Line #38 Main/HumanlikeFootAnatomy


1	[[quoteright:227: [[WesternAnimation/PlutoThePup https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pluto.gif]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:227:Are dogs supposed to stand like that?]]
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4	A prevalent animal animation technique is to draw any animal's foot as though it has the same structure as a human foot with the toes, sole and heel flat on the ground (known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantigrade plantigrade]]), bent at the ankle and with a knee about half way up the leg.
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6	Why do we care? Well, you've probably noticed that a lot of prominent animation animals (e.g. bird, dogs, horses) don't fit this in RealLife. Canine and feline creatures look like they are propped up on their toes (aka [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitigrade digitigrade,]] which many four legged animals do), birds keep up on their talons and horses have a very different looking set of joints in their legs that don't bend like a human knee. In fact their hooves are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unguligrade their fingernails,]] what you think is an ankle is a knuckle, the joint closest to the middle is a wrist and the backwards bending knee near the top is an elbow. We're through the looking glass here, people!
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8	Why do animators do this? Well, there are horses and cattle in the countryside, pigeons in the city and cats and dogs as pets in the suburbs so it's either:
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10	A) All animators were raised and work on a space station circling the earth where the only animal encounter is with the occasional chimpanzee astronaut and passing SpaceWhale, or
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12	B) Animator training involves things like studying actual animal anatomy and training with realistic studies of bone structure and then knowing what to discard. Drawing all the joints of a horse's legs can look like you've given them slinkies for limbs when they are drawn in the same simplified style as one which makes humans look like they are walking around on a pair of tree trunks. Plus giving an animal a humanlike foot anatomy means you can give them a human-like walking motion which displays human-like personality and emotions. They can strut, they can swagger, they can creep around on their tip-toes. They might just give them plantigrade feet when they are standing still for a particular stance or conversely just when they are moving for a particular walk. (Which in some cases is justified, since many of these animals will place their whole foot down when resting.) Sometimes, the character's feet are drawn as merely toes and without any sole or heel to them.
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14	And, of course, [[MostWritersAreHuman Most Animators Are Human.]]
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16	Note for cartoony foot stance examples; {{Funny Animal}}s are often drawn this way by default due to their [[FunnyAnimalAnatomy anatomy]] and {{Beast M\|an}}en tend to more often follow human anatomy than animal anatomy, so please list only examples that are meant to be four-legged depictions that fit into their world in the way the animal fits into ours. Two-legged depictions are allowed only if their feet are actually just toes. Any ungulate (hoofed) example is allowed as long it is not a BeastMan. Any bird example is allowed as long as it is a NearlyNormalAnimal, CivilizedAnimal, or FunnyAnimal like WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck or WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker. Please don't list any BirdPeople examples.
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18	Subtrope of FunnyAnimalAnatomy. Related to HumanlikeHandAnatomy. A common trope for {{Barefoot Cartoon Animal}}s. Contrast RunningOnAllFours, when humanlike characters switch from two to four limbs for running, and FauxPaw.
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22	!!Example subpages:
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24	[[index]]
25	* HumanlikeFootAnatomy/{{Film}}
26	* HumanlikeFootAnatomy/NewspaperComics
27	* HumanlikeFootAnatomy/WesternAnimation
28	[[/index]]
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30	----
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32	!!Cartoony Foot Stance Examples:
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34	[[foldercontrol]]
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36	[[folder:Webcomics]]
37	* ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'' deconstructs this, with the similar foot structures (arches and all) of humans and the Loroi are yet another bit of evidence that there's some connection between the two species.
38	* Horses in ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' have L shaped feet-leg structures, much like the human stick figures. Starting from the fifth book, horses and similar creatures (like camels) get more realistic legs.
39	[[/folder]]
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41	----
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43	!!Cartoony Foot Shape Examples:
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45	[[folder:Comic Books]]
46	* Sam from ''Franchise/SamAndMax'' has humanoid feet, unlike the other animals in the comics, video games, and animated series.
47	* The entire cast of ''ComicBook/OmahaTheCatDancer'' has totally humanoid feet, albeit with only three toes.
48	[[/folder]]
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50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* Creator/DrSeuss's ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'' has an inversion of the usual way cartoon rabbits' feet are drawn. In other words, his feet don't have pads and they have furry soles, more like that of a real rabbit than that of a real cat.
52	[[/folder]]
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54	%% [[folder:Webcomics]]
55	%% * The entire animal cast of ''Webcomic/MurryPurryFreshAndFurry''.
56	%% * ''Webcomic/ThePackrat''.
57	%% [[/folder]]
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Context Main / HumanlikeFootAnatomy