How To Draw An Ear Easy

Easy, step by step Ear drawing tutorial

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"Can you hear me now? Good!" During the early decades of the cellular telephone, that was the motto of the Verizon phone company's spokesperson. We are reminded of the simple yet extremely important role of the ear.

We use our ears to hear, allowing us to learn about our environment, be alert to dangers, and form meaningful relationships with others. For mammals, the ear also contains an organ essential to keeping our balance when we walk, run, or perform any other physical task.

For millennia, humans have adorned their ears with items such as precious stones as a ritual of beautification. The lobe of the ear, and sometimes the cartilage of the upper ear, is often pierced with a needle to allow the insertion of an earring, typically an adorning object attached to a blunt metal rod. In both modern and ancient cultures, this piercing is sometimes extended by the placement of larger and larger ornaments, gradually stretching and extending the the flesh of the earlobe. These large ornaments are known as plugs or gauges.

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The shape of the ear, as outlined in this tutorial, is important to the ear's function. The folds of cartilage of the outer ear help funnel sound vibrations to the ear drum. They also help us in determining where a specific sound is coming from.

In popular culture, pointed ears often differentiate such creatures as vampires, elves, orcs, fairies, or aliens from their human counterparts. This feature can be seen in fairy tales and fantasies dating back centuries, appearing in art from ancient Greece and medieval Europe.

If you would like to draw a portrait of yourself, a friend, or anyone else, learning to draw a realistic ear is a good place to start. Doing so is easier than ever with the help of this simple, step-by-step drawing tutorial.

All you will need to complete your drawing of a ear is a pencil, a sheet of paper, and a good eraser. In each step of this drawing guide, illustrations and accompanying text will aid you in adding and removing lines from your drawing. Then, you can color your finished picture.

If you liked this tutorial, see also the following drawing guides: Face, Hand, and Eyes.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Drawing an Ear

Ear drawing - step 1

1. Begin by drawing a long, curved line, resembling a backwards letter "C." This outlines the shape of the ear.

Ear drawing - step 2

2. Draw a short, curved line along the side of the ear. This helps to shape the earlobe.

Ear drawing - step 3

3. Erase the guide line from the earlobe.

Ear drawing - step 4

4. Draw a long, curved, irregular line within the shape of the ear. This adds detail to the fold of the ear. Notice the narrow, sharp extension of the line near the bottom of the ear.

Ear drawing - step 5

5. Connect the line drawn in the previous step to the edge of the ear using a curved, wavy line.

Ear drawing - step 6

6. Add more detail to the ear. From the top of the interior line, draw another curved line up and over the first, somewhat parallel to the outline of the ear. This details the fold at the edge of the ear.

Ear drawing - step 7

7. Draw a curved line down the middle of the ear, near the edge. This continues to add the detail of the fold.

Ear drawing - step 8

8. From the line drawn in Step 6, draw a short, curved line, continuing to add detailed folds to the ear.

Ear drawing - step 9

9. Draw a curving, roughly "S" shaped line in the innermost portion of the ear, outlining the opening to the ear canal.

Complete Ear drawing

10. Color your ear, but why stop there? Check out our other drawing tutorials to learn to draw eyes, noses, lips, and hair to complete your drawing of the human face.

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Printable Drawing Tutorial

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