Seventh Seal Studio: Tutorial - The Better To Hear You With!

I feel like every ear tutorial post in the history of ever is titled this. Oh well!

To make up for my lack of post yesterday, I've decided to do something simple today. This is a method I figured out myself, but I'm sure if you look on any well-known artist in the hobby, they'll do pretty much the same thing.

Regardless, here's how I do it, which is quick and simple, and gives realistic results!

I have a Classic scale Morgan stallion, who was dying to be an Arabian Sport Pony. Since I was going to be hacking away at his face anyway, I decided to be rid of whatever the heck he had as ears before. Seriously, was he a rabbit-horse hybrid?

Anyway! The way I start ears is simple. Take a bit of epoxy and mix enough to get about a pea-sized ball. This is enough for one traditional-sized ear, but of course you'l need more or less depending on the breed (a mule/donkey will need two peas to compensate for the length of the ear, whereas a smaller-eared horse will need a little less than a full pea.) You can split this in half for Classics scale, but I've decided to use what I had and pinch off what wasn't needed.

After you've got that, you'll want to take one finger and roll it in your palm - back and forth. Put a little bit more pressure on one end to get a sort of pistachio shape. This'll help you shape the ear later.

All hail peastachio!

Once you've got a basic egg shape, take your finger again and smoosh it! You don't want it paper thin, but you don't want it round, either. a millimeter or two in thickness should be fine - you can always thin the edges later should you so desire.

Now's the shaping part! Take your fingers and pinch the bottom together. You want the edges to fold inwards, to form the ear tunnel thingy. (I can horse, I swear!)

By now you should be able to see an ear forming no? No? Hmm. Are you sure you're not holding it upside-down? Ah there you go! ;) This is where you could pinch off the excess, which should be between your fingertips. Always pinch the sides at the length you want the ear to be. You don't want the horse to look mule-ish, and likewise, you don't want it to have bear ears.

Now unless you're making a zebra, you'll want to shape the ear. Horses have pointy tips that curl inwards slightly

or a lot,

depending on the breed. do some research on the breed or type you're trying to achieve. Quarter horses will have almost shapeless ears, whereas the kathiawari or marwari horses look like they could arc electricity through their ears. References are always handy, but unless you're doing a typey horse (mule, marwari, etc) you can get by with doing what I'm doing now.

Taking your thumb and index finger, pinch the top of the ear. You don't want this to fold in on itself, but if that does, just squish it flat and take your finger or a sculpting tool over it to remove the fold line. You want to pinch it in the direction according to ear. The ears ALWAYS point inward when forward, so if you want to make a left ear, you want it pointing left. If you want a right ear, it points right. Remember this when applying them - if you're putting the ears back, the point should be facing outward, still following the left-to-left, right-to-right rule.

This is where I pinch off the excess, leaving enough to apply it to the horse:

It should go down to be level with the temple/eye.

Also ignore the fact that this is the left ear, when I made a right one above.

You'll want to blend it to the horse, which I use my finger for mainly. I'll lick my thumb and drag it over the clay touching the horse, rubbing back and forth until it tapers seamlessly into the model. For the inside of the ear, where it meets the horse but doesn't have an area large enough for my finger, I use my needle tool and pull down until it meets the plastic seamlessly. I'll usually lick this, too, so it manipulates smoother. (I have a habit of licking my work. Let's hope I don't get a desk job

)