The Importance of Anatomy in the Process of Design

I took a few hours today to gather a collection of anatomical references for each of the animals we are to create in this project. With varying skill levels in regards to designing, drawing and making, I wanted to ensure a broad good level of understanding how animals' bodies fit together when the team started creating their designs for consideration. There are some animals in the designs that are incredibly specific - for example the red-billed African hornbill that Zazu is, even though many think he is a Toucan.
With this in mind, I posted the following with the several albums of images;
"I want to stress the important of anatomy in designing and creating these animals. From a professional point of view there's only so far you can go when stylising a real animal without it looking 'off' if it's real anatomy is disregarded. The animal's shapes, joints and muscle groups should all be considered when it is modified to become a costume, mask etc etc.
To help with this I'm adding a series of anatomical and photographical reference images for each of the animals we have to create. Hope it's helpful, check the 'photos' tab for albums!"

A few more anatomical example pictures under the cut! I have not included all of them - there are around 5 for every animal - a few too many for a blog post.