Human ear drawn in black and gray marker on pale cream textured sketchbook paper, with a complete silhouette and open margins.

Drawing referenceAbout reference use

Human ear marker study

One human ear in side three-quarter view with a clear outer helix, inner folds and soft lobe, a small adjoining head plane only. Practice structure, perspective and developed values in black and gray marker.

People Challenging Marker70 min, at your pace

A way into the drawing

Establish the main shapes
Place the tilted outer ear and rounded lobe.
Connect the structure
Connect the inner folds back into the ear bowl.
Develop the drawing
Resolve the connected planes and overlaps, then build layered details and a full range of local values. Preserve clear paper highlights.

A small thing to tryKeep the inner folds inside the outer ear boundary.