Let's Start at the Zoo
Before jumping into drawing fully anthropomorphized characters, it's a good idea to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the basic differences in animal anatomy. This comes in handy when drawing a “normal,” nonanthro-pomorphized animal such as Marmaduke, or an animal with human characteristics that apply only to its mental capabilities, such as Scooby-Doo.
Fans of anthropomorphic cartoons are sometimes called furries. They are to anthro cartoonists what Trekkies are to Star Trek, gathering for special conventions that feature anthro cartoons and cartoonists. The term “furry” can also be applied to an anthropomorphic cartoon.
Walking on All Fours
The most obvious difference between humans and animals is that many animals walk on all fours. As a result, they use their limbs differently. You cannot draw a cat with four human legs connected to its torso — the result will be very disturbing. Understanding how the animal carries its weight will help you understand how to correctly draw the legs.
Animals that walk on their metatarsals are called plantigrade. Metatarsals are the bones — such as a human's feet and hands — that extend from the wrist or ankle. Humans, primates, bears, most reptiles, and amphibians are plantigrade. If you look at their skeletal structure, it's very similar to that of a human walking on all fours.
Other animals bear weight on their phalanges — fingers and toes. This is referred to as digitigrade. Digitigrade animals include carnivorous predators such as dogs, cats, birds, and most dinosaurs. If you look at their skeletal structure, you'll see the animal's heel is quite far from the ground — making the animal look as if it has knees that bend backward. This appearance is even more pronounced in birds, since a bird's leg only visibly extends from the body below the knee.
Still other animals walk on their fingernails and toenails, in a manner of speaking. Actually, they're hoofs. These animals — such as cows, horses, and pigs — don't have separate fingers and toes, but it helps to think in these terms to get the angles correct. These hoofed animals — unguligrades — carry their weight on their hoofs, which attach to the ends of phalanges, which are at the ends of their metatarsals.
Human (plantigrade), dog (digitigrade), and deer (unguligrade), from left to right, share common structural features in their legs.
Flying Creatures
As with the legs of a four-legged animal, a bird's wings share common basic structures with human anatomy. As with hoofed mammals, the digits (phalanges) are fused into one unit, but the joints bend as you would expect them to. It is easy to understand the structural similarities between human and bird when the bird's wings are outstretched, but when a bird's wings are folded close to its sides, it gets more difficult. In this position, the edge of the wing you see extended along the length of the bird's body is actually from the bird's “wrist” down — the rest of the arm is folded underneath.
A bird's wing is similar to a human arm, except the bones that comprise human fingers are fused into a single unit at the end of the bird's wing.
The most common mistake in drawing animals is to draw the head too large. Don't hesitate to research reference photos on the Internet or take your sketchbook and camera to the zoo.
In the Water
The major structural anatomy of a fish is guided off the fish's spine, located near the top of the body. Most people remember to draw the dorsal fin along the spine, the pectoral fins on the sides, and the tail fin. However, the ventral fins and anal fin are often neglected. Note that a fish's gills are placed directly behind the eye, not farther down the body.
A fish has eight fins: two dorsal fins along its back, two pectoral fins (one on either side of its body), two pelvic fins (under the pectoral fins), one anal fin on the underside of its body, and one tail fin.
Fish swim by sweeping their tail fin back and forth, using their other fins mostly for steering. This movement is common to all fish — even sharks. Dolphins and whales — swimming mammals — move their tail fins in an up-and-down motion.
Insects and Spiders
An insect's body is separated into three parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen. Insects have six legs — three opposing pairs. When drawing insects, always attach the legs to the thorax. Also, notice how the back legs point to the rear, the middle legs point outward, and the front legs point to the front, forming a radial pattern around the body when seen from above.
Spiders and scorpions are arachnids. As such, their bodies are separated into only two parts. Arachnids, of course, have eight legs. In the same way an insect's legs radiate around its body, so do the legs on an arachnid.
Insects have three body segments and six legs. Arachnids have two body segments and eight legs, not counting the pedipalps (sensory feelers for tasting food).
