Spotcat Study (Patreon)

More personal works, and this time it's a much needed anatomy study!

Recently I had a feeling that many of my feline anatomies were sort of blending together, so I felt the need to review and refresh my memory on how to draw the various cats. Especially the ones that tend to get mashed together a lot, such as jaguars, leopards and cheetahs.

Jaguars and Leopards are both pantherine cats, but jaguars are built much more bulky and more similar to lions and tigers, whereas leopards are more slender and have shorter legs.

Cheetahs are not pantherines (they are not "true" big cats), and even though they're medium-sized, they are more related to cougars and even housecats than they are to big cats! They are built for speed, skinny with long legs and a small head.

This study was possible thanks to the kind donation of Caeleigh! I'm truly grateful for your amazing support and kindness, and I hope that you enjoy this piece and also find it helpful!

Scroll to see a muscle and skeletal view, as well as size comparison between the cats.

3D models of the jaguar and cheetah skeletons by Artwork-cgi on Artstation. Leopard skeleton from Wikipedia.