Humanoids: Ears studies

I was thinking about ears today, and when I think about something, I think best with a pencil in my hand.

So, Number one here, up in the top right, is your basic human. We all know him, because he's an amalgam of actual humans we've seen. His hair is in his eyes, because that's not what we set out to study, but because of the convention of flat, translucent hair, we can still see the bone structure beneath. Notice how parts of the face relate to other parts of the face, because I'm going to refer to it later. The ears in particular, although they appear high, when you take into consideration the tucking of the chin, you'll note they're still on a vague line back from the nose, centered on the zygomatic arch.

For this next bit, I'm going to talk about the elves looking over to the left in the top half of the page.

Number two is what I call a "Tolkien" elf. He's basically human, though his features are a little straighter and more youthful. The primary change here is that the tips of the ears are pointed, the ear lobes are slightly smaller, and his eyes are slightly more almond-shaped. ( I did set out to talk about ears, but the eyes and the ears are neighbors.) Note that the ears are flush to the skull.
This is a pretty traditional way to render elves, and a wide variety of other human-shaped person, from demons to vampires to fairies to aliens. Its a subtle bit of otherness, which can be hidden or overlooked. I've thrown in the bit of ear-lock hair as another nod to the traditional rendering.

Number three is a little more Othered, with his cat-slit eyes and his more elongated ears. They've move up a bit, in line with his eyes, and they're somewhat goat-like, but not yet very far removed from human. In some renderings the muscle at the base of the goat ear is understood and rendered, but most often the wing of the ear is attached to the head as a static feature, human-style. This ear is almost always seen with the ear-lock, to soften the discord in the ear placement. Sometimes these ears are rendered as laying flush along the skull, and sometimes they swing out to the side 20 degrees or so, but rarely do they move for expression.
Note that this guy has a higher forehead, elongated skull, and pronounced overbite. His neck is inserting further back from the chin and his brow ridge is higher, and markedly angled. Note how the departure from the horizontal brow ridge has allowed for larger eyes, with much more elongated slants. I think of this kind of elf as an "anthro" elf, because of the salting of human structure with animal traits.

Number four, up at the top, is a type I've come to think of as "my elves". The ear is a compromise in placement, with the top insertion level with the outside corner of the eye. There is muscle rendered at the base of the ear, allowing for some mobility, bringing the elongated sweep of the earflap into greater plausibility: if a creature has long ears, it's to hear better, right? These ears swing out from the head a good 30 degrees, and the sweep of these ears can come almost to the point of the shoulders when viewed from the front.
This guy also has an overbite, and his chin is smaller, making a more almond-shaped face. His eyes are also subtly feline, in their angle and size, as well as the size of the iris and pupil relative to the orb. He's a bit more dilated than #2, but there's still a distinct ovoid to the pupil. The elongation of the skull is even more pronounced, because the ears and eyes are crowding the brain a bit unless we give it more room. He's nowhere near as subtle as his cousins, and would be hard pressed to pass as human for very long or in direct lighting.
For more on his development, check out my Speculative Anatomy studies.

Since we mentioned feline features, and I thought I heard a whisper of doubt, maybe I should talk about feline anthros next, starting with number five. Like #2, he's very nearly human, but his pupils are slits and his conical ears are perched up on his temples. This type I usually see with hair obscuring the base of the ear and by extension, the place where the human ears would have been. (You can see the shadow of them in my study). There's a certain amount of double-take with an image like this, but it's become common enough to no longer be shocking. I tend to think of this type as "human-in-costume", especially because of the ears.

What's wrong with the ears? Aren't a cat's ears atop its head, you say? Well, number 6 is a cat, so we can look at it together. If you study the ears only in relation to the curve of the skull, you're right. The placement is exactly the same. but look back at number 5 and ask yourself where the ear canal is.
To carry sound information to the brain, you've got to tunnel through the skull - which is why if you check out our base human you'll note that his ear is just above and behind his jaw. The ear canal winds down under the cartilage and in through a small opening near the hinging insertion of the jaw.
If you've every watched a cat yawn, you know that the jaw hinges much higher up, allowing them to open their mouths very wide. In fact, the high wing in nestled right under the base of the ear. Note also the prominent zygomatic arch, which swings forward and out in a broad, flat plane.This cat has a pretty typical nose, so you might not think of his cheeks as flat - but think about the last Persian cat you met, and you'll see what I mean.

Number seven, off to the right, is another style of cat-anthro which I consider more plausible. This guy's ears are lower in relation to the top of his skull, but check out how they sit relative to his eyes. The little pocket on the outside edge has been retained, as well as the low swell of muscle underneath which twist and fold the cone of the ear.
His eyes, and irises, are also larger than number 5, and his skull has been elongated accordingly. (Gotta leave room for the brain!) The nose is referential, although not exactly like a cat's, and the solid humanoid lips are thinner and - much wider, to accommodate that impressive yawn.

Number 8 picks up from the base rationale of our feline to demonstrate how the same thought process can be applied to other predators and scavengers. (Isn't he a cute weasel?)

Herbivores require a little more faithfulness to the original to seem plausible. The muzzle can only be truncated so far before it becomes unrecognizable. Number nine has much smaller muzzle and a much larger braincase than the deer which inspired him, but he's got the well-developed spherical ear muscles that will let him hear a hundred more things than you or I will.

A large part of the canine identity is also attached to that long muzzle, even for the pixie-cute fox who inspired number 10. His nose is broader and shorter than his little cousin, and there's a lot more room under those enormous ears. Yet - the canine jaw is hinged as high as the feline one, and the zygomatic arch sweeps back right under the mass of flesh at the base of the ear.

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Less of a tutorial than an FAQ about my way of rendering non-human sentients, but this seemed the best place to put it.
The heads are all traditional, graphite on 8x11 paper, scanned and multiplied over the mosaic scribble.