# Digitigrade or Plantigrade?



## Digitalpotato (Feb 14, 2009)

Personally I think it's appropriate either ways, although one thing I would like to see people who draw digitigrade anthros do is to make the paws bigger. Especially anthro ungulates. If they were over six feet tall wouldn't they have balance issues if they have teeny tiny hooves and paws? I think I can just push my finger into their chests and watch as they fall right on over. (Yes they have tails to balance that, but feet that are slightly smaller than a footbinder's probably would give some balance issues)

I think some stuff like meerkat paws are way better when they're plantigrade.


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## Shark_the_raptor (Feb 14, 2009)

I prefer digitigrade, but then again I draw mostly raptors so yeah, I'm somewhat biased.


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## Gavrill (Feb 14, 2009)

Since tigers have huge paws, I don't have that issue. But I'm not sure if I like one over the other. Digitigrade seems more appropriate for "wild" animals as opposed to "domestic". Don't ask me why, just seems better that way. x3


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## LizardKing (Feb 14, 2009)

Depends on what position you enjoy sexytimes, some are better for others.

Yeah.


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## Tycho (Feb 14, 2009)

Either/or.  Just make the foot look good, get the proportions right, blah blah.  Supposedly a number of artists have trouble with feet.

AND PUT ON MORE THAN 3 TOES IF IT'S A MAMMAL GODDAMMIT (with very few exceptions).


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## Aurali (Feb 14, 2009)

Reason I like dryeena: I made them the way they are

digitigrade


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## coolkidex (Feb 14, 2009)

Personally i have a giant foot fetish, but digigrade is a bit better. I dont know why.

Plantigrade, i dont have a problem with.


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## Dexiro (Feb 14, 2009)

i like plantigrade, but i prefer digitigrade, not sure why ^^

i suppose plantigrade is more realistic for anthros


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## Cronus616 (Feb 14, 2009)

I love digitigrade haha. ^-^
Digitigrade is way better than plantigrade. Period.


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## WishingStar (Feb 14, 2009)

Either or... why argue?  >.> They're fantasy creatures. :3


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## Nargle (Feb 14, 2009)

It really depends on the animal. Birds (obviously), canines, felines, etc. look better digitgrade to me, and I honestly think more animals look better digitigrade. For things like bears and rodents, I suppose it makes a little more sense to be plantigrade. 

I guess you could say I prefer digitigrade, and plantigrade only when applicable. I suppose it's because I draw mainly quadruped/feral anthros, and I prefer a more "realistic" look (Even though my style's heavily stylized, I still like to keep things true to nature, or what nature would be.) I'm NOT a big fan of Loony-Toons lookin' critters or Anime or the like =/


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## FourLetterWord (Feb 14, 2009)

either works but the fact that digitigrade legs have a shitload of advantages over plantigrade makes me lean digitigrade

(unless you plan to climb trees a lot, then plantigrade is nice)


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## Absinthe (Feb 14, 2009)

Depends on the races I create, species and what mood I'm in at the time. 

When I draw in digitigrade, I always make sure to lengthen the toes a little and make them splay more, I make the feet larger and flatter and flatten paw pads (if applicable) to counteract the balance issues. I notice some artists don't do that, and yeah I've visualized being able to tip them over just by poking them.


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## virus (Feb 14, 2009)

If you have longer plantigrade feet you can do both. What I prefer

A lot of people who draw digitgrade do it all wrong though, you can't stand up straight digitgrade and walk it would be too much of a strain, most digitgrade walking furries would be bent over to walk this way or else you'll continually fall flat on your ass and get fatigued in the lower body.


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## Whitenoise (Feb 14, 2009)

Digitigrade doesn't seem all to terribly practical for bipeds, feet are ugly either way though :V .


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## Stratelier (Feb 14, 2009)

When OP says "balance issues" regarding digitigrade subjects, the thing that comes to my mind first and foremost is not the size of the paws themselves, but the angle at which they're placed.  And it comes in two flavors:

1 - Center of gravity.  The creature's body weight needs to be balanced (more or less exactly) between where their feet actually _touch_ the ground.  If you have something like, say, this -- if you examine how far out the toes touch ground, and compare it to where the torso is... it's a bit backheavy.  It's actually a little surprising how many artists are (at some level) aware of when the foot placement makes a creature look balanced or off.

