hyaenahysterics:

hopefully this reads well lmao but i drew this for anon 

if you want to draw a bipedal animal that is not usually bipedal, there are 2 routes u can use to make it look balanced and not just like a dog standing up begging for treats like the guy on the left. 

the main thing to understand about digitigrade legs (including hoofed legs) is that the ankle is always under tension - it has to support the entire weight of the animal. the mechanism to support that weight is the achilles tendon (in red) and if the animal is standing up then the tendon is always taut. because of this taut tendon attaching to the heel of the animal, you won’t actually see much visible calf muscle, and the leg will appear deeper than it is wide (from the front anyway) 

for a more upright stance (right) you have to mess with the proportions a bit and straighten out the leg, so it looks a bit like a human on tip-toes. this guy, however, could not possibly revert to all-fours comfortably. 

if u want to keep the sense of tautness in the legs, you have to make sure the angle of the ankle isn’t too extreme, because then it looks like it could fold in on itself at any moment. 

uh i hope that helped