Claws & Talons

Claws can be short and nail-like, such as the nails that you would see on a dog. Claws can also be retractable, such as you would see on a cat. They can be long, like on a bird of prey, or hoof-like. Find a type of claw that goes with your creature.

Here are some examples of finished claws. The top left would only be useful on a creature that walked on two legs, the claw you see being an arm and not a leg. The one to the right would be useful on something that flies. The lower one would be a back claw, something meant to bear weight.

People will often draw a hand, and then draw a little triangle coming off of the end of it for a claw. This is not a good way to do it, because claws do not grow this way.

1. Here is a digit without the nail.
2. The nail comes out of the center of the digit. The shaded area shows where it grows out of.
3. I place the nail coming out of the center.
4. I place a cuticle so that there is a small area of skin growing out with the nail. It's a nice added effect.

I'm going to show an example of how I draw a clawed hand from start to finish. In this stage, I have just the basics of the forearm, the wrist, and where I want the fingers to go.

I fill in the fingers. Adding large bumpy knuckles helps to make the drawing less hand-like and more claw-like.

I grow the nails out of the center of each digit. Since all of the digits are at different angles, all of the claws will be bent at different angles. As long as you draw them coming out of the center of it's respective digit, the claw will make sense. Happy drawing!