I really enjoy making demon characters with fairly large horns and never really noticed that I always kept their horns to the front! The amount of variation horns can carry is such a fun idea to play with.
Halo horns thar connect at the top in a point is always an interesting idea to play with too Think about what personality the character has too, that could apply to how dainty or masculine they look.
@@spacecowboy7148 OOH THAT FIRST IDEA! And yup!! I’m gonna use my character April as an example. She’s usually sort of strict and work oriented, and has a fairly feminine appearance. Her horns are sort of like that from more classic depictions of demons, fairly straight with a slight curve.
@@AlicornHana depends on the person's build i'd think. Horns are often made out of the same thing as hooves and nails so they're not that weighted unless they're spiraled or overly large.
The animal ears thing is such a good point! The cat girl anime thing is cute until you think about how weird they would look in a ponytail. I feel like the most common mistake i see with horns/ ears ect is that they look like they’re attached to the hair rather than the skull.
If anyone’s wondering to make sure that ears/horns don’t look tacked onto the hair, it’s always better to draw them as you’re drawing your character’s head before you add hair
@@Mystery-Wolf same, I always try to make the ear connect to the original ear canal in some way to make it look better. I also make the ears the same color as the hair, but thats because i'd assume if they were an actual animal, they'd have the same coloration as the hair. The only time I don't is when the hair is colored lol
I love how you made the point about snouts being angled wrong, and to think of them like boxes. I wish I had learned this when I had started drawing lol- like this video :)
Some famous art youtuber: DON'T DRAW BOXES People who uses them and it makes their art better: you sure bout that (Also, i don't draw boxes, instead cylinders if its rounded, but im not stopping you for using boxes, so many ways to draw that you should find your own way)
@@AlicornHana i use mostly cylinders and such with arms and legs but with snouts being so boxy its super useful. However box shapes rarely occur in real life. Its a balance of knowing where boxes should and shouldn't go :)
I like the different perspectives you gave about where to locate ears and horn/antlers on a more human like character. Fun fact, there may be a reason why you like forehead horns. Biologically speaking animals that have horns or antlers growing from their skulls actually grow them on the part of the skull right above the eyes, which compared to a human’s skull is the forehead bones. There are reptiles that are able to grow “horns” around their heads in other places, but those are considered fake horns since they don’t have a true bony structure underneath. I learned this in my Mammology class, and I understand that information may have changed however I though it could potentially add to the conversation. Very nice video. :)
I'm glad the weight thing was brought up, because different animals actually have different skull thicknesses at varying locations. The side of a human's head is the thinnest, if I remember right, about around the ears and slightly up or kind of to the side of the eyes ish. Whereas on a horse it's more down the nose between the eyes. Almost forehead level. But that area is decent on humans, even if not the thickest point of a human skull. So the section mentioned in the video would have the best structural support for bigger horns, as well as the best foundation to have some actual bone to grow from. Both my husband and I like unique horns, but while some designs are FASCINATING to me I still prefer to have something with a BIT of believability based off of actual anatomy. For example, if you want horns on the face they'd have to follow the cheekbones...probably up along the apex...or the jawbone line. Also, many things with horns and antlers, (not fond she called them 'horns' for deer, but enh), is that they're usually for defense and use. So the animals that have them have specialized skulls and muscles and fat deposits to handle the shock and cushioning needed to handle such regular blunt force trauma. Sooo, if you've got weight on your cheekbones how is that going to pull and affect the rest of your face? Even if not for fighting, cuz placement, can still be grabbed and whatnot.
I have a faun oc that has the lower part deer legs, deer antlers and ears, but his antlers are actually white/golden flowers trees and for anatomy I always make sure the ears align right, he also has a deer type nose so his face structure almost resembles the Na’vi
@@AlicornHana its all about angling. Sure, cat ears as they are on a cat don't work, but if they're angled to the side they do. Same with dogs, the flip on ears would just happen further down instead of straight up and down.
as a horse owner i would like to say - some types of horses do have very fluffy ears compaired to most! such as a brumby, but it all depends on the location from where theyre all from, the season, ect :DD this is just for the people who like the small details tbh
What would you say about drawing fish people? (I love dnd and oc making in general, so how would you go about it? From a dnd perspective: merfolk, tritons, etc. Not typically mermaids as they tend to have half fish body.)
I already knew all of this XD but tbh it was really nice to refresh and also how you talk about it is so respectful and nice, it was just chill to watch and listen to you explain
my favourite kind of horns to draw are on the sides of the head and wrap to the top, because it gives me an excuse to move the ear canals, and because it feels like the weight of the horn balances itself on their skull rather than away from the head!
i feel like horns work pretty well when their mass is concentrated a bit further towards the back of the head, it somewhat helps balance the naturally uneven weight distribution on human heads, because the pivot is about as far back as it can be. the heads of most animals are front heavy but with humans its more subtle, our heads are still a little front heavy so we also have very small neck muscles compared to other animals of our size to counter act. i would say any weight distribution on a human head works if its counteracted by the right posture and neck muscle mass
You literally saved my life with drawing 3/4 animal head views, they always look like the first Version you drew, I never knew how to fix that problem and this really helped me figure it out and learn how to do it properly! Cant wait to apply these tips and tricks to my own drawings ^^
I love the follow along presentation style with plenty of references! It really helped me visualize everything. I'm always a big fan of making my characters and drawings somewhat realistic, so this was very helpful.
I appreciate that horses get something of a pass if only to avoid being mistaken for fawns XD Honestly though I really liked this video and it has nice points as well as examples (and I love me examples!). My favorite part was especially horns and the weight of them.
I love the look of your characters in the example pictures, the way they’re mostly human, how their animal features look like a natural extension of them instead of cosplay like anime catgirls, it makes them look like magical forest spirits. I'd love more videos about creating that look! :)
Oh this is very well put together I wasn't sure what to expect from the title when this video was recommended but you've explained your point really well. I'm glad you acknowledged functional vs realistic as I to often hear that as a way to dunk on character designs. Ie (you cannot do that in a fantasy game because it's not realistic etc.)
