I never noticed the ear...where in the game is it?...i've played SH3 a gazillion times and i'm shocked that i have never seen that...

First room where you wake up beside the bath tub in the alternate office building. Right before you leave the room.

Thanks...next time i fire this up, i'll be looking for this....

Yeah, as Aerith said:

Too lazy to find exact Ito quotes,but they are cited at the end of this article.

While it does look like Marilyn, it's also true that any woman with a similar mouth wearing red lipstick could replicate it.

The look could be replicated, but this isn't replication. I can visually confirm it is the exact same photo, though of course touched-up, from the shape of the mouth and the angle of the shot. The angles and dimensions aren't just similar, they are identical. It would not happen by accident.

Now, such a thing could be duplicated, but getting it exactly right would take about a million times as much effort as is necessary to create a visual artifact which is little more than a footnote. And, why bother duplicating it anyway? Why not just use a bit of Lisa's mouth?

Holy Fucking Shitboluders, Batman... Props to the OP and Aerith Gainsborough. I always wondered what that damn mouth meant! Now I know. Can't believe I never noticed the "Bleeding Ear" though. Now I have the sudden urge to play SH3 again...

I feel like I knew what it meant without knowing what the artist intended it to mean. It's just such a simple, primal image, and like most of the monster designs the eyes are hidden which creates a strange, inhuman disconnect from what appears to be an expression of joy. Pure genius.

No, it's not Lisa. It doesn't even look like her smile.

Wow, this just made my day. Good one!

I love that part in the game. I find it beautifully disturbing. Even did a project based on it for my art class.

Sorry for the bump. OP here. I was wanting confirmation on my finding so I went ahead and tweeted to Masahiro Ito as he is very communicative to the SH community. Upon asking him within the hour my account was blocked by him from everything. I am not quite sure what happened. As a big fan of his art in general this shot me down pretty hard. I guess we can assume it is. =/ Here was my tweet.

https://imgur.com/a/jSexxl1