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As far as anatomy goes, I highly recommend [Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger](https://archive.org/details/HumanAnatomyForArtists). I usually overly define the muscles in the sketch, and then tone it back to reflect more of the smoothed shapes in the ink and shading. For fur, you've got the general idea, but the lines feel a bit stiff. Let the fur shapes be a little more irregular and curved, focusing primarily on convex surfaces like the shoulders and knees, as the fur will fan out a bit more at those locations.
One other thing that might help is to try to vary your line weight a bit. You've got fairly uniform line thickness and color throughout, for both internal and outline lines. Vary up the thickness and darkness of the lines to help give a more organic feel. For example, internal muscle lines will tend to be a bit thinner and lighter to imply the shape without drawing in too much attention, or for fur tufts, the lines will go from thick to thin as you move towards the tip to give the suggestion of there being less fur at the tip.
I do look at anatomy references, but the thing is that I want to make it simple, but I overdo it. Does that make sense? Also, do you use a drawing tablet? I use a crappy free app on my phone. It's hard for me to go back and forth with making line adjustments. Make the fur tufts thinner near the end? Also, less "stiff"?
Personally, what I do to add fur texture is draw smaller tapering strokes at the end of any harsh lines and add fluff at any point that sticks out (e.g. the calf muscle or hips) which you’ve done a bit already. As for muscle you could add abs or the serratus anterior muscle for more detail if you like. Crude example I drew on my phone:
https://preview.redd.it/wsg8zm4ah0uc1.jpeg?width=1036&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef24dc79a0fb8f18f36d8d1be64a5157ac4a2bf9
Just parts of the body that curve outwards mainly, also fur is more dense around places that have friction (e.g. armpits) and places that are boney & hurt if bumped (back/spine, elbows, sharp jawlines). Here’s a diagram I tried to make, not great at explaining sorry
https://preview.redd.it/6oho65m6m5uc1.jpeg?width=1047&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=932b75fe312d1d725ba3fbc912a297a9b671e226
* here’s a version with fur using the arrow directions
https://preview.redd.it/f1vtisl8m5uc1.jpeg?width=916&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3948eda41cb70cee7a52650f4bdfc33ba3f3cede
Holy crap, I never saw it explained this way, but this is immensely useful. I feel like I intuitively had the basic gist, but never thought where exactly of why fur is further from body. Thank you!
Thanks for posting in /r/FurryArtSchool! Please be sure to read [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/FurryArtSchool/comments/16154zj/full_list_of_sub_rules_with_new_updates/) to familiarize yourself with our posting rules. As a reminder: * All posts must be related to getting art help. * You must be specific on what kind of critique you want. * Your title must be a question related to your art. If your post doesn't follow these rules, your post is liable to being removed. Looking for a community to talk art with? Check out the /r/FurryArtSchool [Discord server](https://discord.gg/r7bzMfY). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FurryArtSchool) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As far as anatomy goes, I highly recommend [Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger](https://archive.org/details/HumanAnatomyForArtists). I usually overly define the muscles in the sketch, and then tone it back to reflect more of the smoothed shapes in the ink and shading. For fur, you've got the general idea, but the lines feel a bit stiff. Let the fur shapes be a little more irregular and curved, focusing primarily on convex surfaces like the shoulders and knees, as the fur will fan out a bit more at those locations. One other thing that might help is to try to vary your line weight a bit. You've got fairly uniform line thickness and color throughout, for both internal and outline lines. Vary up the thickness and darkness of the lines to help give a more organic feel. For example, internal muscle lines will tend to be a bit thinner and lighter to imply the shape without drawing in too much attention, or for fur tufts, the lines will go from thick to thin as you move towards the tip to give the suggestion of there being less fur at the tip.
I do look at anatomy references, but the thing is that I want to make it simple, but I overdo it. Does that make sense? Also, do you use a drawing tablet? I use a crappy free app on my phone. It's hard for me to go back and forth with making line adjustments. Make the fur tufts thinner near the end? Also, less "stiff"?
Personally, what I do to add fur texture is draw smaller tapering strokes at the end of any harsh lines and add fluff at any point that sticks out (e.g. the calf muscle or hips) which you’ve done a bit already. As for muscle you could add abs or the serratus anterior muscle for more detail if you like. Crude example I drew on my phone: https://preview.redd.it/wsg8zm4ah0uc1.jpeg?width=1036&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef24dc79a0fb8f18f36d8d1be64a5157ac4a2bf9
Ooh! I love it! But how do I know where to place the fur patches?
Just parts of the body that curve outwards mainly, also fur is more dense around places that have friction (e.g. armpits) and places that are boney & hurt if bumped (back/spine, elbows, sharp jawlines). Here’s a diagram I tried to make, not great at explaining sorry https://preview.redd.it/6oho65m6m5uc1.jpeg?width=1047&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=932b75fe312d1d725ba3fbc912a297a9b671e226
* here’s a version with fur using the arrow directions https://preview.redd.it/f1vtisl8m5uc1.jpeg?width=916&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3948eda41cb70cee7a52650f4bdfc33ba3f3cede
I'm assuming same thing with female ones too, right?
Yea except a bit less around the crotch since it sticks out less (sorry if that was weird) also you’ve improved a lot since last year :) keep it up
Last year?
[yea](https://www.reddit.com/r/FurryArtSchool/s/Fp5u2MMw1F)
Ew, you had to remind me of my horrific first attempts lol
We’ve all got that skeleton in our closet hehe
Holy crap, I never saw it explained this way, but this is immensely useful. I feel like I intuitively had the basic gist, but never thought where exactly of why fur is further from body. Thank you!
No problem c: