Digitigrade animals don’t have “backward knees”

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Publicado en December 15, 2012

Today, I'd like to address one of the most common mistakes that new or young artists make when they start drawing animals: "Backward knee" syndrome. This is one simple tip, but if you haven't discovered it yet, it's going to make a world of difference.

"Digitigrade" is an animal that walks on its digits, or toes. digitigrade animals include canines, felines, elephants, birds, dinosaurs and more.

Humans, on the other hand, are "plantigrade" animals, meaning that we walk on the soles of our feet rather than the toes. And therein lies the confusion. Digitigrade animals don't have backward knees. Rather, their feet are elongated: they are balancing on their toes, and what looks like a knee is actually the ankle. Check it out:

Skeletal diagram of a cat

Now compare that to a human foot:

Muscle and skeletal diagram of a human leg

Comentarios

Junsui (unregistered visitor) January 28, 2013 7:48pm

Thank you! This has been bothering me for a very long time. I've just avoided drawing animals.

Kim - Administrador del sitio February 3, 2013 9:05pm

So glad to be helpful! I remember my own "aha!" moment when someone first showed me a canine skeleton.

Brandon (unregistered visitor) December 6, 2016 11:46pm

The really funny one is an ostrich, the knee is hiding~!

EduxBR (unregistered visitor) February 6, 2013 8:59am

Thank u sooooo much! =D

YoreArt February 25, 2013 10:07pm

Mike Rowe made this same mistake on "Dirtiest Jobs" when he visited the Ostrich Farm.

Kim - Administrador del sitio February 26, 2013 12:33am

I did not know that! That's pretty funny. Thanks for the trivia! :)

Dex (unregistered visitor) April 16, 2013 5:33pm

I've always thought this.

Raffety Sean July 10, 2013 1:15pm

OMG! Thank you!

Kim - Administrador del sitio July 10, 2013 3:20pm

It's an eye opener, isn't it? :D I remember my aha moment!

Birds, dogs, and cats bend their ‘knees’ backwards because those are actually their ankles! | Net Sauce (unregistered visitor) July 14, 2013 3:38pm

[...] (Source) [...]

factPicture | Digitgrade (unregistered visitor) July 16, 2013 4:45am

[...] https://line-of-action.com/digitrade-animals-dont-have-backward-knees/ [...]

Fog (unregistered visitor) October 12, 2013 8:21pm

This is a great post. I learned with animals though, so my opinion probably doesn't count.

This is the same with birds, a lot of people don't realize, and it's even harder to show since their hip and upper leg is on the inside of their body and it's nearly impossible to see. At least with mammals you will have vague points that resemble human anatomy.

http://www.scienceinschool.org/repository/images/issue21ostrich5_xl.jpg

Another thing I want to point out is that some animals are plantigrade (not including the obvious primates) and a lot of people don't know this and once they learn how to draw dogs and cats may incorrectly draw bears and mustelids (weasels). The more you know.

Kim - Administrador del sitio October 13, 2013 3:47am

That is an excellent point! Maybe this will make a good followup post. :)

jluluwe September 21, 2014 10:28am

What is the joint between the ankle and called?

jluluwe September 21, 2014 10:32am

Never mind. I was looking at the picture wrong.

aAvian (unregistered visitor) October 12, 2014 4:13pm

Also, another tip - ungulates (hooved animals) are like other digitigrade animals, with a catch - they walk on their nails, not even their toes! Horses have one toe with one nail that they walk on, pigs and other ungulates have two-four toes and walk on those toenails. That's all a hoof is - a big ol' toenail!

Kim - Administrador del sitio October 14, 2014 2:01pm

That is an awesome contribution! Thank you! :)

Anderson Marques (unregistered visitor) September 9, 2015 8:56am

And a horse?

Bogdan (unregistered visitor) August 16, 2016 7:10pm

But Pluto (Disney) have backward knees :)

Sean Kresge (unregistered visitor) February 12, 2018 7:09pm

Camels?

Foxtrot April 24, 2018 4:22pm

Ha! Ha, ha, ha, ha, I spent 4 years in an accredited university carrying a double major, one of which was biology. You would think this would have been taught in the physiology classes, or at least covering mamology. This is brand new to me and is amazing. Learning is a life long persuit and this just put me forward on the learning scale. That was magnificent.

Kitsune (unregistered visitor) October 21, 2020 8:40pm

Thank you. I have been struggling to understand this one for a long time. And I needed to know this most just now!

Claudesco January 22, 2021 6:40am

Great article! I never really thought of that but just drew what saw. I guess it does pay to learn some anatomy! Now I'm going to stare at my dogs legs!

SnailsAndRavens March 19, 2021 3:40pm

This was a very helpful article. Digitigrade anatomy is very difficult to draw at first as their limbs don't work the same a humans. Thank you. :)

Shari (unregistered visitor) June 8, 2023 3:10am

Here's a good one. When hopping at speed, a kangaroo hops on its toes, but when it's grazing it'll use all 4 limbs, and its entire foot will at times be resting on the ground as it does the slow hop for food. Their tails never touch the ground as they do the fast hop because they need the tail as a rudder, but the tail will almost always be on the ground for the slow 4-limb hop because they need it for balance. At the fast hop, the tail bobs up and down, but it only appears to touch the ground.

sadmimikyu (unregistered visitor) August 11, 2024 1:36pm

I love the resources here but in the first picture with the cat what is labelled as the knee is actually the hip. The knee is the lower joint.

sadmimikyu (unregistered visitor) August 11, 2024 1:39pm

Forget my previous comment. I was saving battery and with the screen, I could not see the blue line at all. I would have been surprised at that odd mistake. Very sorry.