As a furry artist I approve of all of these tips (not that you needed my approval but w/e), took me a lot of trial and error to figure all of these out on my own 👍 Also, here's just one of my personally hard-earned "art hacks": If you ever get hung up on the shape of the muzzle, you try and try but it always ends up either too long or to short or doesn't go where you want it to, and already have the eyes sorta in the right position (or just roughed in where they'll go), just squint a bit and imagine where the nose should go and work backwards from there. This sounds stupid when I say it like that, but just, like, put down the nose, then draw the upper lip, the lower lip into the chin, the jawline and finish up connecting the nose to the brow. I don't know why but for some reason that's like my get-out-of-jail-free card when all my construction sketching doesn't look right. YMMV, but I hope it helps somebody
Omg what is this channel It's literally the first video I've ever seen and it has a lot of interesting stuff I been looking for lately Definitely will watch other videos after this!!!
I absolutely love the idea of bringing the ears down- especially since it doesn't give me as much of a crisis as I slowly start thinking about whether or not my character has 2 sets of ears or not because I think it looks funky with the ears on top
I have this half-dragon OC that has full control where her draconic features appear on her human body. Because of this, I've already come to terms with animalistic features will tend to shift your center of balance. Whenever she needs to lay low and hide her horns/tail/wings, she's always incredibly off balance and complaining about it.
I always have this personal "pet peeve" about the placement of functional non-human ears on humanoids, because I see many artists treating the animals ears like they are a pair of horns which they aren't. I'm glad that you mention those tips in the video.
I appreciate you explaining that there really is no right or wrong way to draw these kinds of things. It's all about how much you want to exaggerate and how much you want to keep it realistic. This is extremely under-recognised in tutorials and teaching.
What I do with small ears is just make a cartilage? I think it's called in english that makes them appear "up", I still experiment though to be aesthetically pleasing and functional
I draw characters with all different types of ear placement. Like I have some with animal ears on top of the head, connecting to the ears and canine-like ones sticking right out like elf ears. Same with horns, I have characters with all different types of horns in different placements.
The ear thing! That's actually something I've thought of and sorta implemented myself in my worldbuilding! I like that this is being talked about, ty I learned so much
I feel like subconsciously I knew and was already doing the ear thing but I never really thought about the logistics of how an animal person could hear with it until now
4:51 kind of depends on the season - generally yes they will be skinlike with very short velvety fur, but during the winter (or even other seasons if you live in a cold area or just have a very hairy horse) they can become very fluffy both on the insides and the top of the ear :) I had a horse as a kid / teen and his ears were very fluffy inside and outside during all seasons except summer where they were only fluffy towards the bottom of the ear
I love that you show the correct way to help people improve but don't bash them if they want to continue drawing it how the they do and I appreciate this
OMG THANK YOU!! I’ve been saying the animal ear thing for so long but now one ever listened to me, hell I think it looks cuter when they ears go all the way down
I love that while you are teaching us the correct places and proportions of human/animal mixs i notice the disproportional image of you on the side. Anyways, this helps a lot. I never really drew animal people cause i didn't know how to go about it
I've never noticed that i usually draw horns in the frontal area/forehead! Design wise it feels so much more balanced, and I especially like when the horn kind of wraps around the head!
Very interesting video BUT 4:10 - idk if you noticed, but arknights characters have both human AND animal ears! There are even some theories that use that as a significant thing after some events since it is consistent over most characters... At least all that don't have the ears covered by hair or smt. That was not relevant to the video at all. Just a fun fact I wanted to share.
The notes on the ears and horns are great! I just drew a Teifling character to go along with my player character’s back story, and I knew I wanted him to have horns from an animal that would live in the same biome IRL. What I did with the horn placement was observe the placement on the reference animal and used that to help map the placement on the character’s head so that the looked balanced. Oh! also made sure he didn’t have a skinny neck since since the muscles would need to accommodate the weight of the horns as well 😅
For horns, I also like to consider things like how the character lays when they sleep or what kind of chairs they like to sit in. For instance, if a character is planned to lay on their back as they sleep, or likes sitting in high-backed chairs, I won't give them horns that stick too far from where the back of their head is.
Counter argument to the ear and horn placement rule: If you do it purposefully, then you could redo parts of the skull/anatomy and reshape it in interesting ways to make it make sense not only allows you too keep the ears like that, but ALSO adding another layer of realism and worldbuilding to whatever you’re making it for and create a more interesting concept that stems beyond “human with animal ear”
You mentioned bear ears and I have always struggled to make a more "accurate" version of it and just do an aesthetic version. Do you or anyone have any tips? Thank you
This is the first video I've ever watched from you and I thought you were gonna be mean about it and just completely call me out, but honestly, what I already do lines up with what you're saying and it also just makes so much sense. You presented it in a calm and supportive way, rather than a judgemental "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!" way, and that's something I find really inspiring and helpful. This video helped me a lot and I fond joy in watching it and learning from it. Thank you for these videos!
