Trying to better at drawing long anime style ponytail hair

Hi! You drew oretty good overall shape. I see you also understand light source for the most part. It did get lost when you started to render the pony tail. If you look at the head the light seem to come from behind the character- it means inner side of the pony tail wouldn't have such highlights since it would be blocked from the light. I also wouldn't suggest to not use smudge tool to blend highlights and instead either paint with gradually lighter colors or using blending brush for edges of the highlights. I put an example of how hair could be colored: 1. Base shape 2. Add shadows 3. Add mild highlights with a brush of your choice 4. Some blending either manually or with blending brush 5. Add strong highlights I also think the hair could profit from more texture (e.g. single strands). You could also make it more interesting by adding warm as well as fun colors like green or purple in this case (especially since it is more of anime style) - don't be scared to experiment. Hope it helps. Cheers!