# How do you approach scale with your characters?



## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 24, 2021)

So I've been thinking about this, really ever since I started seriously participating in the fandom. Personally I like to scale characters like their respective species but that seems to be fairly uncommon. 

EG:








						Scale ref/ new ID by biscuitsboy532
					

It's late, I'm bored, thought I'd quickly throw together a scale reference. I figure it'd work for an ID too. . You  ...




					www.furaffinity.net
				



Like this quicc chart I threw together, with aid from https://hikaku-sitatter.com/en/ (feel free to share screenshots below if you do the same!).


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## Kuroserama (Apr 25, 2021)

Ah, interesting, I hadn't thought about this.

I do not have any other characters but I would still say probably humanesque. My fox is my height. If I were to be in a world with more animal-based sizes, I'd begin claiming I was just a mix of something more ethereal, like a kitsune, who may or may not have shape-shifting abilities. Something like that.
And if I were to lean in another direction, then it would be semi-realistic.

That being said, I really enjoy existing where there are lots of different shapes and sizes. A good example is online games. In Final Fantasy XIV, a fair amount of the population (including myself) are the cat-people (Miqo'te if any are curious). And while I would probably never play the big, burly people (Roegadyn) or the little Lalafells, I really enjoy seeing them in the world.


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## TemetNosce88 (Apr 25, 2021)

I haven't really drawn more than one character in a piece yet, but they're all pretty well human size and scale. They are slightly taller than the average human because I draw them with unguligrade legs with human-scale thighs and calves, so that naturally makes them a few inches taller (think walking around on your tiptoes all the time). I pretty much give them human arms and torsos with modified animal legs and faces.


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## Raever (Apr 25, 2021)

I tend to go with semi-realistic for my setting/characters. I like incorporating a sense of individuality and I do this using everything from species, to fashion, to incorporating height and weight and muscle differences etc. I haven't quite gone fully accurate with sizes, so rodents can be humanoid and elephants aren't "gigantic" but the difference is still striking enough (imo).


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## Foxridley (Apr 25, 2021)

Since the characters I come up with are generally feral (or humans turned feral), their sizes are realistic for their species.


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## Firuthi Dragovic (Apr 25, 2021)

Humanesque scaling is the method I'd use most of the time.  Kind of unfair in my case though because I've seen a lot of adult human size variance up close - including really tall people (like, nearly 7 feet tall) AND people with dwarfism (that's under... 4 foot 9 inches I think?).

So to tell me humans have little deviation in scale doesn't QUITE work the same with me.

If I were to use animal-based proportions at all, it'd be for plot points more than anything.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 25, 2021)

Raever said:


> I tend to go with semi-realistic for my setting/characters. I like incorporating a sense of individuality and I do this using everything from species, to fashion, to incorporating height and weight and muscle differences etc. I haven't quite gone fully accurate with sizes, so rodents can be humanoid and elephants aren't "gigantic" but the difference is still striking enough (imo).


Yeah what got me thinking about this now, specifically was "How are Cetaceans handled in universes like Zootopia or Beastars?" 

Cetaceans are mammals, and Artiodactylans. Both exist as anthros in those works. 

But Cetaceans are fucking gargantuan. A to-scale anthro blue whale would be like the characters in macro art.


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## Raever (Apr 25, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> Yeah what got me thinking about this now, specifically was "How are Cetaceans handled in universes like Zootopia or Beastars?"
> 
> Cetaceans are mammals, and Artiodactylans. Both exist as anthros in those works.
> 
> But Cetaceans are fucking gargantuan. A to-scale anthro blue whale would be like the characters in macro art.



Yeah, I think that setting is important when taking that sort of thing into account. For my setting where my character is based, a Whale anthro to a wolf Anthro might be the equivalent of a Goliath to a Human in Dnd 5e. Still much larger, but maneuverable to a degree. This is all just base guess work but hopefully it gets the idea across.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 25, 2021)

Raever said:


> Yeah, I think that setting is important when taking that sort of thing into account. For me, a Whale anthro to a wolf Anthro might be the equivalent of an Orc or a Hill Giant to a Human in Dnd 5e. Still much larger, but maneuverable to a degree.


Yeah that's what I meant by the second option. 

Like in Beastars, Legosi and Bill are equal in size

Yet Bengal Tigers are over twice as long as Wolves, and nearly 10x as heavy. They're only scaled to the same size for their character dynamic to work.


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## Paws the Opinicus (Apr 26, 2021)

What if we don't fit into any of those three options? I mean, like, _literally we don't fit_...?


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 26, 2021)

Paws the Gryphon said:


> What if we don't fit into any of those three options? I mean, like, _literally we don't fit_...?


As in Macro? Aren't they usually exceptions within their worlds though?

But yeah hadn't considered them haha


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## Raever (Apr 26, 2021)

Paws the Gryphon said:


> What if we don't fit into any of those three options? I mean, like, _literally we don't fit_...?





