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The Lab: Anthro Ears and Hair


Tsuujou
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I was streaming a drawing yesterday evening when I encountered a bit of a problem. I don't really struggle with hair in the conventional sense, but there's a specific style I tend to draw for a character. I drew her at an angle I have not before. I noticed an issue.

I have this drastic redesign of Krystal I've been doing since 2013 and I shockingly didn't realize this could be a concern. 

This was done last May and this was where I finalized the main details. Large fireball bun in the back. Much larger bangs with ears just behind. And long sideburns segmented into 3 puffs with 2 bands each to carry consistency with her tail.  

c524a392b97d321972a5662a555bd006.png

I've refined it with small tweaks since. This is last week and what I'm most happy with. Looks fine, I'd say.

ee55822bb95624891d9411c4c4e85df4.png

However, this was last night...

9ae6ee5b09771b499746637669861251.png

Do you see the problem? The entire back of her head where the hair is being pulled tightly into her band? 
I didn't realize the ears would get in the way until I actually got to this point so I didn't know how to fix it on the spot like that. They look glued on right on top of her hair. I'm not satisfied with that, but it's the best I could do at that moment. If anthros with ears on top of their head like Krystal here have hair, most artists including me will typically do very voluminous bangs and sideburns at deliberate angles to try and cover where the ears connect. But I kind of don't want to do that here, it actually wouldn't even make sense. 

I have other things I can say, but I'll expand with those as responses roll in. Right now, what I'm looking for is any reference or tricks any of your favorite artists (or you) may have that could shed some light for me. I feel like someone else must have run into this issue at some point. I may have to restructure her ear placement in general because her head brace isn't working either. Even in her official StarFox model...


I really do not like running from stuff like this or taking shortcuts so I want to figure this out and really get this design perfect.

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Currently the lines you have drawn to denote the hair direction cross the ear, or are 'truncated' by it, which is why it appears as though the ear is resting on top of the hair, instead of protruding through it.

If you guide them around the ear, then that would begin to solve the problem.

Do you think that's useful advice?

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1 hour ago, Saxon said:

Currently the lines you have drawn to denote the hair direction cross the ear, or are 'truncated' by it, which is why it appears as though the ear is resting on top of the hair, instead of protruding through it.

If you guide them around the ear, then that would begin to solve the problem.

Do you think that's useful advice?

I think so, but would you happen to have a drawn example?

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@XoPachi

I've tried to draw an example, to illustrate my suggestion. I'm not a proficient illustrator, so it is pretty rough.

Hopefully you will be able to see that I guided tangles of hair around the ear, to show that its form is displacing the hair as it protrudes out from the head.
I have placed a hair parting behind the ear, to make things neat and added errant wisps around the ear to highlight its position and emphasise that the ear is disrupting the hair.

example_hair.png

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