Need some help with art; any tips on drawing manes?

[bunnibtch]

I'm making a species for fun, they're based off the Baku which has been seen as both a tapir and a chimera, I'm trying to incorporate both of these, one trait from the chimera being a lions mane that could resemble hair. That said, I'm not a great furry artist, and I've never drawn any animals with a mane before, so I was hoping that someone might have so pointers for how to start, or if you have references that would be even better! Thank you for your help and interaction in advance

 

[Ziggy Schlacht]

Hair isn't individual pieces, but a mass. Your avatar is actually a pretty example, where the outline and shape of the hair is sketched, then some smaller strands shown. Manes are just hair.

For some examples of what I mean, have Erasmus model:

Beard and the braids are separate items, then I just sketched out blocks of loose hair.

(Apologize for the fuzziness) Notice here how all the hair hangs downwards as he looks forwards. Again the hair is a single mass, falling forward as he looks down.

And here you can see the main splitting between the front and back of the shoulder. Again largely being one mass.

And even when painted, the hair is still largely approximated as a single mass, and invidual hairs are picked our to give more shape, but not every hair is shown.

In summary, draw the main shape and overall impression you want, fluff it up a bit where you want it, but leave the rest simple.