True from an evolution standpoint Paws to Hands is quite a tricky mess.
The equivalent hand for each species could look quite a bit different
due to how the digits on the Paw were used.
Examples in primates is easy to find, wider to extremely long, where
humans differer mostly in scale
A lot depends on whether they can still use them for all fours running
Take a wild, friggin guess wrote:
>
> --- In SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:SkunkworksAMA%40yahoogroups.com>, spudugly_at_... wrote:
> >
> >
> > I don't know about being turned away, but the pre-eye surgery work
> you were doing was some of my favorite pieces.?
> >
> > We havn't seen much in the new style yet, so I won't make any
> judgments, but so far, the older style is still my favorite.?
> >
>
> I think that's because I wanted to get the new style down pat
> before releasing it. Also, I would pick different "parts" of the
> artwork which I felt needed work, and focus on correcting those areas
> before moving on to the next parts. Plus, the mainstream material
> (while less enjoyable to draw) has helped immensely.
>
> One of the areas I wanted to correct was the subject matter of body
> mass. One of the things that had been bugging me for awhile was the
> simple fact that most artists draw their "furry" characters as if
> they are covered in colored or patterned skin. I'm not talking about
> texture, necessarily, but the fact that if you take a shapely human
> body and cover it in a decent layer of fur, guess what? That body is
> going to look a whole lot thicker, and it might not be as attractive.
>
> So I started by drawing the characters without their fur, to better
> understand the bodies beneath all that hair. Ever seen a show cat?
> Ever seen one without any fur? Yeah, they kinda lose the appeal, and
> the body looks quite alien by comparison. The fur helps conceal the
> unusual skin, musculature or skeletal features and helps to smooth
> everything over into a pleasant form. For that reason, while
> remaining humanoid, the new style bodies are not necessarily _human_.
>
> I also wanted to work on skull shapes, since not all species would
> have the same shape skull. But I'm not just gluing an animal head
> onto a hair-covered human body (I've seen several artists guilty of
> that). I had to bear in mind that the cranium had to still resemble
> the basic shape for that species, but also allow for a larger brain.
> Issues such as visual abilities were tackled as well, since the
> critters had to obviously be able to see straight ahead (although
> Treska's species does have a "blind spot" which extends about 4-5
> inches from the end of their snout).
>
> Another area concerned the pads on the hands or feet. An animal
> actually has very ugly paws, but with the addition of fur, it helps
> to make everything blend in together. The digits are quite bulbous
> and mishapen, but once you throw some hair into the mix, Presto! It
> looks correct. So I also wanted to understand the structure of those
> parts as well. And while it might not be too evident in single-image
> pictures, I've also been paying attention to communication via body
> language, since these characters would not only use speech, but also
> scents and body language to communicate. Little stuff like this can
> add up, you know. ;)
>
> --JMH
>
>
Received on Fri Sep 26 2008 - 11:14:38 CDT