Ear build57 is a refinement of human ear build30. Building anything in Maya is always a chess game. The opening moves are critical to an end result. So the beginning of the build is altered to make it easier to sculpt the concha or cup of the ear. The build is easier in that it eliminates the confusion of edge loop redirections and uses less geometry to construct the ear canal. See more at www.2noons.com

Remember, the ear sits on a surface which bridges the skull, cheek bone, Jaw, and neck. These surfaces have a topology and a good looking ear must respect the surface it grows out of.

I have resisted the urge to follow most tutorials where the outer shape of the ear is built first and the inside ear is subdivided. Here I have visualized the intersection of the ear and the head as a starting point and build the ear in toward the canal, and out toward the helix.

Start with a poly plane. Grab the four faces and offset them toward the center of the plane.

split the outer edge loop twice.  This should give you two more edges around the box. Then start translating the geometry to form the surface shape of the skull, neck, jaw, and cheek bone. The middle points should form the shape of the the cup of the ear.