Misc. Werewolves

A bunch of werewolf form stuff! Just some general refs, sketches from the past few months and a few anatomy rules. I definitely plan to make a proper post regarding werewolf lore at some point, there's a lot to get into with it and I just need the time to get it all on a canvas! Some of these are a little old, I was still figuring out exactly how I wanted werewolves to look for a while so the muzzle proportions especially went through changes. Something that really helped me out was studying from my favorite movie: Wolfwalkers! The way they draw wolves really had an impact on me, but for the longest time I could never figure out quite how to capture it within my own style. The way they draw that bump on the snout was really something I wanted to incorporate, and it took a bit but I think I finally got it down. Wolfwalkers truly was the missing piece for me, I'd always been an animal artist as a kid but as I gave in and pivoted toward human anatomy I could feel my ability to draw animals declining. It was definitely tough at the time because animal art is a core part of my identity as an artist (thanks Warrior Cats), and despite having watched the movie right when it came out in 2020 I just wasn't experienced enough at the time to make it work.

I really am so happy I figured everything out though, because the best part of designing stuff for this story is now combining what I know about humans and animals and creating entirely new concepts! Leo's wolf form has existed and stayed largely the same design-wise since I made it, but what I really had to work on is getting it on-model. It used to have paws for example, but as I developed everything I realized that hands made more sense in my head, and just looked cooler. Its always had that big mane though, if it wasn't obvious enough it's supposed to resemble a lion. The back legs especially were a challenge, I really didn't want them to just be standard wolf legs but I also don't particularly like the look of human legs on werewolves. I had to divide up the base components of both species' legs and then adapt them to a cartoony style, still not sure how well I pull it off but I think I like how it looks lol! I really don't enjoy when the form swings too hard one way or the other, but I do generally prefer more wolf features over human. The skin-colored fur is fur, not skin (also the reason for why it's not rendered)--only his hands are bare, that's why the lighter palms are visible. Maybe that doesn't make anatomical sense, but I generally believe that a stronger design trumps perceived realism every time, I just try not to think about it too much haha. Also werewolves have big tails because I love big tails and I can't help myself 😙 additionally they're quite large! Generally they get between 5-6 feet tall on all fours, but Leo stands at 7 feet (and he's not done growing!) The last slide showing the height comparison contains a spoiler, so be warned! (and note as I've mentioned that wolf forms don't have super strict rules, I just do what feels right 😂)

Also some of the sketches got completely deleted because Photoshop crashed 🥲 Luckily I happened to take a photo of them for Instagram, but it suuucks because they were some of my favorites and I was planning on cleaning them up, I saved one at least but man oh well lmao