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Twokinds β Tkturials - Digitigrade Legs Guide
Published: 2014-03-10 04:29:14 +0000 UTC; Views: 378480; Favourites: 11857; Downloads: 6306
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Twokinds Tutorials - Digitigrade LegsLooking around Deviantart, I noticed that there weren't very many good, detailed guides on drawing characters with digitigrade legs, like those featured on my Keidran and Basitin races. Digitigrade, for those unaware, is a term for an animal that walks on their digits (toes) rather that flat-footed, as we humans do. This style of character design can be difficult for someone unused to this type of anatomical structure. Now, I am not claiming to be any sort of expert. But I have been drawing these guys for more than ten years now, and I often get asked how I draw certain things. So this is not necessarily a "how to draw" tutorial" as it is a "how I draw" tutorial, if you get my meaning.
I hope this information can prove useful for those of you who are aspiring artists, or at least interesting to those who wish to learn more about how I go about my drawing process. So without further adieu, please allow Flora to demonstrate for you how it works! Enjoy!
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Comments: 641
Noted. I will certainlyΒ try this out.
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first of all you should do more of these as you have skill at doing tutorialsΒ
secondly there is a well respected theory that it take 20 hours to learn a new skill andΒ 416Β days or 1.1 yearsΒ to master it
so by that theory and the fact that you have been doing this for over ten years
Β
bay all accounts that would make you in fact a "master" in this subject
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TwoKinds,
Can you create a special video , like speed paint and publish it on your brother's youtube? That would help alot!!!!!!!
FYI> Both of u, me gusta.
Kudos!
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this is a great way to draw legs for an animalistic characterΒ
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Awesome, legs are hard to draw and this could be a good help
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Thanks for the tutorial!
Even though there is one question in my head - can Keidran lie on their bellies?
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I see no reason why they couldn't.
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I kind of see them lying on their bellies similar to dogs because I cannot imagine them lying like people namely because of their elongated feet. Wouldn`t they break them if they would not have their legs lifted while lying on their bellies?
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I don't see why that would do that. They stand just fine so why couldn't they just end up like a person? Lookat flora on her tip toes, what about that pose means flora can't lay on her belly like a human? Also I'm pretty sure that with their human length thighs that sleeping like a dog would be extremely uncomfortable. ALso, I'm pretty sure that there's a picture of Flora in the comic on her side like a human just fine, there's one of Sythe on his back like a human, I don't see any reason why that means they can't roll over on their stomachs.
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I just wanna thank you for this tutorial!
I was in quite a rut tryin to do some digigrade legs on a commission i got and this helped me a ton!Β
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I've had prier experiance drawing dighitigrade legs in the past, however this has greatly helped with posing and drawing the toes and foot pads of some of my characters. Thanks Tom!
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you do some lovely feetpaws! do you have an FA?
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YES! Finally one of my favorite artists has done the tutorial I have been looking for the most out of all!
Beautiful and adorable. Good job!
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This is so cool, and ridiculously adorable! I'll definitely keep this in mind when drawing things~
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Wow, this is awesome!Β I gotta link this to a friend, I think he could use some of this. Very good reference for nearly any Anthro artist!
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was looking around on google and came across this pic. nice diagram
kinda unrelated (i'm not an artist) but i just up and decided to try walking digitigrade one day a few years ago and have been doing so ever since. well, partially digitigrade anyway, i tend to walk on the balls of my feet while keep my heels off the ground by around 2-3 inches with my knees bent slightly. and its actually not a bad way of walking but it does come with a rather annoying downside. a weak lower back -_- looks like as time goes on, if you maintain such a stance it gets harder to do things like leaning over a lot or heavy lifting. oh how it makes my back ache when bringing in groceries among other things :/ on the other hand, after all this time my legs have gotten a lot stronger and i can move around much faster than if i walked plantigrade and i have better balance this way (try standing like this on one leg for several seconds. i bet most people would fall down in seconds lol). so walking this way has its up and down sides (also if anyone tries it, either take it slowly at first or prepare to have your knees hurt a lot until you get used to the stance)
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This is an interesting thing to try at least a day in a life indeed, and a diditgrade kind of walk/run is way faster than plantigrade one because it need only 3 parts per foot movement instead of 5, (thing also important to note when making an walk loop, like show the picture wit only 3 "steps" after starting the movement) but requiere stronger legs.Β That's why cats and other animals jump this high and run fast, somehow. But human body is not made for this, like we can see with high-heel shoes what are said to cause back dolors if used everyday.
If you don't want to have long term back problems, you better get back for plantigrade way of walking, at least on the constant stence. Digitgrade is usefull for humans in run stence, but will never replace training for getting strong legs. The reason why you can't lift heavy things is because the weigh pression usualy is made to be "evacuate" by the sole of the foot, in digitgrade stence all goes into the leg and back itself, making things harder.It is also harder to grab something on the floor because arms are not made to be long enough for this stence.
Seriously, werewolves and anthro kind of characters have anatomical specificities that humans don't have, not only a tail and animal head. Talking about that, most pepole fall in digit stence because we have no tail to balance, but with training (like circus artists often shows) it is possible to get used to non conventional stences, as everyone can have some adaptibility to new things.
