#oc seakeeper

had an unhinged dream last night

This is not the one for 400 followers the one for 400 followers is Much Larger and I have been chipping away at it in my free time

I don’t blame you haha, digitigrade legs are very tricky, especially on anthro characters!

I’ll give some of my thought process on it

You see, posing normal plantigrade bipeds is the easiest, because they have straight legs that go straight down underneath the hips. It’s easy to balance the figure because the center of gravity falls right down between them like this

Digitigrade legs on quadrupeds are purposed to lean the weight forward so that the center of gravity is still situated right underneath the figure’s middle, like so

So it’s difficult to find real world references for digitigrade legs, because all of them are going to be slanted forwards like this because that’s how quadruped anatomy works. If you just transfer it right to a biped, the figure will be off balance.

This might be why a lot of people find it hard because it’s a strange type of anatomy we’re not used to. What ends up happening is the artist needs to push the hips back to re-center the gravity, which might make the leg position look a little different.

Another part of drawing digitigrade legs is understanding the segments of the leg so you can draw them better. This is a basic comparison between plantigrade and digitigrade (and unguligrade)

The shapes are mostly similar to plantigrade legs, just with different proportions and a different foot.

Here’s a basic breakdown of how i draw them

Posing the legs are also a little different, because the leg folds a little like an accordion rather than just an angular knee bend with a plantigrade leg. Remember, instead of just folding in one place, a digitigrade leg folds in two!

Knees/thighs of digitigrade legs are also the main shock absorber, so they tend to be thicker than the lower leg. The knees should also always be above the ankle, unless the leg is flexed. Try to make sure the knee and the ankle extend the SAME AMOUNT OF DISTANCE off the center line of the leg, or the proportions won’t look balanced

In general, when i pose my digitigrade legs, i spread out the stance to make the character look more stable. I also tend to give them thick tails as a counterweight to balance their bodies!

ssseeaaaakkeeepppeerrrrr