Here are some handy tips from our members, following a discussion of ears.

Elves and fairies always have ears, as do wizards and all other fantasy types. If I do vintage style dolls with molded hair, ears are a must. If the do covers the ears, why bother? Sometimes I will sew earrings onto the place where the ears should be, with the hair covering the obvious lack of ears. Fantasy ears are sooo easy, and just about anything goes as to size and shape. If the doll is realistic, then it is a delicate matter indeed!

Warm Regards,

Patti LaValley

The bottom of the earlobe must not go below the bottom of the nose. Look at your own in the mirror. And it must be behind the center seam, at the hairline. Attention to detail is also essential, and I hand stitch my ears, like a question mark with stitching along the outside of the ear. Google ears to see how ears are drawn and this will help you in the hand stitching of the inside of the ears. Hand sew the ear to the head, and apply glue if they stick out too much. The link below is one of many to help with ears.

http://www.drawcomics.net/how-to-draw-ears.html<http://www.drawcomics.net/how-to-draw-ears.html>

Warm Regards,

Patti LaValley

Great topic and good idea on noses, Barb.  Being a portrait artist ears were always easy, but on dolls I’ve had challenges.  The average ear is in line with the center of your mouth and tops out in line with your eyebrow. But, as with all faces, that isn’t always the case.

Elf and fairy ears are generally higher, and of course, pointy.  As Barb stated, when drawing an ear a question mark is taught in most drawing classes to help create an ear.

Noses, on the other hand, I think are the hardest to draw and when working on a profiled doll face (with a seam down the center to create lips and noses), hard to sculpt.  It takes a lot of practice to get the nose to look good.  At least for me.  People like elinor peace bailey can whip up a fabulous face in no time.  Also, Pam Grose.

Patti C

http://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2009/07/draw-ears/ is an artistic drawing the ear web site.  Poke around into the site for other face parts as well … really interesting.

I ear my elves and clay sculpts with ears that will show.  Most my male dolls get ears but not so much the gals.

I’ve updated my blog if anyone is interested… new PDF patterns from Skeelhaven, soon to be up here at the Street.

With Love from Skeelhaven,

Judy