The_biscuits_532 said:


> As in Macro? Aren't they usually exceptions within their worlds though?



Yeah if everyone's macro no one is...which defeats the purpose. Plus, you wind up back at the same question.. XD


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## Paws the Opinicus (Apr 27, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> As in Macro? Aren't they usually exceptions within their worlds though?
> 
> But yeah hadn't considered them haha


I'm not really that _macro_, just 'unusually large, most likely unrealistically so'...

Actually, thinking of it in that manner, maybe semi-realistic is actually a viable answer for me.... because I do have proportions that attempt to explain how basically a 35' long catbirb (or in her case, dogbirbbirbdragon) is built, biologically speaking. And why I keep to 35' most of the time... because it feels unrealistic to me to be any larger (and feels like it would detract from any social situations to have to constantly worry about breaking something/someone - not that it has happened, she's so abnormally light and fluffy (like a decent stack'o'pancakes), and can flop on practically anyone without actually hurting them. 

Rrrrrrreally the issue with the poll is actually that it doesn't really provide options or clarification for characters that aren't anthro. 

Also most of that 35' is all tail. She's pretty much the size of a heavy duty pickup truck with a 20' trailer stuck on the back plus the wingspan of an A-10.


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## Ziggy Schlacht (Apr 27, 2021)

My roster of recurring characters starts at 4'8" and peaks at 6'9" or so. Smaller species tend towards the low end of the scale, large species towards the top. However, I chose the second option as while heights might follow human, muscle mass tends to not. As humans get tall, then tend to get thin. A 7' tall person tends to look gangly, not just a scaled up 6' person. I scale the muscle mass with the height to avoid that. I think this goes for a lot of people.

I have a (NSFW) example here - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/41550836/

However, in one off's I've deviated well off human size, clocking in over 10' tall and easily 600 lbs. Human scale is handy until it doesn't serve the picture, then it goes out the window.


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## Kinare (Apr 27, 2021)

Semi-realistic best describes my characters. I base proportions off of my ideas of what fits for my world, but the average being is not entirely different from human-like proportions. My sona's species is a solid foot taller than humans on average, built just like a human otherwise, while other species may be different based on whatever I deem fits their overall asthetic. Mixed bag really.


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## Raever (Apr 27, 2021)

Paws the Gryphon said:


> I'm not really that _macro_, just 'unusually large, most likely unrealistically so'...
> 
> Actually, thinking of it in that manner, maybe semi-realistic is actually a viable answer for me.... because I do have proportions that attempt to explain how basically a 35' long catbirb (or in her case, dogbirbbirbdragon) is built, biologically speaking. And why I keep to 35' most of the time... because it feels unrealistic to me to be any larger (and feels like it would detract from any social situations to have to constantly worry about breaking something/someone - not that it has happened, she's so abnormally light and fluffy (like a decent stack'o'pancakes), and can flop on practically anyone without actually hurting them.
> 
> ...



I think it's a matter of perspective. If, in your setting, the proportions are considered normal or semi-normal --- or "plausible" then it would likely fall under semi-realistic whether or not the character was anthro. That said, because sizing and proportions are usually by first glance compared to "human" and not "monster" (for lack of better classification here,) sizes, then it could be understandable as to why someone would feel left out. Still, I think it fits an umbrella term overall. You just gotta look at it differently or apply it to your own setting.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 27, 2021)

Raever said:


> I think it's a matter of perspective. If, in your setting, the proportions are considered normal or semi-normal --- or "plausible" then it would likely fall under semi-realistic whether or not the character was anthro. That said, because sizing and proportions are usually by first glance compared to "human" and not "monster" (for lack of better classification here,) sizes, then it could be understandable as to why someone would feel left out. Still, I think it fits an umbrella term overall. You just gotta look at it differently or apply it to your own setting.


I think there's certain species that fit larger sizes too, despite their irl proportions. 

Like Snakes. I prefer anthro snakes to be Draconcopodes (Nagas/ Lamias. Miss me with that human-half naga shit) and they look wayyyyy better when they're like, 40ft long fill-the-room-will-coils types.


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## Raever (Apr 27, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> I think there's certain species that fit larger sizes too, despite their irl proportions.
> 
> Like Snakes. I prefer anthro snakes to be Draconcopodes (Nagas/ Lamias. Miss me with that human-half naga shit) and they look wayyyyy better when they're like, 40ft long fill-the-room-will-coils types.



I agree, I love when Anthro snakes are made to be larger. You get to really appreciate the design that much more --- plus they come across as powerful (instead of...well...noodle). x3


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## ben909 (Apr 27, 2021)

for me at least, i have most of mine be human like sizes, although many of the characters i make are TFed characters, meaning they started as a human, and that is part of the reason they retain a human shape and size


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 27, 2021)

ben909 said:


> for me at least, i have most of mine be human like sizes, although many of the characters i make are TFed characters, meaning they started as a human, and that is part of the reason they retain a human shape and size


Yeah TF stuff must be interesting in this regard. 

