Restarting my series of little snippets to help other artists understand anatomy better, since furry anatomy gets pretty whack sometimes!

This set is legs! Here's legs with muscles blocked in.

First is dog/cat/traditional digitigrade, second is horse/deer/standard unguligrade, third is human/chimp/traditional plantigrade, fourth is squirrel/bear/non-traditional plantigrade, and fifth is bird/non-traditional digitigrade.

They're all color coded with humans as the 'key' set for ease of understanding.
Remember, in many other animals the nail is fused to the last digit of the toe. In cats it retracts into the folds of the toe, but in dogs (and cheetahs) it is always out. To understand this better place your hand on a table, lift up the last joint of your index finger (the joint closest to the palm), keep the tip pressed to the table. Now imagine the tip can hinge up towards the raised knuckle. That's how retractable claws work! For horses and the like, picture a ballerina on tip-toe. Simple, yeah?

Good luck!

Support me on Patreon, where commissions are always open and I post minimum once a week!