #2 in the pic below, color the hair bun (using a color of your choice) in the areas surrounding the highlight.
Don’t color in the highlight because that area is the shiniest and should be the lightest in your drawing.
You’re done!
And that’s how to draw a hair bun!
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Now that you have a general idea of how to draw hair buns for males and females, you can try drawing them for your own characters or portraits!
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