Image Info
- Posted: August 16, 2012
- Size: 203 KB
- Pixels: 1202 x 902
- Mature: Yes
- Explicit: No
- Views: 2627
Image
Centaur Anatomy 101: Proportions
Mature Content Warning
This image contains mature content that may be objectionable to some viewers.
If you wish to see this image, you may click here to view this image and to temporarily disable mature-content warnings on this website for the next few days.
If you wish to see this image, you may click here to view this image and to temporarily disable mature-content warnings on this website for the next few days.
(click image to view full size)
- Centaur Anatomy 101: Proportions
- Centaur Anatomy 102: Parts of the Body
- Centaur Anatomy 103: Artist's Joints
- Centaur Anatomy 201: Leg Bones
- Centaur Anatomy 202: Overall Skeletal Structure
Okay, so it's time for some arguin'.
A lot of people have asked me over the years things like:
- What do you think are the correct proportions on a centaur?
- How do you think a centaur's muscles and skeleton are arranged?
- How would a centaur eat and breathe?
- Where are the lungs? The heart? The kidneys?
- How does the reproductive equipment work?
So let's start with a disclaimer: These are my opinions! There is no real physical centaur to compare against, so the best I can do is make an educated guess. If you prefer a design other than this, that's fine, but this is what I'm going to keep drawing. If you disagree, fine, but do so politely, and above all, please don't ask I draw things your way. I know how I think it'd work, and that ain't gonna change.
Now, getting into the meat of the first anatomy picture here, these two pictures show how I think the proportions work best. The blue lines are equal, and the red lines are equal; and the ratio between them is more-or-less phi, which results in proportions that look fairly natural, since so much in nature is based on that same ratio. When I draw, I'm generally eyeballing the picture to try to get the L-part to have equal lengths and to get the lower half roughly square.
A real live horse is a bit longer than square, but shortening the barrel to square seems to work better on a centaur. (See this photo for comparison; the ratio of Reggie's length to his height looks to be approximately phi, not 1:1 like Lucy here.)
So that's that. Feel free to argue the point, but please be civil.
If anybody's enjoying the start of this series, I'll keep doing a new centaur anatomy lesson every few days. So if I were to do more, which would you most like to see next? Muscles? Skeleton? Nervous system and brain? Digestive system? Respiratory system? Circulatory system?
And yes, I know reproductive system would be a popular topic, but even if I can get it past the dA censors, I'm still going to make you wait for it :P