Randomly had this pop up on my suggested videos and *very glad*. Finally makes sense why I struggle so much to place cat ears on a mostly human character design and why they felt out of place no matter where I put them. I kept thinking they were too far forwards, or just not at the right angle, or blending badly with the hair... I'm making notes for next time I try to draw that character. Thanks for the tips!
issue with big ears is that if you make them too big they don't seem like the proper proportion to be cat ears. start lookin' like mice or elephants or somethin'. it's just kind of assumed that if someone has the anime cat ears that the earholes are moved (or sometimes they have both ears in which case it's definitely aesthetic, or they have 4 functional ears)
6:30 the id imagine the best place might be above the middle of the neck? Idk its hard cuz sheep have a very squished back of the head, they mostly come out just above the forehead Another thing abt horns is dont forget their use! They are meant to protect the skull when head butting, making them not have to make contact with their skulls when fighting, allowing them to hit harder (tho not too hard, as horns also have ALOT of blood in them for goats and sheep, breaking a horn can cause them to bleed to death), on top of that horned animals have reinforced necks and skulls designed to take impact from a headbutt Edit: 8:06 actaully horns are pretty light, they're made out of what our nails are made out of, and thicker, older parts of the horn have flesh in them, all the way to the tip area, there its hollow/solid nail hard bits More likely itd be better to focus on the use of horns, like if this specific individual uses them to headbutt or not, and if they like to be slitherly like a cat, as horns VERY OFTEN get in the way of a sheep or goat trying to slide through a small space, they can hook on things easily, and when catching a horned animal, the horns are best yo grab onto, not just because they can getcha, but because they are like handlebars, its VERY HARD for a horned animal to shake off a hand holding onto their horns Man this got long again sry... I grew up around sheep, most of ours are polled (hornless, or just have scurs, aka tiny/small horns), but we have some big scary mama ewes with horns, and this past year we got angora goats, their horns stick out and catch on everything lmao, been hooked on accident too many times
Honestly, when drawing ears, I’ve noticed many characters I see have 4 ears, and everyone knows how weird it would look if cat ears stuck out of the head, so I made the ears larger, the base starting at the human hear canal, and then make the ears connect more to the sides of the head, glad to see that you’ve pointed it out.
The way you drew animal ears on people is how I made the ears on my main character cause I thought it would be cool for her to have natural wolf ear movement
I think it's funny that you talked about the horn balance but then said how you like the horns coming straight out of the forehead which is only balanced if they go back over the head, not balanced in many cases. Though I mean in the end besides the beginning part this video is entirely opinion based not fact based and that's fine, I just thought that that was a little funny
With large horns that curve forward a lot(like back curving horns but reversed), would be better to place near the back, but again up to the artist/character designer.
Hi I’m an artist that also rides horses! Here’s a little tip I like to use for character design when drawing centaurs and or horse human hybrids. Horse ears can tell a lot about their personality and how they’re feeling, for example on a more serious character I would place the ears standing straight up from their position on the head to show alertness. For more fun laid back characters put the ears facing different directions or slightly relaxed, that means they’re chill and just listening to their surroundings. For angry characters pinning the ears is an obvious. This really helps bring personality into your designs, and play around with the shape of your horse human hybrids ears. I encourage you to look up photos of different breeds because they all are just slightly different and unique. If you made it this far thanks for reading!
The ram one with the horns on the back of the head looked fine to me, but that's probably because the character looked a little hunched over, balancing out the imbalance you mentioned. So yeah if you're going for an imposing character or something with good posture, you should put them more in the front.
i have a cat oc that can shift from animal to human to anthro. i made her YEARS ago and i had her ears on the very top of her head and when i started to redraw her, i kept the hears on the top where i had them originally because some cats are born with an ear deformity that make the ears sit on the top of their heads. i came to realize that it makes her different from any of my other characters and thats why i love her so much and has become on of my most beloved characters. i feel like with certain mistakes you can make something truly fascinating with it
also what i like to do is just LOOK AT ANIMALS MORE and see where their ear canals are in relation to the skull. you could adjust the humanoid cranial shape to lend more towards ears ontop of the head. you get some real weird-lookin' characters and it's a lot of fun, looks really unique!
I think part of it is that removing the human ears would leave a weird "gap in the design, so often it's just "easier" to slap the animal ears on top rather than accommodating to them in the Design
1:36 as an equestrian, I just wanna add that horses have like a triangle for the bridge of their nose from the side, and then for the tip its circle, while this is better than what I was drawing, I feel its more accurate to view the middle part of their nose as prism, and the end like a sphere that is slightly lower than the middle how short or long, and how thin or thick the prism is depnds on the horse, and how much lower the sphere is also depends, for example in Standardbreds, they have long thick face and a sphere very low, for Arabians, they have a short thin face and a sphere almost parrel due to their huge nostrils This also depends on if the equine is a draft horse, a light horse, a pony, a miniature horse, a foal, etc draft horses usually have thick droopy faces, they almost have a scythe shape but not nearly as curved In light horses usually have thinner, triangular faces Ponies usually have very triangular faces, and their sphere is almost even and more locally due to big nostrils Miniature horses are the same as ponies except they have very thicc noses, tho rarely they have literally look like a light horse, but most are just tiny ponies with a Taiga tsundere personality Foals tend to look like the adult version of their parents/need, however their features are thinner and look more fragile (bcuz they are) than an adult horse's As always, use a reference, especially if your horse is specific breed, then it really takes a load off, also when looking at refs, be aware many purebred horses look different, and alot of what google shows you is horses who where bred for that breeders imaginary beauty pageant, and (side tangent) we do sadly have nose issues with Arabs where they bred them to have thing noses the that make it diffucult to breathe (which is the exact opposite of what you want, arabs are designed to be the GOD of breathing well among horses, short nose so it takes less time for air to get to the lungs, big nostrils, bigger lungs and ribcage... Theyre designed to breathe better than other horses) Huh thats another good note... If you a drawing a specific breed, know what they where bred for! Standbreds speedy cart pulling, Arabs speed, draft horses pulling heavy things and cart pulling, Morgan's all purpose, Quarter horses herding livestock, miniature horses to be tiny draft horses (originally) and being cute (nowadays), etc etc I hope this helps, I still suck at drawing but if there is anything I know abt it, its horse body shape, when I started I could draw horse stuff from memory Sry ik this is long af, horses are like an entirely different world lmao
Thank you so much! This really helped me with my ear placement on people. I really enjoyed this because I have an old character named Lenaren, back when I didn't know anatomy any I would just put the ears on top and remove the human ears completely just leaving the sides of the head smooth where his hair would cover up. Almost like hair spikes. Now that I start experimenting with more anatomically correct(?) ears on him it looks much nicer! Same with the tail tutorial. I appreciate it a lot and love your work!
