A beginner-friendly guide to learning how to draw a great-looking Anime Ears with easy, step by step drawing instructions and video tutorial. Great for beginner artists!
Jump to the step-by-step instructions.
Did you hear? Your manga characters need ears. This easy, step-by-step anime ears drawing is one of the simplest anime features you will learn.
Anime and manga ears come in different shapes. Below, we will discuss normal human ears as well as pointed elf ears.
We'll examine where to place them and how to draw them from different angles of view.
If you'd like to draw "Kemonomimi" characters with animal ears instead, see this how to draw an anime wolf girl drawing guide.
Drawing Anime Ears from Different Viewpoints
The ears look different depending on which point of view you use to draw your character. See the following ears reference drawing for examples.
The top row depicts ears in side view. Your character's face is in profile, so you are looking directly at the ear. It appears widest in this view. Only the nearest ear will be visible.
The second row shows the ears in the front view. They appear narrower because you are seeing them at a sharp angle. Unless hair, clothing, or other objects are in the way, you will see the ears on both sides of the head.
The third row shows the ear in 3/4 view. Notice that it is wider than the front view ear yet narrower than the side view ear. In most cases, only one ear will be visible from this angle.
Placement of Anime Ears
Think back to the head base drawings where we used a grid for guidance. That grid can be helpful in placing your character's ears.
Review the different anime head base tutorials here:
- How to draw anime head and face in front view
- How to draw anime head and face in side view
- How to draw anime head and face in 3/4 view
Typically, in all views, the ears are placed on each side of the mid horizontal guideline. Most of the ear will be below the line and the top of the ear will extend above the line.
Step-by-Step Tutorial for Drawing Anime Ears
Anime Ears drawing - Step 1
1. Begin by drawing a "C" shaped line, narrower at the bottom than at the top.
Anime Ears drawing - Step 2
2. Draw a long, winding line inside the ear. It is roughly "C" shaped but irregular. This "C" should be facing the opposite direction as the outer line.
Anime Ears drawing - Step 3
3. Enclose an irregular round shape in the center of the ear, with curved lines above and beside it.
Anime Ears drawing - Step 4
4. Your anime ear drawing is complete. Next, we'll practice drawing an anime elf's ear.
How to Draw an Anime Elf Ear
Anime Elf Ears drawing - Step 1
Elf ears often have a more sharply pointed shape than normal human ears. Sometimes alien beings have ears shaped like this, too.
1. Draw two curved, diagonal lines that meet at a gentle point.
Anime Elf Ears Drawing - Step 2
2. Draw two curved lines inside the ear. The lines should meet in a sideways "Y" shape. Note that one arm of the "Y" is longer than the others.
Anime Elf Ears Drawing - Step 3
3. Use a long curved line to enclose a round shape inside the ear. Draw a short curved line above it.
Anime Elf Ears Drawing - Step 4
4. Your anime elf ear drawing is complete.
Now that you can sketch an elf ear, can you also draw a complete elf drawing?
What to draw next?
Can your favorite character turn into an elf? Do they wear earrings sometimes but not at others? Try drawing your character with different types of ears to see which ones you like best.
To complete your character, you will also have to master other facial features, like the following:
- Anime girl eyes
- How to draw an eyebrow
- How to draw a mouth
- How to draw a simple nose
- Anime girl hair
- Anime guy hair
To practice drawing girl's ears in a frontal view, see this sexy anime girl drawing. To draw a girl's ears in profile, use the anime characters kissing tutorial.
We have also created a series of anime drawing tutorials that will teach you how to draw anime characters. The free course covers drawing manga faces, bodies, facial features and expressions, emotions, hair, clothes, and complete manga characters. Find all our anime and manga drawings here.
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