You say, "Well, feet and hands are pretty much the same down under it all Kamida - although we will be focusing on the feet. Quick of you to notice they are basicly built the same, though. ;)"
Kamida noddles, i know, a foot is a hand with shorter digits and a larger middlepart.
You say, "Today will be on the feet, and basic construction steps to building them. "
You say, "Not quite Kamida - but I'll get to that in a moment. :)"
You say, "Now, there are two main 'types' of feet that are drawn in the furry world. They have long scientific-sounding names that I always mix up, so I won't use them. So for simplicity's sake (and so I don't embarrass myself messing them up the whole class) we will just call them 'human like' and 'animal like'."
You say, "Now, looking at example 1 and 2, we see the basic human foot. You can see that drawing the foot can be broken into two broad shapes - in the case of the foot, triangles work very well."
You say, "The orange triangle represents the heel area of the foot. The green, the longer part and the toes."
You say, "In a human foot, the orange part is very important. Notice how the line I drew for the leg falls over the center of the orange. The heel holds the majority of the weight for the entire body on it - so the center of balance is important."
You say, "A human foot at rest will always be centered above the heel, and even when running the leg will always try to distribute the weight properly onto that point when it can."
You say, "Following the triangle guidelines should make drawing feet easier. The green part is pretty flexible. That represents your toes and various small bones in your feet. These are the parts that curve and flex as you walk about."
You say, "The orange will pivot, but won't be flexible. It's made to take a huge amount of shock onto it. Much like a shock-absorber, it's well anchored to your body."
You say, "The human foot at rest isn't that complicated, it's when it's moving that you start to have problems. The foot in motion will be covered in next class, in case you are wondering. ;)"
Kamida lilts, "difference in running and walking, how it behaves at jumping."
You say, "However, some furry artists like drawing their feet in another way - not changing the back feet at all from an animal's norm. That is what is represented in the second picture."
You say, "Now here is where the main problem with the 'animal feet' lie...they are not meant to carry weight like a human foot does. As you can see, the orange triangle is up higher...the ankle and heel area. The toes and flexible part are down lower in the green."
You say, "This is because animals are made to run on four feet - this causes a problem when we try to stick them on just two sets of animal feet to run around on."
You say, "There are several ways you can approach this. None of them are wrong, mind you - you have to decide for yourselves which take on it you want to use."
You say, "First : you could do basic animal paws and forget being correct as far as building them goes. After all, if you have a timber wolf walking about in a jacket and chatting on his way to the bus stop, who's going to quibble if it doesn't look like his feet can support him properly?"
You say, "Second : you can draw the basic human foot and 'animalize' it a bit. Add long claws instead of toenails, maybe raise the foot slightly (like a person was raising themselves off their heels a bit) are all possibilities."
You say, "Third : Design a mixture of the two that you like. There are tons of different ways you could do this. Make the paws bigger, and able to handle more shock? Huge toes? Shorter gripping claws maybe?"
You say, "The third option is probably the best to take, and the one I decided to take for my pictures."
You say, "It does mean you'll have to experiment with your paws, as well as your whole body...it's a big step, if you'll pardon the pun. :)"
You say, "What type of foot you pick will affect your whole picture. "
You say, "How your foot is made will affect the fur's blance and ability to absorb shock. Dainty paws just won't be able to run without suffering a lot of pain. Maybe a large fluffy tail is in order to help keep balance (and would explain away a lot of fluffy tails on most people's part)."
You say, "Posture could change as well...a person stands and balances themselves differently when on their toes then when their feet are flat on the ground. The knees may be pushed forward more, and the whole body assume a crouching position to aid balance."
You say, "Now, does anyone have any questions on what we've covered?"
Kamida lilts, "well, yes, what i do not understand about your drawings is weight distribution on digigrate feet, its like a human walks in stilts?"
Graytail says quietly, "since the heel is raised above the ball of the foot, the knee has to move forward to correct the balance. Thats why a lot of people call Digigrade, dogleg."
You say, "Which are Digigrade, the animal ones? Told ya I didn't know the proper names. :)"
Graytail nodnods
Piccillo nods at Graytail's reply. "That's right. :)"
Kamida lilts, "so you can forget running with that shape of feet then, well, on two feet."
You say, "Probably Kamida - although the critter might drop on all fours to run. It depends on how 'evolved' you want your furs to be. Dropping on all fours to scamper about might be perfectly acceptable behaivor for them...much like a bear moves."
*end of lesson*