Wolves, foxes, dogs, and cats are rather popular among animal characters. Humans with dragon features as well, but they have more going for them. This is because they have large protrusions. Reptiles are a little more "bland" (probably one of the reasons they are not often paired with human characters), they don't have a lot going on with their heads most of the time. (Their ears are holes and don't stick out, which isn't very appealing.) Some reptiles have scutes or spines, but they are typically short and don't sit on the head. The most interesting reptiles are those with frills, as most of the time frills sit on the neck. (Whether be on the sides, or on the front.)
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I have a question: Have you done a tutorial on hair? Because hair flow is kind of hard to do, and experimenting with different hair types are also hard for me to. I mostly just do short hair that I can do because it's the easiest😅 so all the people I draw, mostly, have the same hair.
On the ears, Thank You! The top of the head style always bugged me. Even cats’ ears technically aren’t on top of the head either. If you look at most mammals, the ear canal, like ours, is very close to being level with the eyes. Animal heads are just proportioned differently and depending on the animal, the shell of the ear extends either upwards or outwards. Our own do too, but our skulls are taller, and our ears relatively smaller, so they can’t stick up above the head as animals’ so. I have a few characters with feline ears, for mine, I match the human positioning since it’s on a human head and have them standing out more to the sides than up.
horse ears are like a circle with a triangle on it and its really long if you just have the ears, they still follow the same base as the other ears! they do lay further back however
they have another video on mermaids on the channel! i would post the link but idk if youtube is gonna delete the comment, but its one of the most recent one they have posted, shouldn't be difficult to find
what about hybrid characters like a jackalope character how and where do you place the antlers and where to you place the bunny ears or like a horned griffin character. placement of the feather and horns or for a chimera character
Usually Jackalopes have deer horns that go up so I imagine the horn is up, so It would have a space difference or height difference between the ears and horn i think?
Anither tip! Trace the shapes on real animals, or even some other art and get those basic shapes and teach your hand what motion to go to make you more comfortable with the shapes, BUT DONT CLAIM IT TO BE YOUR OWN, and if you want to share it online please give it proper credit even if it's a photo of a real animal
lol i just started drawing my charters again that are more animal base and one of them has horns. I haven't looked anything up in the way of looking how to draw them nor looked up animals. And here you pop up on my feed. This is great! Thank you.
I really enjoy making demon characters with fairly large horns and never really noticed that I always kept their horns to the front! The amount of variation horns can carry is such a fun idea to play with.
Halo horns thar connect at the top in a point is always an interesting idea to play with too
Think about what personality the character has too, that could apply to how dainty or masculine they look.
@@spacecowboy7148 OOH THAT FIRST IDEA! And yup!! I’m gonna use my character April as an example. She’s usually sort of strict and work oriented, and has a fairly feminine appearance. Her horns are sort of like that from more classic depictions of demons, fairly straight with a slight curve.
I wonder how heavy the horns are tho
@@AlicornHana depends on the person's build i'd think.
Horns are often made out of the same thing as hooves and nails so they're not that weighted unless they're spiraled or overly large.
i always wonder how they sleep with those
0:17 "disproportionate, this is not in perspective"
- talking avatar with mouth on the side of face
I think that kind of thing works with very cartoony reasons.
had no right to call them out like that LMFAOO 😭😭
it's an over simplified cartoon avatar so it works
My thoughts exactly!
@@bbew2914 ok but what if the person was drawing a cartoony animal like that? It sounds like they're calling it out whatever situation it is 😂
The animal ears thing is such a good point! The cat girl anime thing is cute until you think about how weird they would look in a ponytail. I feel like the most common mistake i see with horns/ ears ect is that they look like they’re attached to the hair rather than the skull.
Yeah, you’re right when I think about it
Ngl I place the ears directly where human ears would be, idk it just feels more natural to me yk?
If anyone’s wondering to make sure that ears/horns don’t look tacked onto the hair, it’s always better to draw them as you’re drawing your character’s head before you add hair
@@Mystery-Wolf same, I always try to make the ear connect to the original ear canal in some way to make it look better.
I also make the ears the same color as the hair, but thats because i'd assume if they were an actual animal, they'd have the same coloration as the hair. The only time I don't is when the hair is colored lol
I originally started doing it because I’d end up in a conflict about the human ears if I didn’t draw them connected
I love how you made the point about snouts being angled wrong, and to think of them like boxes. I wish I had learned this when I had started drawing lol-
like this video :)
Some famous art youtuber: DON'T DRAW BOXES
People who uses them and it makes their art better: you sure bout that
(Also, i don't draw boxes, instead cylinders if its rounded, but im not stopping you for using boxes, so many ways to draw that you should find your own way)
@@AlicornHana i use mostly cylinders and such with arms and legs but with snouts being so boxy its super useful. However box shapes rarely occur in real life. Its a balance of knowing where boxes should and shouldn't go :)
I remember a while back I saw a video giving out advice for proper character designs and such. Their character had the side ways snout. •_•
I wish
Yeah drawing a snout is harder than it sounds. I neede a lot of redraws to get a snout right cuse it was slighty tilted
I personally am a fan of floating horns. They're just hovering over the character's head. Maybe they're magic, who knows? They certainly defy physics.
one of my main characters i write has floating horns lol, they're so cool
I love when people make actually useful drawing videos.
I like the different perspectives you gave about where to locate ears and horn/antlers on a more human like character. Fun fact, there may be a reason why you like forehead horns. Biologically speaking animals that have horns or antlers growing from their skulls actually grow them on the part of the skull right above the eyes, which compared to a human’s skull is the forehead bones.
There are reptiles that are able to grow “horns” around their heads in other places, but those are considered fake horns since they don’t have a true bony structure underneath.
I learned this in my Mammology class, and I understand that information may have changed however I though it could potentially add to the conversation.
