how to draw anime elf ears

How to Draw Anime Elf Ears

Drawing anime characters takes work.

Especially when you’re trying to draw small little characteristics like ears, noses or eyes.

Although elf ears do look easy, they can be tricky to draw.

And in this tutorial, I’m going to teach you how to draw Anime elf ears on in a step-by-step manner so that you can draw anime elf ears easily.

Check out my other character drawing tutorials here.

It’s okay if you’re a beginner learning to draw anime or poses and you don’t quite know human anatomy – the steps are really easy to follow. This is what you will be learning to draw:

9 - color the tip a little red to show blood flow

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Please note that I use an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil to create all my illustrations. But you can use any tool – a pen and paper, markers, or Photoshop because the drawing method remains the same.

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Let’s begin.

How to Draw Anime Elf Ears – (Step by Step) Easy guide for beginners

I’m going to draw Anime elf ears using very easy shapes that anyone can follow.

We are going to draw a simple ear shape first.

Pretend you’re drawing a coffee bean or a lima bean – just make sure to draw the bottom a little flattened.

1 - draw the ear shape

Now, elf ears are characterized by their pointy tips.

So, I’m just going to draw a nice pointy tip from the ear itself in rough – if you drawing this in pencil, draw it very lightly and make it a little protrusion from the ear.

You can even pinch the tip to make it look more natural. Notice how I’ve added a small indent to the bottom part of the protrusion.

2 - draw a protrusion

When you’re happy with the tip, draw it in permanent ink or draw it dark with your pencil.

3 - convert the rough sketch to the actual drawing

Now, erase the top part of the ear so that your elf ear looks seamless and continuous.

4 - erase the overlapping line

Next, we are going to draw the inner folds of the elf ear.

I actually looked at reference photos of ears to draw this.

When you’re drawing the outer folds, just extend them upward instead of curving it inwards – remember, even the folds will change since you’re drawing elf ears.

5 - draw the folds in the elf ear

Now, draw the inner folds inside the ear.

6 - draw more folds

We’re done drawing the anime elf ear. Now it’s time to color the drawing.

Color the ear any skin color you want.

I’m just going to color it a wheatish color.

7 - color the elf ear

Next, color the inner parts of the ear a slightly darker color.

8 - add shadows

Next, I’m going to use the Bonobo brush that comes free in Procreate and color the tip a slight reddish pink color.

All ears are redder2 at the tips because there is a lot of blood circulation here.

9 - color the tip a little red to show blood flow

And there you have it!

You’ve just learned how to draw anime elf ears!

Congratulations!

Conclusion + Resources

I hope this in-depth tutorial was helpful to you, and that you were able to learn how to draw anime elf ears.

It’s tricky to draw anime and it does get easier with a lot of practice.

Here’s how I learned how to draw poses:

  • Go to quickposes.com and practice drawing poses
  • Take photos of yourself in different poses and use that as a drawing reference (one of the best ways to learn)
  • Or look at stock photos online of people in poses so you can draw poses better.

Don’t worry if it doesn’t look the way you want it to in the beginning.

It does get better the more you practice drawing.

If you want to see more tutorials on hair and people, just leave a comment down below. You can check out my other Character Tutorials to learn how to draw people and clothes.

I will be adding more drawing tutorials to this blog, so keep a lookout!

If you are looking for books on drawing more anime:

Want to practice drawing Anime?

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This class will teach you how to draw manga characters from scratch and add personalities to them.

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You don’t need any tools except a pencil and paper.

It’s a very detailed course and it’s not at all expensive.

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If you are just getting started with ProCreate, I highly recommend this course: Procreate for Beginners: Digital Illustration 101

It will help you learn Procreate within a day or a week at most. I found it super helpful!

It will help you learn to Procreate within a day or a week at most. I found it super helpful!

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