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Kiarei-star [2008-06-16 20:41:04 +0000 UTC]

The tail and paws look very nice, but I think anatomy-wise you could use to trace a couple wolf or dog photos to get a feel for the shape of the body and legs. As long as you don't upload the tracings or claim them as your own creation, there's usually no problem at all with it. Once your hand and brain get a feel for the way the body is shaped and how the legs connect to the body (as well as how long each individual section of the leg is, from the haunch to the hock to the paw, etc) you can progress to referencing. If you try free-handing all along the way, I think you'll find many improvements in anatomy.

I think the key is to be observant and remember the little quirks of anatomy. Give yourself an eye for your chosen subject and eventually you'll be able to tell if things are off even if you're not referencing the pose from a photo.

Think, too, about the center of gravity. In this particular picture it's not very noticeable, but Blizzardfang is tilting a bit and the stance of his legs is not compensating for that; if he were alive and did not move his legs to balance himself, he would slowly topple over. To compensate for a tilt or other less common pose, the main body should be between the paws, if you were looking down on the wolf as if from a bird's eye view. That way the stance is wide and the character has plenty of balance. Think of like a vase for flowers. If the vase is wider at the top than the bottom, it's going to be very easy to knock over, whereas if the base is larger, it's hard to knock over. The width of an animal's stance is the same way (although the legs have muscles, which a flower vase does not, and this allows for some leeway.)

This kind of turned into a novel, but I hope that it helps you some. My biggest and most useful and most usually least-appreciated piece of advice is thus: Trace, reference, freehand, practice, Practice, PRACTICE.

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WildWolfFanatic [2008-05-16 22:46:39 +0000 UTC]

OHMIGOD!!!! He's awsome!!! It seems like Blizzey here is drawn alot more for this contest that others!!! YAyayay!

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