Very nice video. :)
I'm glad the weight thing was brought up, because different animals actually have different skull thicknesses at varying locations. The side of a human's head is the thinnest, if I remember right, about around the ears and slightly up or kind of to the side of the eyes ish. Whereas on a horse it's more down the nose between the eyes. Almost forehead level. But that area is decent on humans, even if not the thickest point of a human skull. So the section mentioned in the video would have the best structural support for bigger horns, as well as the best foundation to have some actual bone to grow from.
Both my husband and I like unique horns, but while some designs are FASCINATING to me I still prefer to have something with a BIT of believability based off of actual anatomy. For example, if you want horns on the face they'd have to follow the cheekbones...probably up along the apex...or the jawbone line. Also, many things with horns and antlers, (not fond she called them 'horns' for deer, but enh), is that they're usually for defense and use. So the animals that have them have specialized skulls and muscles and fat deposits to handle the shock and cushioning needed to handle such regular blunt force trauma. Sooo, if you've got weight on your cheekbones how is that going to pull and affect the rest of your face? Even if not for fighting, cuz placement, can still be grabbed and whatnot.
yeah.
I have a faun oc that has the lower part deer legs, deer antlers and ears, but his antlers are actually white/golden flowers trees and for anatomy I always make sure the ears align right, he also has a deer type nose so his face structure almost resembles the Na’vi
Ooh, cherry blossom wood? I wonder how its texture is like(i never touched cherry blossoms before so-)
He sounds very pretty! 🥰
that sounds adorable, I'll be sure to use that for future inspiration
Me obsessing over everyone's awesome ocs:
@@Eucowlyptus-glowsticks gfhfgfg
I often slap the animalistic-ears right where the ears actually would be cuz I thought it’d make sense, but this is a pretty cool concept! :0
That only works with deer-like ears and the ones that are look liek it so-
Cause then the ear goes into the brain if it on top like that tho
@@AlicornHana spop 2019 did it with catra lol
@@AlicornHana it works with all ears, ya just gotta do it right
@@AlicornHana its all about angling. Sure, cat ears as they are on a cat don't work, but if they're angled to the side they do. Same with dogs, the flip on ears would just happen further down instead of straight up and down.
as a horse owner i would like to say - some types of horses do have very fluffy ears compaired to most! such as a brumby, but it all depends on the location from where theyre all from, the season, ect :DD
this is just for the people who like the small details tbh
The age old dnd character design wisdom when it comes to horns is something like this: “What side of their head does your character sleep on?”
What would you say about drawing fish people? (I love dnd and oc making in general, so how would you go about it? From a dnd perspective: merfolk, tritons, etc. Not typically mermaids as they tend to have half fish body.)
You Will love starbound and hylotl race
Hello fellow starbound player
We actually have a video on drawing fish people that may give you some ideas! th-cam.com/video/_9gpFTyTjpI/w-d-xo.html
Very good explanation!
I never thought about the functionality of animal ears
can't wait for more ^^
I personally like how you draw animal features on a human like person! It’s cute.
does drawing characters with animal features make you a furry? Or does it have to be fully anthropomorphic animals?
I think it's neither. I mean I like drawing anthropomorphic animals, but I have no desire to be one
@@tas4940 being a furry simply means being a fanatic of anthropomorphic animals, not wearing a fursuit or wanting to be an animal.
@@daenite2480 oh, well I'm still not a furry. That's mor of a choice than anything. Also I'm pretty sure a good amount of furries have fursuits
@@tas4940 tiny amount. The internet is very stereotypical, you should know that by now.
@@daenite2480 I know. Btw you shouldn't assume anything
im that person who loves to doodle little animal ears onto every character i make, so this is very helpful for me!! tysm :DD
I already knew all of this XD but tbh it was really nice to refresh and also how you talk about it is so respectful and nice, it was just chill to watch and listen to you explain
my favourite kind of horns to draw are on the sides of the head and wrap to the top, because it gives me an excuse to move the ear canals, and because it feels like the weight of the horn balances itself on their skull rather than away from the head!
One of my characters, his horns come out from the back/base of his skull and wrap around just above his ears then go up. Probably my favorite horns
i feel like horns work pretty well when their mass is concentrated a bit further towards the back of the head, it somewhat helps balance the naturally uneven weight distribution on human heads, because the pivot is about as far back as it can be.
the heads of most animals are front heavy but with humans its more subtle,
our heads are still a little front heavy so we also have very small neck muscles compared to other animals of our size to counter act.
i would say any weight distribution on a human head works if its counteracted by the right posture and neck muscle mass
I am so jealous of how easily you can draw a side profile 😭😭
I love the sideways snout as a dorky little style thing
Never drawn them before, but they always look so derpy and it makes me smile :)
You literally saved my life with drawing 3/4 animal head views, they always look like the first Version you drew, I never knew how to fix that problem and this really helped me figure it out and learn how to do it properly! Cant wait to apply these tips and tricks to my own drawings ^^
I love the follow along presentation style with plenty of references! It really helped me visualize everything. I'm always a big fan of making my characters and drawings somewhat realistic, so this was very helpful.
I appreciate that horses get something of a pass if only to avoid being mistaken for fawns XD Honestly though I really liked this video and it has nice points as well as examples (and I love me examples!). My favorite part was especially horns and the weight of them.
When I work with digital art I don't really think about this but now I realize how this would actually really help me.
I really like that you don't ramble on for 10 minutes before getting to the actual tutorial. Your videos are fast-paced and to the point, I like that!
I like the functional ear placement more than the aesthetic ear placement
I love the look of your characters in the example pictures, the way they’re mostly human, how their animal features look like a natural extension of them instead of cosplay like anime catgirls, it makes them look like magical forest spirits. I'd love more videos about creating that look! :)
3:50 or they can be completely on the side, coming out horizontally from where your ears would be, Makes really good droopy ears
Oh this is very well put together I wasn't sure what to expect from the title when this video was recommended but you've explained your point really well. I'm glad you acknowledged functional vs realistic as I to often hear that as a way to dunk on character designs. Ie (you cannot do that in a fantasy game because it's not realistic etc.)
