20 Cartoon Curly Hair Drawing Ideas I Saved
Twenty cartoon curly hair ideas collected over a year of trying to draw it badly — and the realisation that fixed it. In cartoon style the silhouette does everything, because there is nothing else.
In this article · 27
- The Outline Is Everything
- How Much Goes Inside
- The 20 Ideas
- 1. Flat Fill, Scalloped Edge
- 2. Uneven Arc Practice
- 3. Big Round Afro Shape
- 4. Curly Bob Outline
- 5. Two Stray Curls
- 6. Spiral Tips
- 7. Long Curly Cartoon Hair
- 8. Curly Pigtails
- 9. Rubber Hose Curls
- 10. Modern Flat Style
- 11. Thick Outline, Flat Fill
- 12. One Shadow Shape
- 13. Curly Hair with a Headband
- 14. Asymmetric Volume
- 15. Curly Hair in Motion
- 16. Tiny Character Hair
- 17. Two-Tone Flat Colour
- 18. Curly Hair Tied Up
- 19. Silhouette Test
- 20. Same Character, Five Hair Shapes
- The Silhouette Test
- Mistakes to Avoid
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
I spent a long time drawing cartoon curly hair that looked like a cloud, a wig or a bunch of grapes, and adding more detail inside never fixed it.
The realisation, when it came, was simple: in cartoon style the silhouette is the entire drawing. There is no rendering, no tonal mass, no interior detail to rescue anything. If the outline does not read as curly on its own, nothing you add inside will save it.
The Outline Is Everything
Use repeated arcs, unevenly sized. A scalloped edge made from arcs of varying size reads as curly. The same edge with even, regular bumps reads as a cloud — this was my problem for months.
Vary the arc depth too. Some shallow, some deep, a couple that hook right round. Regularity is what kills it.
Break the outline in two or three places. A single stray curl leaving the silhouette does an enormous amount, and it is one line.
Keep the overall shape asymmetric. A perfectly symmetrical hair shape reads as a wig regardless of how good the edge is.
If you fix only the edge and leave the inside completely empty, it will already work.
How Much Goes Inside
Almost nothing, and this took me longest to accept.
Zero interior lines is a legitimate and common choice. Flat fill, good outline, done.
Two or three lines suggesting where big clumps divide is the usual maximum.
One flat shadow shape if the style uses shading at all.
Past that it stops being cartoon style. It becomes a rendering with a cartoon outline, which reads as neither — and that was exactly what my early attempts were.
The 20 Ideas
1. Flat Fill, Scalloped Edge
The baseline. Outline and one colour.
2. Uneven Arc Practice
A page of edges only, no faces. The most useful exercise here.
3. Big Round Afro Shape
Near-circular with a soft broken edge.
4. Curly Bob Outline
Short, rounded, asymmetric.
5. Two Stray Curls
Everything flat except two curls escaping the outline.
6. Spiral Tips
Arcs that hook into full spirals at a few points only.
7. Long Curly Cartoon Hair
Length built from stacked arcs down each side.
8. Curly Pigtails
Two gathered shapes, each with its own scalloped edge.
9. Rubber Hose Curls
Old-cartoon style — smooth, looping, very regular.
10. Modern Flat Style
Simple shape, bold colour, no outline at all.
11. Thick Outline, Flat Fill
A heavy line weight changes the whole character.
12. One Shadow Shape
Flat base plus a single hard-edged shadow.
13. Curly Hair with a Headband
A hard line cutting across a soft shape.
14. Asymmetric Volume
Deliberately more hair on one side.
15. Curly Hair in Motion
The whole silhouette leaning, arcs trailing behind.
16. Tiny Character Hair
At small sizes only the silhouette survives, so it has to carry everything.
17. Two-Tone Flat Colour
Base colour plus one lighter shape at the crown.
18. Curly Hair Tied Up
Gathered shape with escaped arcs around the face.
19. Silhouette Test
Fill it solid black. If it still reads as curly, the design works.
20. Same Character, Five Hair Shapes
One face, five outlines. Shows how much the silhouette carries.
The Silhouette Test
The most useful thing I found, and it takes ten seconds.
Fill the hair shape solid black and look at it. If it still reads as curly hair, the design works. If it reads as a cloud, a helmet or a shapeless blob, no amount of interior detail will rescue it — and you have found that out before spending an hour on the drawing.
Character designers use this to check whether a design is recognisable at small sizes. For cartoon curly hair it works even better, because the silhouette genuinely is the drawing.
Every time I skipped this test and went straight to detail, I ended up redrawing.
Mistakes to Avoid
Even, regular bumps. The cloud problem. Vary the arc sizes.
Adding interior detail to fix a weak outline. It cannot be fixed from the inside.
A symmetrical hair shape. It reads as a wig.
Too many interior lines. Two or three is the ceiling.
Skipping the silhouette test. Ten seconds against an hour of redrawing.
FAQ
How do you draw cartoon curly hair? Put everything into the outline — the silhouette is the drawing.
What outline reads as curly? Repeated arcs of uneven size and depth.
Should there be interior lines? Two or three at most, and zero is a valid choice.
Final Thoughts
Fill it black and look at it before you draw anything inside. If my early attempts had passed that test they would have worked, and the year I spent adding detail to weak silhouettes would have been about a week.
For anime conventions see 20 anime curly hair drawing ideas, and for realism see 25 easy curly hair drawing ideas. More in Hair Drawing & Art.