2 - Angles of leg.  Even when the feet are properly balanced, if the legs have an overly 'crouched' appearance, this can also make the creature feel off-balance.  The more vertical the legs, the less energy is required to maintain that posture.  So an example such as this, with 90-degree angles at the knee and heel -- that's got to be uncomfortable.


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## Digitalpotato (Feb 14, 2009)

WishingStar said:


> Either or... why argue?  >.> They're fantasy creatures. :3



Might as well just give the dude correct citation. 



			
				Wolfoxokamichan said:
			
		

> "Just because it's fantasy doesn't mean it needs to be illogical."


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## PaulShepherd (Feb 14, 2009)

Digitigrade, because canines are that way. ^^


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## aurindrix (Feb 15, 2009)

For me, that's entirely situational. On anthros or bipeds, I tend to prefer plantigrade. They usually look a lot more practical in that manner. Nonanthros, Digitigrade for sure! But there's more to the situational preference to just that factor..


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## haynari (Feb 15, 2009)

I suck at drawing legs in general. But I am way better at plantigrade than digigrade. If I had to choose between having plantigrade or digigrade in a fursuit, I would personally love to have digigrade.


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## Ratte (Feb 16, 2009)

I have my own species.  That helps a lot.


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## Comah (Feb 25, 2009)

I try to make furries as in-human as possible while still being humanoid, so i always go with digitigrade.


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## Seas (Feb 25, 2009)

I prefer digitigrade, for example this species on my current avatar is digitigrade, partly because they can move either quadripedal or bipedal (quad is preferred though), and plantigrade would be very impractical for this.


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## Stratelier (Feb 26, 2009)

Seastalker said:


> I prefer digitigrade, for example this species on my current avatar is digitigrade, partly because they can move either *quadriplegic* or ...


You mean, like in a wheelchair?


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## Elessara (Feb 26, 2009)

Digitigrade... but then again my critters a feral...

However, fursuits look stupid digitigrade...


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## DarknessHaven (Feb 26, 2009)

Well, I prefer either, I draw either, Just what works for the picture in my own opinion.

Though currently i'm gonna try for a more Digi grade style, Because I like how they look overall.


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## Seas (Feb 26, 2009)

Stratadrake said:


> You mean, like in a wheelchair?



quadrupedal.
Ich bitte eure entschuldigung, herr grammar fuhrer!


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## ToeClaws (Feb 26, 2009)

I like them both, but I think I prefer plantigrade footpaws by a little bit.  One thing I see artists commonly do though is not quite get the footpaws right for each type - as in not quite realistic.  (ugh... and I use "realistic" in a very loose sense here given that the whole furry isn't really real).  Here's the issues I often see:

*Toe layout:* The stance, balance and motion of a plantigrade would imply they move much like a human on two legs.  Our feet have big toes to bear the brunt of the forces involved, and a generally tapering toe design to aid in walking.  Likewise, a furry/scalie plantigrade would have a simliar design.  There'd be variences surely, just like there are with humans, but in general you wouuld not see a very animalistic footpaw on a plantigrade because the design is all wrong for the sort of walking a plantigrade does.

On digitigrades, the centre toes would be the largest/strongest because of the stance, balance and walking motions used.  Again though, I see some people draw them as very animal like when in fact they would be a bit more hybrid.  On a dog, for example, the two outter toes are located well back and partically behind the two centre toe pads.  This design makes sense for a quadraped because they're not balancing solely on their hind legs.  The hind legs are used mainly for propulsion and jumping, and the outter toes being well back and in allow for better manuverability and traction in the quad-leg design.

On a bi-ped digitigrade furry/scalie, the centre toes would still be larger, but the outer toes would have to be up further and closer to the centre toes to allow for balance and control on only two legs.  The ball of the foot would also like be a lot more broad.

*Pads:* This one's for furry plantigrades.  Since a plantigrade walks from heel to toes, they would not just have a ball pad on their feet.  They would have to have some sort of heel pad as well, or quite possibly, the whole of the bottom of their foot could be pad.  Makes sense when you think about it, but it's something you don't see drawn that often.