As a furry artist I approve of all of these tips (not that you needed my approval but w/e), took me a lot of trial and error to figure all of these out on my own 👍
Also, here's just one of my personally hard-earned "art hacks": If you ever get hung up on the shape of the muzzle, you try and try but it always ends up either too long or to short or doesn't go where you want it to, and already have the eyes sorta in the right position (or just roughed in where they'll go), just squint a bit and imagine where the nose should go and work backwards from there. This sounds stupid when I say it like that, but just, like, put down the nose, then draw the upper lip, the lower lip into the chin, the jawline and finish up connecting the nose to the brow. I don't know why but for some reason that's like my get-out-of-jail-free card when all my construction sketching doesn't look right. YMMV, but I hope it helps somebody
It makes sense :3
You are right and that makes sense-
WOAHHH ILL TRY THIS
Starting with the nose is so helpful I do this as well,
Omg what is this channel
It's literally the first video I've ever seen and it has a lot of interesting stuff I been looking for lately
Definitely will watch other videos after this!!!
I absolutely love the idea of bringing the ears down- especially since it doesn't give me as much of a crisis as I slowly start thinking about whether or not my character has 2 sets of ears or not because I think it looks funky with the ears on top
Amazing and incredibly helpful tutorial! i personally think this is the best channel tutorials i have ever seen! thank you for your content
I have this half-dragon OC that has full control where her draconic features appear on her human body. Because of this, I've already come to terms with animalistic features will tend to shift your center of balance. Whenever she needs to lay low and hide her horns/tail/wings, she's always incredibly off balance and complaining about it.
This really helped a lot. I really like how you kind of did a step by step or the footage wasn’t sped up.
I always have this personal "pet peeve" about the placement of functional non-human ears on humanoids, because I see many artists treating the animals ears like they are a pair of horns which they aren't. I'm glad that you mention those tips in the video.
I appreciate you explaining that there really is no right or wrong way to draw these kinds of things. It's all about how much you want to exaggerate and how much you want to keep it realistic. This is extremely under-recognised in tutorials and teaching.
What I do with small ears is just make a cartilage? I think it's called in english that makes them appear "up", I still experiment though to be aesthetically pleasing and functional
Cartilage is like bone but not bone
I draw characters with all different types of ear placement. Like I have some with animal ears on top of the head, connecting to the ears and canine-like ones sticking right out like elf ears.
Same with horns, I have characters with all different types of horns in different placements.
The ear thing! That's actually something I've thought of and sorta implemented myself in my worldbuilding! I like that this is being talked about, ty I learned so much
I already kind of did the "Come up from the side and up top" thing mentioned on the second section, nice to hear it validated!
I feel like subconsciously I knew and was already doing the ear thing but I never really thought about the logistics of how an animal person could hear with it until now
There's something about asking ourselves if our character would be okay with our design choices that I find wonderful. Great video!
I follow more of a simple and chibi artstyle. So the first one doesn’t really work with me however the rest of them work well with my artstyle
The ears just make so much sense and they look good. Thank you!
Tbh in my own opinion
The don’t do works just as fine as the do
When coming to art tips.
Depending on what art style your working with tho.
4:51 kind of depends on the season - generally yes they will be skinlike with very short velvety fur, but during the winter (or even other seasons if you live in a cold area or just have a very hairy horse) they can become very fluffy both on the insides and the top of the ear :) I had a horse as a kid / teen and his ears were very fluffy inside and outside during all seasons except summer where they were only fluffy towards the bottom of the ear
Oh i remember watching this live! It feels nice getting a refresher on stuff like these especially with my poor memory nowadays.
I love that you show the correct way to help people improve but don't bash them if they want to continue drawing it how the they do and I appreciate this
OMG THANK YOU!! I’ve been saying the animal ear thing for so long but now one ever listened to me, hell I think it looks cuter when they ears go all the way down
I love that while you are teaching us the correct places and proportions of human/animal mixs i notice the disproportional image of you on the side. Anyways, this helps a lot. I never really drew animal people cause i didn't know how to go about it
5:02 now this is something i think we can all appreciate! its so adorable :D man i love it
I've never noticed that i usually draw horns in the frontal area/forehead! Design wise it feels so much more balanced, and I especially like when the horn kind of wraps around the head!
Very interesting video BUT
4:10 - idk if you noticed, but arknights characters have both human AND animal ears! There are even some theories that use that as a significant thing after some events since it is consistent over most characters... At least all that don't have the ears covered by hair or smt.
That was not relevant to the video at all. Just a fun fact I wanted to share.
I am so glad I have been recommended to this video. I have been trouble with my own drawing when it's up to human animal in a away.
The notes on the ears and horns are great! I just drew a Teifling character to go along with my player character’s back story, and I knew I wanted him to have horns from an animal that would live in the same biome IRL. What I did with the horn placement was observe the placement on the reference animal and used that to help map the placement on the character’s head so that the looked balanced. Oh! also made sure he didn’t have a skinny neck since since the muscles would need to accommodate the weight of the horns as well 😅
For horns, I also like to consider things like how the character lays when they sleep or what kind of chairs they like to sit in.
For instance, if a character is planned to lay on their back as they sleep, or likes sitting in high-backed chairs, I won't give them horns that stick too far from where the back of their head is.
Very useful and entertaining! I will be watching more of your videos!
For those who wants some references, i recomend Beaststars, the models looks good for references
3:16 FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT. I thought I was the only one who did this!
Counter argument to the ear and horn placement rule: If you do it purposefully, then you could redo parts of the skull/anatomy and reshape it in interesting ways to make it make sense not only allows you too keep the ears like that, but ALSO adding another layer of realism and worldbuilding to whatever you’re making it for and create a more interesting concept that stems beyond “human with animal ear”
You mentioned bear ears and I have always struggled to make a more "accurate" version of it and just do an aesthetic version. Do you or anyone have any tips? Thank you
This is the first video I've ever watched from you and I thought you were gonna be mean about it and just completely call me out, but honestly, what I already do lines up with what you're saying and it also just makes so much sense. You presented it in a calm and supportive way, rather than a judgemental "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!" way, and that's something I find really inspiring and helpful. This video helped me a lot and I fond joy in watching it and learning from it. Thank you for these videos!
