10/24/2020

Requested by xScarlet_Witchx

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The key to hair on a furry/any animal character is making sure it isn't out of proportion with the face, as in making it fit with the contour of your oc. Short muzzle? Than I wouldn't advise a ton of hair. Long ears? Probably not straight/flat hair.
(unless the out-of-proportioness fits the characters personality, which is likely. Bubbly personality? Lots of floof, maybe even curly! Constantly confuzed? How about a long mess of braids?)

This makes it a bit difficult to not only make your oc stand out with their style, but also get it to fit your species.

The following examples are canines, but these tips can be used with most species (sorry for the signature AND the large W0lf, just a friendly reminder that even though these are just tutorials, they're still not meant to be traced ^u^):

This one's just the general floof, make it flush with the forehead and then a bit of short fur at the edge. This one's more for dogs, foxes, ect. with typically shorter fur. It sticks mostly to the head shape, but the extra tufts help to still make your oc look fluffy!

Slightly more floof, a little bit more fluffy, looks best on a wolf or wolflike canine. It is slightly higher up than where the skull should be.

This is super floof! It starts between the ears and then curves up and back down before the nose, make sure not to draw the fur too seperated, most of it should be "touching" on the sides as shown. It looks awfully spiky when separated (which could work depending on the character/species)

I don't really use this one, but it's for straight/ wavy hair, you don't want to draw too much fur tufts for this one except at the top if you'd like.

This is super mega floofy floof. XD
The hair can be drawn flipped over the side and hanging below the chin like shown, and you can add the fur curling around the ears if you want! For this style, you want lots of tufts! Just make sure they're all generally flowing towards the nose and away from the ears (backwards of most other fur patterns).

Now these tips can be used for most any canine/feline character, including wolves, cats, skulldogs, foxes, large cats, ect! You could also use them for other animals, but I find that some don't really work well XD

References for how the fur/adornments should be drawn (in my humble opinion):

1. Canine fur tufts should be kept relatively close together and not sticking out too far from the main area.

2. Reptiles generally will have some type of frill (if anything at all). With these, since there's a stretchy membrane in between the spines, remember to take into account how the spines are positioned (are they close together, like calm or resting? Then the membranes should be hanging loosely between them, sort of like a v shape. Are they open and spread apart, like excited or upset? Then the membranes should be drawn spanning the spines with only a slight curve, as for this range of emotions, they would be taunt.)

3. Feline fur follows closely with canine fur, except shorter and the tufts are thinner and more compacted with the main fur area. When your feline is tensed (excited, nervous, angry, ect.) the fur is more flared up (more tufts more frequently along the shape of the feline). When they're relaxed, the some areas of fur can be smoothed down into flowing lined like the second example in the chart (mostly around the chin, back, legs and tail. In my opinion, there should be fur tufts around the ears, cheeks, back of the neck, shoulders, and a few areas around the tail, especially when it curves/twists) (these tips can also be used with canines ^u^)

4. Avians/birds generally have feathers. Unlike fur, feathers come from a single follicle in their skin. For feathers, they should be definitely more separated and thicker than fur. For these, you can either curve the bottom of the feather back towards the one side, but don't make a completely closed shape (first example in the chart) or just keep them separated by longer edge lines that extend farther into the main area. Feathers, like fur, do flow away from the head (opposite of most hair styles) but they can be slightly more erratic, as shown in the second example. Some can be more flush with the contour of your oc, and some can be sticking slightly more out. Some can be longer, some shorter. However, avoid making the silhouette too ragged or choppy, it still should mostly flow together.

5/6. Equestrian manes (horses) are different. There are a lot of different styles and types, just like human hair. Since I'm not particularly experienced with either, my best suggestion is looking at reference photos for practice (never claim a traced/highly reference image as your art. I think it's important to learn from references, but you should never post these practices and/or claim them as your own). Also, trial and error! See for yourself what works best for you, for any of these species!

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If you have any questions about any of the above, comment below! I'd love to help!

If you found this helpful, give it a vote or a comment! And I'd love to see what you make/learned from this class!

See you soon! <3<3