*Digitigrade Stance and legs:* Another issue I often see are when digitigrades are drawn more like they're plantigrades standing on the balls of long feet than really like digitigrades.  A real bi-ped digitigrade would have powerful thighs and would be most comfortable when standing slightly hunched over because, from a balance point of view, that's how it'd really be.  Try standing on only the balls of your feet and walking around - you'll quickly notice how much more challenging it is to balance as well as how much it works your thigh muscles.  You'll probably also notice why having the larger centre toes would be helpful, heh.


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## Armaetus (Feb 26, 2009)

Plantigrade for anthro, digi for feral/other.


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## DigitalMan (Feb 26, 2009)

Fun fact: Not all animals are digitigrade to begin with.

Normally, I go plantigrade. I was about to make my new gerbil fursona digitigrade, as a sort of distinctive feature... but then, my mate pointed out that gerbils, and most rodents in general, are primarily plantigrade anyways. Careful examination of my gerbils revealed this to be true. Just something to remember, for those who prefer digitigrade.


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## MelaCeroses (Feb 26, 2009)

Digitalpotato said:


> Personally I think it's appropriate either ways, although one thing I would like to see people who draw digitigrade anthros do is to make the paws bigger. Especially anthro ungulates. If they were over six feet tall wouldn't they have balance issues if they have teeny tiny hooves and paws? I think I can just push my finger into their chests and watch as they fall right on over. (Yes they have tails to balance that, but feet that are slightly smaller than a footbinder's probably would give some balance issues)
> 
> I think some stuff like meerkat paws are way better when they're plantigrade.



Specifically with my fursona being hoofer I'm inclined to agree with you.  I do prefer digitigrade stances, but plantigrade is also fine by me.  I have a tendency to look at anthros from a biological/evolutionary standpoint.  And while I agree with a person I was talking about this in that "the possibility of non-human bipedals is nigh improbable", it still is interesting to think about.

I can think of only bears as another species that naturally can stand and operate bipedally.  They also have much more short and broad feet compared to most mammals.  From a biological viewpoint it appears that digitigrade is specificlally designed for quadrupedal movement.

Let's just say that millions of years have passed and humanity is long extinct or gone from Earth.  Evolution has dictated that a species of ungulate (antelope, deer, horse, what-have-you) has become more sentient compared to it's bretheren, much like the Homo genus compared to primates.  Let's assume that the evolution of this sentience begins much in the same way it did with humans--the ability to stand upright.  How would that look?  It is a question I've been toying with in my mind and trying to translate into drawing.

So yes, if that were still digitigrade, a bipedal ungulate would have to have either larger hoofs, or have larger feet to stand on.  As we all know, the hoof is merely the final joint of the knuckle.


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## Digitalpotato (Feb 26, 2009)

Don't forget meerkats Mela. ;p


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## SirRob (Feb 26, 2009)

For me it really depends on how animal the furry is. If the furry looks more animal than human, digitigrade is better. It the furry is more human than animal, plantigrade is better.


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## WarTheifX (Feb 27, 2009)

Eh, plantigrade if in armor or boots. But my fursonas can walk both ways. It mostly depends on how I want to write it.


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## Werevixen (Feb 27, 2009)

Always digitigrade. But I don't mind plantigrade.


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## Felicia Mertallis (Feb 27, 2009)

It really depends.
Some fursonas look better with one and some with the other.

I mean, wouldn't it be odd to see the mixed candy goats go all digitigrade?
yes, yes it would.


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## Auros (Mar 16, 2009)

My personal preference is digitigrade, but I'm concerned as to how efficient that stance is for bipedal organisms. I know birds are bipedal and digitigrade as well as therapods, but there are no good living examples of a digitigrade biped (unless you count animals that are trained to walk on their hind legs for extended periods of time). However, a digitigrade foot can act like a plantigrade foot if the toes are sufficiently long enough and the joint between the toes and the rest of the foot is at a right angle.


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## Tycho Rass (Mar 16, 2009)

Digi here.


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