If you'd ever seen any of my characters I'm never going to listen. I will keep making them. I will.
Randomly had this pop up on my suggested videos and *very glad*. Finally makes sense why I struggle so much to place cat ears on a mostly human character design and why they felt out of place no matter where I put them. I kept thinking they were too far forwards, or just not at the right angle, or blending badly with the hair... I'm making notes for next time I try to draw that character. Thanks for the tips!
issue with big ears is that if you make them too big they don't seem like the proper proportion to be cat ears. start lookin' like mice or elephants or somethin'. it's just kind of assumed that if someone has the anime cat ears that the earholes are moved (or sometimes they have both ears in which case it's definitely aesthetic, or they have 4 functional ears)
6:30 the id imagine the best place might be above the middle of the neck? Idk its hard cuz sheep have a very squished back of the head, they mostly come out just above the forehead
Another thing abt horns is dont forget their use! They are meant to protect the skull when head butting, making them not have to make contact with their skulls when fighting, allowing them to hit harder (tho not too hard, as horns also have ALOT of blood in them for goats and sheep, breaking a horn can cause them to bleed to death), on top of that horned animals have reinforced necks and skulls designed to take impact from a headbutt
Edit: 8:06 actaully horns are pretty light, they're made out of what our nails are made out of, and thicker, older parts of the horn have flesh in them, all the way to the tip area, there its hollow/solid nail hard bits
More likely itd be better to focus on the use of horns, like if this specific individual uses them to headbutt or not, and if they like to be slitherly like a cat, as horns VERY OFTEN get in the way of a sheep or goat trying to slide through a small space, they can hook on things easily, and when catching a horned animal, the horns are best yo grab onto, not just because they can getcha, but because they are like handlebars, its VERY HARD for a horned animal to shake off a hand holding onto their horns
Man this got long again sry... I grew up around sheep, most of ours are polled (hornless, or just have scurs, aka tiny/small horns), but we have some big scary mama ewes with horns, and this past year we got angora goats, their horns stick out and catch on everything lmao, been hooked on accident too many times
Honestly, when drawing ears, I’ve noticed many characters I see have 4 ears, and everyone knows how weird it would look if cat ears stuck out of the head, so I made the ears larger, the base starting at the human hear canal, and then make the ears connect more to the sides of the head, glad to see that you’ve pointed it out.
The way you drew animal ears on people is how I made the ears on my main character cause I thought it would be cool for her to have natural wolf ear movement
2:36 but if the ears are on a headband it works, right?
Yes, since those ears aren’t connected to the ear cannel 😊
@@MushBunny k, thx! (Sorry for the late reply :3)
finally someone pointed out the ears-at-the-top! I've always thought it weird with the function and stuff. Love the video!
I think it's funny that you talked about the horn balance but then said how you like the horns coming straight out of the forehead which is only balanced if they go back over the head, not balanced in many cases. Though I mean in the end besides the beginning part this video is entirely opinion based not fact based and that's fine, I just thought that that was a little funny
I thought the same 😄 As little nubbins they work, but longer horns on the forehead look too heavy!
With large horns that curve forward a lot(like back curving horns but reversed), would be better to place near the back, but again up to the artist/character designer.
Just what I needed for the horns! I'm thinking about making at for my best friend, and I didn't know how to place the horns TwT
Hi I’m an artist that also rides horses! Here’s a little tip I like to use for character design when drawing centaurs and or horse human hybrids. Horse ears can tell a lot about their personality and how they’re feeling, for example on a more serious character I would place the ears standing straight up from their position on the head to show alertness. For more fun laid back characters put the ears facing different directions or slightly relaxed, that means they’re chill and just listening to their surroundings. For angry characters pinning the ears is an obvious. This really helps bring personality into your designs, and play around with the shape of your horse human hybrids ears. I encourage you to look up photos of different breeds because they all are just slightly different and unique. If you made it this far thanks for reading!
Thank you for the tip :D
The ram one with the horns on the back of the head looked fine to me, but that's probably because the character looked a little hunched over, balancing out the imbalance you mentioned.
So yeah if you're going for an imposing character or something with good posture, you should put them more in the front.
i have a cat oc that can shift from animal to human to anthro. i made her YEARS ago and i had her ears on the very top of her head and when i started to redraw her, i kept the hears on the top where i had them originally because some cats are born with an ear deformity that make the ears sit on the top of their heads. i came to realize that it makes her different from any of my other characters and thats why i love her so much and has become on of my most beloved characters. i feel like with certain mistakes you can make something truly fascinating with it
also what i like to do is just LOOK AT ANIMALS MORE and see where their ear canals are in relation to the skull. you could adjust the humanoid cranial shape to lend more towards ears ontop of the head. you get some real weird-lookin' characters and it's a lot of fun, looks really unique!
