Sketching Daily: Day 11 "Ani-Morphs, Part 1"

I had someone give me a really fun challenge the other day and I had to do it. While I did not technically finish the challenge (I will don't worry), I had so much fun with this. You  could say I got to carried away in the inventive part to actually complete the assignment. Anyways, so the challenge was to take your two favorite animals and morph them together (completed that part) then make an abstract drawing of them (this is the part I still need to work on.) I will do a part 2 to this challenge to finish the abstract part but here is what I have so far. 

The creature I created is part rat part cheetah. While drawing him running I discovered that his forearms are much longer than his hind legs which is not normal in the animal kingdom. The gorilla is one of the only animals who walks like this. With his chest being horizontal to the ground instead of vertical like a gorilla or human, physics wouldn't allow him to run with face planting every time he took a step. Thanks to AJ for the four hour long conversation on physics, we discovered (I argued my idea) a way to allow him to run. He won't be sprinter like a cheetah is but will have more of a sustained long distance run. The reason for this is because the bone and muscle structure in his front legs works like a shock absorber/spring. When he sits you can start to see how his skin bunches up around his arms, yet as he runs the legs retract giving him effortless forward momentum and prevents strain on his joints. I hope that makes sense. I should get some pictures up of his anatomy once I get it drawn. Basically, replace the forearm with a shock absorber from a car with the metal being bone and the spring being muscle. That should make more sense. (Update! If you would like to see Ceeratah's bone structure click here!)

Well here is my Cheeratah. Hope you enjoy him! 

Keep the submission ideas coming. While I haven't had a ton of time to draw the past week or so I will still try to get to everyone before the summer is out. Thank you for all your great ideas!!