As an organ of hearing it rarely lies as flat against the head of some young artists depict it.
Seen from the front, it lies apparently very close to the scalp, but from the back the ear presents a very different appearance. When it is the ear of a small boy with his hair cropped smooth, it will often project in a very singular fashion.
The ear rises from the head, a flat trumpet-shaped opening to catch sounds. The projecting cup extends and rolls over in a large fold or curve, hiding the upper part from view, and revealing only a tiny portion of the lobe. The position of the ear, the way in which it is moulded on the rounded receding curve of the skull and the cheek, and just above the juncture of the jaw, can be plainly seen. Open and shut the mouth and feel the motion with your finger-tip under the lobe of the ear.
Seen from the front, and almost full view, we have an elongated shape. The upper part, though flattened and receding with the receding side of the head, still presents the fullest curve, and the lobe is as a drooping or pendent shape.
Mark the large folds first, and then the inner curves, and the shadows beneath and within the ear. One fold tucks behind the other fold, resembling, so it often seems, the petals of a pink rose.
Present these folds simply; mark the shadows crisply—that is, with quick, bright touches of the pencil. In the foreshortened position a man's cheek swelling forward will hide a portion of the ear with whiskers and with beard.
If you should happen to be one of a group of young artists who have taken the opportunity of alternately sketching and sitting, you will find that it is helpful, interesting, and perhaps surprising, to lay your sketches side by side at the end of a sitting and compare the various shapes of the various ears.
Some ears lie flat on the head, others stick out. Some ears have long lobes; in others the lobe is small and pointed; others again have no lobe at all. There is little chance of being bored with a too-uniform pattern.
