How to Draw Anime Short Pigtails Hairstyle

This tutorial shows how to draw short anime pigtails with detailed step by step examples that are easy to follow.

Short pigtails are a hairstyle that is common to younger anime characters. However, they can sometimes also be used for older characters to give them a more youthful appearance or to show that hey have a somewhat childish demeanor.

In this example the pigtails are drawn low down on the head but you can also position them higher up.

For drawing regular (longer) pigtails see:

How to Draw Anime Pigtails Hair

It’s recommended that you start the tutorial in pencil (unless drawing digitally) because you will need to erase parts of the drawing in one of the steps. Also, try and use light lines to make erasing easier. You can darken them once you’ve added all parts of the hair.

Above is a video for drawing the short pigtails. It’s recommended that you both watch it and read below. The video shows the drawing process line by line while the rest of the tutorial provides more in depth instructions.

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Step 1 – Draw an Outline of the Head & Shoulders

Start with an outlined of the head and shoulders. You can simple draw these as shown in the example. You can also check the following guide for more information:

How to Draw an Anime Face (Structure & Proportions)

Step 2 – Draw the Hair Along the Forehead

As with most similar tutorials here on AnimeOutline the hair is divided into and drawn in several sections. These are shown in red, green and blue to make it easier to distinguish between them. You can however just draw everything in regular pencil.

For more on this drawing approach see:

How to Draw Anime & Manga Male & Female Hair

Although the focus of this guide in on the pigtails they are added in the last step to maintain a logical drawing order.

First, add the hair along the forehead. To create an anime/manga look draw it in large clumps. Start with a big one in the middle and then add smaller ones to it’s sides.

Step 3 – Draw the Hair on the Sides & on Top

Add the hair along the sides of the head partially covering the ears. For this particular hairstyle you can make these sections fairly short. Draw them to be very slightly curved with splits on the ends.

Once you have the sides drawn out add the hair on top and behind the ears. Give this section more volume as it goes up.

Step 4 – Draw the Pigtails

Short anime pigtails are generally quite easy to draw. For ones like in the those in the example make each one narrower at the base, wider in the middle and then again narrower. Also, add splits on their ends.

Once done with this step you can erase the parts of the head covered by the hair and darken your lines by tracing over them. You should then hopefully have a clean drawing similar to the one above.

Step 5 – Outline the Highlights

To make the hair look shiny/reflective add a series of little highlights along it’s different parts. You can either outline these before shading/coloring or create them as you go. If drawing digitally add the highlights in a new layer over top the color/shading. You can also do the same if drawing on paper by using a white correction pen or opaque white paints.

For more ways to draw anime and manga style hair highlights see:

Different Ways to Draw Anime Hair Highlights

Step 6 – Add Shading & Finish the Short Pigtails Drawing

First, either shade the hair with solid grey using a regular pencil or make it any color you like. Afterwards add the shadows as described below.

For this example the shadows are distributed as though the character is in a well lit environment and the main light source is above them (a common setting in anime and manga).

As the light is coming from above the shadow will generally run along the bottom facing sides of the hair.

First, draw the shadows along the forehead and above the ears (where the hair starts to curve inwards casting a shadow on itself).

Next, add shadows along the bottom ends of the hair’s side sections.

Finally, add the shadows along the bottoms of the the pigtails and along the inner edges of their splits.

With the last set of shadows in place you should have a finished drawing of the short pigtails hairstyle.

Conclusion

Pigtails of a all kinds are a very common hairstyle in anime and manga. As mentioned at the start of the tutorial, short pigtails tend to be used for younger characters or for older ones with a more youthful appearance or personality.

Because short hair tends to have fewer bends and folds, drawing these types of pigtails is generally fairly easy, especially in a simplified anime style (hopefully you’ve found it easy to follow along).

For drawing other hairstyles see:

• How to Draw Anime “Hime Cut” Hairstyle
• How to Draw Anime Hair Buns Step by Step
• How to Draw an Anime Ponytail (6 Steps)