I can I style my hair like this? (male)

Okay, I usually get my sides cut with a #2 and blended into the top, but the top is a lot longer.
I used to use quite a bit of gel in my hair. Now I want to get away from the wet look and more of a dry natural look. Problem is, when you use a lot of gel it's so easy to style the hair, and for it to stay where you want it. I did the messy/spiky look. I would like that sorta look, but not wet. Problem with my hair is that it's really thick, and I have a callic(sp?) in the front, not a bad one, but still, so it's hard to get my hair to stay where i want it. I've tried drying my hair and using just a bit of gel. That works alright, but it doesn't sculpt like I want it with that little gel. Try promade(sp?) same thing. It's alright but it won't stay up, kinda just 'lays' down.
How can I do my hair similar to the ones below? They are the only ones I could find similar to what i want.
Another thing, when my sides get a couple weeks old, I realy don't like it long, because it feels really 'poofy' to me, and makes me feel like my head is a lot bigger, lol.

Thanks for any advice :/

Direct links don't seem to be working.
http://www.hairstylesdesign.com/men-hairstyles2.html
(top right one on this page)
http://www.hairstylesdesign.com/men-hairstyles3.html# (second row, far right.)

Edited by martian88