Animation Hair 01-The Different Styles

I've got a new topic to cover: ANIMATION HAIR.

The term ANIMATION HAIR is a topic coined by former animator JOHN KRICFALUSI where he criticizes the hairstyle you see in your favorite 90s/2000s Disney, DreamWorks, Don Bluth, Nickelodeon, movies or TV shows.

To me, Animation Hair is a little different from character to character and it even differs from era-to-era.

I'm starting to see some of these hairstyles in real-life too but not exactly the same as what you saw in those animations.

I'm pretty sure you've seen this type of hairstyle before don't ya.

This is the hair you often find in those aforementioned 90's classics where it looks like two barber's are fighting over how to do your hair. In reality, this style is just the barber doing what the recipient wants: A REBELLIOUS HAIR STYLE.

For a time, This was the hot stuff. Then the guys who get this hair wanted to experiment with it.

Back in middle school, the way people did it was to have the top circumference uncut but have the sides of your hair with a buzz cut.

Nowadays, I still buzzcut sides but the hair on the top is now curlier. 

Then there's the Forehead Curtain. Better known to some animation fans as FLOPPY BANGS.

This was another popular hairstyle that artists used in their art back in the day. It involves combing your front hair and making it look like your hair was a curtain being held by something.

I also call this the Kensuke Cut because it sort of got used by Kensuke Aida in EVANGELION... WAY BACK IN 1995.

"Give me a break, My hair is not like that Dmitri guy above me."

The haircut is not new. It's older than Kensuke here but the style is so distinct, that I can't help but call it that.

 And the hair is not limited to boys who have this hairstyle. Sometimes girls have this style of curtain hair too like Sasami Masaki Jurai as shown below.

"You're mean Razer Keyboard Blogger man! I'll get my sister Ayeka to beat you up and take your keyboard!!!"

Here's another funky Hair style: The Hedgehog Haircut.

This is a hairstyle made famous by Sonic the Hedgehog. So far, the only character with this hairstyle I've seen is RYOKO from Tenchi Muyo.

Sort of makes sense considering her Ruthless Space Pirate personality.

Then there's the SHEMP HAIR.

This hairstyle was also popular in animation.

This is basically Straight hair combed over to the side, sort of what Shemp Howard did back in the day. Hence the name SHEMP HAIR.

This hairstyle was prevalent in early 2000s films that I know of such as David from Lilo and Stitch. I guess it's to accentuate the surfer dude in him.

Don't ask me who was responsible for giving Tarzan this hairstyle. 

I get it was so the animator can have all that overlapping action. And it also makes sense since where would Tarzan get a haircut in the jungle?

"Unlike Johnny Weissmuller, I let my hair grow long because there ain't any way to cut my hair."

Here's SHEMP HAIR mixed with the earlier Rebel Buzzcut I mentioned earlier.

John K. forgot to mention Betty Boop's Hair Hooks on his blog so I guess I'll have to take the reigns here with mentioning the locks.

Betty Boop's hair is remeniscent of the Roaring 20's when girls had hair that was short but combed into BOB CUTS. Makes sense since Betty is meant to be a flapper girl from said era.

But the Hair style is clearly based on Helen Kane's curly hairstyle from back in the day....

Of which Fleischer studios got into big trouble when Helen filed a lawsuit against the studio over her likeness.

If one can believe it, I was inspired by Betty Boop without knowing it when I designed DELIA INVERNESS to have that haircut.... sort of.

The different between Betty and Delia is Betty has the hair all around her head. Delia only has the back of her Hair with that and even then, it's only at Half-Neck deep.

Plus, I have a bad habit of not making the Back Betty Boop hook locks long or wide enough. So here's an evolution of Delia's hair.

Sort of took shape but may need some work to keep in specific to what I was aiming for.

The hooks are a little too short. May need some further design work on the length of the back hooks.

Now I've got it right.

Of course, that's when Delia is an a 3/4 or front profile view. Side Profiles are a real bugger to get her hair right.

Luckily I managed... sort of.

Yes, I've made my own Animation cels of my characters.

And last but not least for part one of animation hair is my personal favorite:

Minimalist but totally visible hair

This is basically where you draw a character like Doug Funnie where it looks like he's bald but he actually has hair that grows. How else are you going to explain the two episodes during Doug's 8 years of being on television? 

By the way, I bet it's going to be a pain in the ass to render Doug's hair using todays CGI tools.

I've seen fanart done in CGI where they did Doug's hair justice but it's all big solid strands where I can't tell if it actually tapers like hair does in real life.

Here's a challenge. I could create a 3D Model of DOUG FUNNIE using Autodesk Maya but his hair strands will have to use XGEN Hair.

And yes, his model will be based off his Season 3 and 4 appearances from the Nickelodeon version because BILLY WEST, and because I want to experiment with Texture mapping his Sweater vest. Doug's Disney series Sweater vest ain't going to cut it when I take my 3D model to Adobe Substance Painter.

And I also heard a rumor that Doug may be a brunette than what his hair strands suggest. 

If anybody have fanart to prove that, I'm welcome to see it.