One thing that kind of stabs me in the side is when people draw the animal ears on top, but still draw a pair of human ears on the side
I think part of it is that removing the human ears would leave a weird "gap in the design, so often it's just "easier" to slap the animal ears on top rather than accommodating to them in the Design
I literally get jumpscared every time the "don't" and "do's" sfx is played LOL
Anyhow amazing video! Keep it up :D
1:36 as an equestrian, I just wanna add that horses have like a triangle for the bridge of their nose from the side, and then for the tip its circle, while this is better than what I was drawing, I feel its more accurate to view the middle part of their nose as prism, and the end like a sphere that is slightly lower than the middle
how short or long, and how thin or thick the prism is depnds on the horse, and how much lower the sphere is also depends, for example in Standardbreds, they have long thick face and a sphere very low, for Arabians, they have a short thin face and a sphere almost parrel due to their huge nostrils
This also depends on if the equine is a draft horse, a light horse, a pony, a miniature horse, a foal, etc
draft horses usually have thick droopy faces, they almost have a scythe shape but not nearly as curved
In light horses usually have thinner, triangular faces
Ponies usually have very triangular faces, and their sphere is almost even and more locally due to big nostrils
Miniature horses are the same as ponies except they have very thicc noses, tho rarely they have literally look like a light horse, but most are just tiny ponies with a Taiga tsundere personality
Foals tend to look like the adult version of their parents/need, however their features are thinner and look more fragile (bcuz they are) than an adult horse's
As always, use a reference, especially if your horse is specific breed, then it really takes a load off, also when looking at refs, be aware many purebred horses look different, and alot of what google shows you is horses who where bred for that breeders imaginary beauty pageant, and (side tangent) we do sadly have nose issues with Arabs where they bred them to have thing noses the that make it diffucult to breathe (which is the exact opposite of what you want, arabs are designed to be the GOD of breathing well among horses, short nose so it takes less time for air to get to the lungs, big nostrils, bigger lungs and ribcage... Theyre designed to breathe better than other horses)
Huh thats another good note... If you a drawing a specific breed, know what they where bred for! Standbreds speedy cart pulling, Arabs speed, draft horses pulling heavy things and cart pulling, Morgan's all purpose, Quarter horses herding livestock, miniature horses to be tiny draft horses (originally) and being cute (nowadays), etc etc
I hope this helps, I still suck at drawing but if there is anything I know abt it, its horse body shape, when I started I could draw horse stuff from memory
Sry ik this is long af, horses are like an entirely different world lmao
I'd say for placing horns elsewhere even when they're large, make them look more hollow so it looks lighter!
How do you make horns look hollow? Is that even possible? haha
@@JasminMiettunen I suppose by making them look thinner or lighter, creating the illusion of hollowness.
6:53 for the record, deer have antlers, not horns. Great video! This was really helpful ❤💖💗
Thank you so much! This really helped me with my ear placement on people. I really enjoyed this because I have an old character named Lenaren, back when I didn't know anatomy any I would just put the ears on top and remove the human ears completely just leaving the sides of the head smooth where his hair would cover up. Almost like hair spikes. Now that I start experimenting with more anatomically correct(?) ears on him it looks much nicer! Same with the tail tutorial. I appreciate it a lot and love your work!
What about reptilian features? I always see mammalian features and never see any other type of animal
Like?
Wolves, foxes, dogs, and cats are rather popular among animal characters. Humans with dragon features as well, but they have more going for them. This is because they have large protrusions.
Reptiles are a little more "bland" (probably one of the reasons they are not often paired with human characters), they don't have a lot going on with their heads most of the time. (Their ears are holes and don't stick out, which isn't very appealing.)
Some reptiles have scutes or spines, but they are typically short and don't sit on the head.
The most interesting reptiles are those with frills, as most of the time frills sit on the neck. (Whether be on the sides, or on the front.)
i love the little laughs while explaining mistakes, its just a fun kind of laughter
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I have a question: Have you done a tutorial on hair? Because hair flow is kind of hard to do, and experimenting with different hair types are also hard for me to. I mostly just do short hair that I can do because it's the easiest😅 so all the people I draw, mostly, have the same hair.
On the ears, Thank You! The top of the head style always bugged me. Even cats’ ears technically aren’t on top of the head either. If you look at most mammals, the ear canal, like ours, is very close to being level with the eyes. Animal heads are just proportioned differently and depending on the animal, the shell of the ear extends either upwards or outwards. Our own do too, but our skulls are taller, and our ears relatively smaller, so they can’t stick up above the head as animals’ so. I have a few characters with feline ears, for mine, I match the human positioning since it’s on a human head and have them standing out more to the sides than up.
@@That_One1_guys What about a spider or an ant or bee?
Bugs are hard to draw as humans
@@solarix2308 wrong person-lol
horse ears are like a circle with a triangle on it and its really long if you just have the ears, they still follow the same base as the other ears! they do lay further back however
I am so happy this video exists as it's hard to find references on human-animal anatomy for more realistic? fantasy worlds.
4:15 I DONT KNOW WHAT ANIMAL THIS IS BUT GAIA THAT IS SO CUTE-
This is short but really well explained and understandable, thank youu!
i love this video tysm!! i do have questions for aquatic features though, since i want to make an accurate-ish mermaic character :,D
they have another video on mermaids on the channel! i would post the link but idk if youtube is gonna delete the comment, but its one of the most recent one they have posted, shouldn't be difficult to find
you dont need their permission to design a character lol
@@Sputterbug ???? They were asking for advice, not permission lol
@@cottonballbats tysm for telling me 😭😭
Hey there, you're welcome -- glad it was helpful! Here is our video on drawing fish people ;) th-cam.com/video/_9gpFTyTjpI/w-d-xo.html
As a high school student who cannot take an art class because of my schedule. These videos are so helpful and informative
This seems like a lot of personal preference
This is the thing I need as I now feel happy for my creative endeavors of character designs
what about hybrid characters like a jackalope character
how and where do you place the antlers and where to you place the bunny ears
or like a horned griffin character. placement of the feather and horns
or for a chimera character
Usually Jackalopes have deer horns that go up so I imagine the horn is up, so It would have a space difference or height difference between the ears and horn i think?
The animal ears one really helped me and I like how it looks when I draw it!
Anither tip! Trace the shapes on real animals, or even some other art and get those basic shapes and teach your hand what motion to go to make you more comfortable with the shapes, BUT DONT CLAIM IT TO BE YOUR OWN, and if you want to share it online please give it proper credit even if it's a photo of a real animal
lol i just started drawing my charters again that are more animal base and one of them has horns. I haven't looked anything up in the way of looking how to draw them nor looked up animals. And here you pop up on my feed. This is great! Thank you.
Remember your artstyle can be whatever you like!! This is just tips on how to improve if you’d like and more realistic!