Digitgrade stence is not made for humans unless it's for usefull cases like getting a object too high, or running. I sometimes use it too, mostly to visualize character's stences, or run (but not in long distance because it is faster on short runs but also exaust faster). Also, trying Digitgrade-stence is interesting along with "serious" studying of Digit anatomy, like animals documentaries and such, but you better be carefull if you wanna play being a cat all day long.Β Β Β
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"But human body is not made for this, like we can see with high-heel shoes what are said to cause back dolors if used everyday." do you know how often i've seen people say that both irl and across the internet? heres the thing about walking this way compared to wearing high heels. wearing high heels is literally forcing your legs into this position unnaturally. i only partially maintain the stance by keeping my heels off the ground by 2-3 inches and i don't have to force that in the slightest.
as for back pains, well, if you don't excercise much then thats a given. me, i do pushups (try doing 200 pushups quickly non-stop with no breaks. its not as easy to work up to as you might think 
long as your not forcing your body to do that by artificial means (see horrendous results of years of wearing things like high heels. 
like i said at the end of my previous comment, it may have caused my knees to hurt at first but by now i'm long since adjusted to it and far faster than i would be had i continued to walk digitigrade all this time. PLUS, walking plantigrade has its downsides as well but i'm sure you enjoy walking around slamming into the ground heel first. i can hear someone clear across the house here cause it sounds like they're stomping in comparison to the relatively silent way i walk. i used to tease my aunt about that since she always said i should start wearing a bell due to how easily i could sneak up behind her. lol
as forgoing back to plantigrade, well... it feels awkward and unnatural to me now. i'll just let you have your opinion and keep walking however feels most comfortable for me as its my choice to makeand i don't intend on letting anyone change that for me. i chose to start walking this way and its up to me if i want to continue walking this way.
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I did not say you are forced to go back to plantigrade way of walking, just (and we have the same conclusion about this) that forcing the body to be in a stence y unnatural means, even for 2 inches, cause later back pains and all sorts of problems. For most pepole, digitgrade ties are done without activities aside, or with high heels to get used to it at first, what is bad. You seems to have appropriate physical activity aside of your digitgrade vay of walking and are confortable with it, so this general case don't seems to apply.
In fact, I am not for it or against it, and most of my conclusions were from the serious studies I made and seen (both graphical and from animals documentaries) so it was a general conclusion. If you do something correctly it's good, but unfortunaly, most of pepole don't do, as I mentioned before. That's where the warning take sense, in a way.
Personaly, as I said I often use it to test some of my characters stences (I work on videogame stuff but still amateur) but also when my sickness cause my body to fall temporary weaker all a sudden while I'm walking or else. It is easier for me to keep my stability in digit than the usual way of walking in this state of health. Aside of that, I walk like common pepole does.
Anyway, even if you walk digitgrade way, try using plantigrad when you lift heavy things still, as it's a physics problem about how the weigh affect you what make it better, not body related or anything. After all, if we can use both of the two stences each one have it's usefulness depending on each situation. ^^
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well its certainly true both have they're pros and cons. digitigrade is good for speed, agility, and moving quietly but...yeah, its no good when your doing heavy lifting or need more stability when standing for something. for getting around normally, quicker, digitigrade can work fine but for things like yard work (moving tree limbs, chopping away brush and so on) your right that plantigrade works better. like you said, it depends on the situation at hand.
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Exactly, the thing is not to know "wich one is the best" but "in what situation each one is better" compared to the other way of standing.
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Really handy, thanks for putting this together! :3
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Oh man, I love this tutorial. I have a lot of friends tell me that digitigrade legs would never work like this, so it's nice to see someone who DOES think it would work and shows how. 
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Hnnn those paw pads!! *U* ahh this is nicely done, great tutorial, must try!
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Very helpful. This made my first Digitigrade a success!
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Very thorough and well-drawn! Will there be a Plantigrade Legs Guide too? (Assuming that such a thing is even necessary.)
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This is as good and detailed as it gets -- thanks!
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Thank you!Β I always have so much trouble drawing digi-legs/feet; this will help me to improve~Β ^^
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This may be helpful in my game development, thanks tom.
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Huh, I was just trying out some digitigradeΒ legs for a new anthro character of mine!
Thanks for this tutorial, It's very helpful!
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I think drawing digitigrade characters for ten years makes you an expert. This amazing tutorial of sorts would certainly suggest expertice!
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oh my gosh I didn't know how bad I needed this until this instant thank you so much for this
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Hello, can you makeand running tips for digitigrade characters please?
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I'm actually gonna try to do this now today, I shall do it!
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This is very helpful when i draw Digitigrade legs on my characters.
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you should animate this, im not even kidding
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I'll be sure to give Digitigrade again tomorrow. Β Just stumbled onto your reference sheet for Flora and tried my hand at it. Β (Utterly failed on her feet ;-; ) The body looked... okay. Β Back on topic, I noticed the sheet was back from '04. Β After looking at some of your newer stuff I figured I'd ask for some tips, or even a re-visit on her ref sheet.
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This will help alot thanks.
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Cool, I could use more of these.
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Probably use this at some point. It'll help me improve for sure X3
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Man... I've been looking for something like this for Β while, great job, and thanks!
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