I think Therianthropes (totally using Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the WereRabbit as a basis for this lmao) are more disposed towards growing as they transform but yeah I guess otherwise they'd stay a similar size


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## Raever (Apr 27, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> Yeah TF stuff must be interesting in this regard.
> 
> I think Therianthropes (totally using Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the WereRabbit as a basis for this lmao) are more disposed towards growing as they transform but yeah I guess otherwise they'd stay a similar size


Nobody asked but...
Fun Fact: Faline's transformation only adds a couple inches I believe. The host is about 5'4" and she's 5'9" (this is, I suspect, due to the anthro anatomy of legs and how the ankles reform and the bigger foot-paws, etc). I haven't really thought about it in depth.


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## ben909 (Apr 27, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> Yeah TF stuff must be interesting in this regard.
> 
> I think Therianthropes (totally using Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the WereRabbit as a basis for this lmao) are more disposed towards growing as they transform but yeah I guess otherwise they'd stay a similar size


 i see why growing would happen, although i think much of it might be for the story rather then tf parts

changing a part would require reshaping or growing parts, and at least for me they would stay about the same size because the amount of stuff and energy in the body stays about the same, except for really long term tfs.  so getting smaller would require droping something, or having material be destroyed, while growing would require energy in the body, but at the same time you could make any new structure by growing new cells as opposed to reshaping them


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## Jackpot Raccuki (Apr 28, 2021)

I wanna say Humanesque, but some characters are bigger or smaller.
Usually average is 5ft, some are 6ft but is rare.
But you’ll have characters that are 3’7”, 7ft, 9ft, etc

Although generally speaking bigger characters have a reason, Jackpot is just a shapeshifter and coz 7 is his lucky number so he’s 7ft.
But like my maned wolf is mostly just big but is technically a werewolf, a maned werewolf if you will, so he grows bigger than even his current slightly bigger size.

Small character is just small since his anthro species are generally small and he is smaller than average, but that’s coz I designed said species around it.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 28, 2021)

Jackpot Raccuki said:


> I wanna say Humanesque, but some characters are bigger or smaller.
> Usually average is 5ft, some are 6ft but is rare.
> But you’ll have characters that are 3’7”, 7ft, 9ft, etc
> 
> ...


Maned Wolves are lanky boyes so it makes sense that he'd be a tall skinny boye


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## Jackpot Raccuki (Apr 28, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> Maned Wolves are lanky boyes so it makes sense that he'd be a tall skinny boye


They are the tallest canines if I recall, but he's decently big due to the fact that he's a maned wolf and is meant to be a "werewolf" as well.
Kind of like how people have their sona as a werewolf in that it's a "permanent form" and in his case he just grows more in size on full moons since he's already wereform otherwise.

Never skips leg day though. A maned wolf who skips leg day isn't a real maned wolf.


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## Mambi (Apr 28, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> So I've been thinking about this, really ever since I started seriously participating in the fandom. Personally I like to scale characters like their respective species but that seems to be fairly uncommon.
> 
> EG:
> 
> ...



I tend to make Mambi my height and bipedal as well as most others, but for some reason I tend to make rabbit characters smaller unless individually special. I wish I knew why...maybe they are just cuter when little? _<shrug-smile> _Just tended to be a thing I did and never really thought about it much.


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## JuniperW (Apr 28, 2021)

Most of my animal characters look like their real-world counterparts. Although the birds pretty much remain the same, but are much bigger.
In hindsight, that was a bad idea. I should probably make a few adjustments to stop them from looking weird beside each other.
This is what would happen if a regular falcon was scaled to the height of Milestone (a falcon character of mine) and stood beside another one of my characters, a man of average height...


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## Marius Merganser (Apr 28, 2021)

Marius is just 3.5 feet (1 meter) tall, including the crest feathers.

(Interestingly, I found other ducksonas who were independently determined to be that same height as well.)


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 28, 2021)

Marius Merganser said:


> Marius is just 3.5 feet (1 meter) tall, including the crest feathers.
> 
> (Interestingly, I found other ducksonas who were independently determined to be that same height as well.)


I think it's interesting looking at other people's sonas of the same species, for scale purposes. 

Stephanie is tall for a female Lynx, but average overall. 

Iza is still tiny even compared to other Oncilla. 

Constantine is still huge compared to other Brown Hyenas. 

Haven't checked out other Lemurs yet.


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## Nazoc (Apr 30, 2021)

I go with human-esque scaling. Sharks will be a bit taller than average. Weasels and mice will be a bit smaller than average. But you still will have short sharks and tall mice, and the heights are all within the normal heights of a modern-day developed country. I personally find the approaches where the heights dramatically differ depending on species to be...really weird, frankly.


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## Netanye Dakabi (May 5, 2021)

i have a surti build anyway


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## Sam Wamm (May 8, 2021)

raging at the fact that my OC is 3 feet tall because that's MY ACTUAL HEIGHT IN REAL LIFE


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