Ive been have some trouble with setting my ears on bear. I just was wonderong if some could give me some hints on what is the right location and such. When I check with the earliners on the form the bear looks like mickey mouse. I think the next one im gonna give ear magic a try and put some clay on the form for the butt and such, but was just wondering about position. Ive tried checkin my reference but cant really tell cuz all the pics look different. Thanks for any help. Kevin
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a hole in foam for the ear canal/cartilage. Go deep and add clay for smooth transition to ear.
I second the above post.An ear pocket has to be cut in the form head.Put your skin on the form and mark the ear locations.I use an ice pick or large pin to poke a ring of holes around the ear,into the mannikin.Take the hide off and cut your ear pockets about 2-2 1/2" wide and as deep.Fill the pocket with clay,leaving a depression in the center.When you mount,the earliners sink into this pocket and you can easily adjust the depth of the ears in the clay,till they look right.The ear cartilages on the real bear's head are surrounded by a lot of muscle.Young bears have less muscle on their heads,giving that doggy look,the big bears have a lot more muscle and their ears appear smaller.
The hair on the bears head should be back brushed and that will also make the ears look smaller as well. If you comb the fur back and slick against the bears head, the ears will look like they stick out farther from the head as well. I like ot mark the head on the form with a pen right from the skull as to where the ear canal is and then match up the ear linner and ear cannal and build u pthe ear but based on referance. Making a deep hole in the form is not really that important if the form is sculpted correctly and the ear linners are based on a real ear instead of just a flat piece of plastic bent in a ear shape. Look as the real ear cartalige and the ear linner. If they do not look the same, then how is the mounted ear going to look? Anyway, that is my two cents worth.
Just rememeber to use referance, and that is not always just pictures. Skulls, skinned heads, death masks, and photos of all of the above. The more referance sources you have, the better the quality of work, as well as the quiality of the materials you use too.