Week 9 - Lion Anatomy Part 1

Week 9

Lion Anatomy - Part 1

Learning the anatomy of animals is just as important as learning the anatomy of humans, as 

correct anatomy is essential in generating believability in organic models

Increasing my knowledge in animal musculature anatomy and biomechanics will improve the quality of future creature designs. Learning the way muscles control limbs in existing animals can allow one to apply anatomical principles to fictional creatures, enhancing their quality and believability.

My personal goal is to be a character/ creature artist, so it is crucial that I continue to improve my skill in this field and one of the best ways to do this is to learn anatomy from reference.

I have chosen to learn the anatomy of a lion and a horse, as these animals provide good examples of quadrupedal biomechanics.

This weeks task was to sculpt the front half of a Lion ecorche model.
The results can be seen below:

Some of the references I have collected for this weeks task can be also seen below:

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Science/data/images/MmBib/VetAnatImg/xlarge/0042x.jpg

http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/6220374/il_fullxfull.220607920.jpg

In regards to designing fictional creatures, I have learned a great deal from an online tutorial created by Rodrigo Vega. 

The tutorial can be found here:

http://iririv.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-on-creature-design-110577241

As a brief summary of the tutorial, combining anatomy of existing creatures is a great way to create believable, fictional creatures.

Rodrigo's primary example is that of a Lion-Rhinoceros hybrid. One method is to draw an outline of two creatures, and then find a halfway point between each outline.

Rodrigo also provides some good information in regards to distorting a creatures proportions.

"When animals get larger usually their heads won't grow much, so their heads look proportionally small. In larger animals, the feet are also quite small, and the hips and elbows proportionally large, giving the legs the shape of an inversed triangle instead of stick-like as in small animals."

Another method of design is to take a few keyword elements like "Large horned herbivore" and then think of how that creature would evolve to suit its alien environment. The less elements that are added to the description, the less obvious the interpretation will be.

Rodrigo's main point throughout the tutorial is that the more creature anatomies you learn, the better you will become at designing fictitious creatures.