Project Ear Part 1

Today I started on drawing an exact copy of a wax ear given as part of unit 1 Production Arts for Screen at UAL. The goal is to draw the ear “in a variety of drawing techniques from ink outline drawing to perfectly shaded pencil drawings.” Then scale it up from perfect life-size to three times larger and draw a right life-sized ear from imagination by inverting the ear and its measurements. We’ve been given time until the end of the 5th November.

Afterwards, the group and I are going to each sculpt the scaled-up ear in modelling clay and an accompanying right ear. Then we move on to eye and mouth.

I’ve drawn two ears so far in pencil. It’s a fun challenge. The ear has beautifully overlapping shapes and shadows in which I easily get lost and must regularly take a step back to readjust. I felt more confident the longer I drew and tweaked. The resulting drawings are almost good. The second drawing was finished faster and is more accurate in some parts but also less in others. So, I’m hoping my third will be even closer to a truthful depiction of the ear. What I find most challenging is the shading in the flatter and more undefined areas of the ear.

We are supplied callipers to take exact measurements and an example sketch, which came in very handy. The callipers open with a screw which allows them to be adjusted very precisely. However, it also frustratingly slow when readjusting from small to larger measurements or vice versa. The example sketch is a good guideline for me on how set my pencilstrokes and shade.

I also found this “map” of the ear in Henry Gray's "Gray's Anatomy (1918) (taken from Wikimedia commons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray904.png). Now I can name the parts I’m drawing.

The wax ear seems to be a casting from somebody at the faculty. The only thing I know about them is that they like to wear multiple earrings due to the holes. Currently, it sits on my nightstand, listening.