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Arceus is a real sonnuvab**** to draw. >>

I was revising my old ink Arceus drawing because I liked the pose and the stylistic aspects, but the anatomy, with the revealing of official anime art, has been proven completely wrong. So while I was sketching the new drawing, I ran into all sorts of problems trying to make it fit with Arceus's official appearance, but still have a bone structure that made any sort of sense at all.

I mean, look at him! Most art makes him look like he swallowed a beach ball, and has no shoulder joint at all. So, on a spur of the moment decision, I started drawing his skeleton, using a horse for reference. I hoped this would help me to be better able to portray him.

Arceus has a highly unique anatomy, and I noted the following things while drawing this:

- Because of the long pointed hooves being fused the joint, Arceus cannot bend the lowest part of both the front and hind legs (the finger joint of the foreleg, and the ball joint of the hind leg.)

- Arceus either cannot bend, or has very limited movement over the scapula and humerus. When looking at official art and his movement in the anime, only the elbow and wrist joint ever move prominently.

- Arceus's sternum is not level with the ribs, which is why a profile view shows the gray chest fur curve outward at the front of the chest, dip inward and then curve outward at the belly. With the arms held in a normal standing position, this gives the odd appearance that his chest seems to not connect to the belly, contributing the aforementioned "beach ball-swallowing" problem.

- Horses have longer spines on the vertebrae at the shoulders and hips, which is why the back tends to slope inward. With Arceus, this is actually reversed--the spines lengthen in between the limbs, giving his mid-body the distinct circular shape.

- Arceus does not have a mouth. However, I didn't see this as a reason to completely reinvent his skull structure. I simply fused the jawbone to the skull. He likely has very few facial muscles. The cartilage of the ears (not shown) extends downward and attaches to the angle of the jaw, giving the side of his head that distinctly smooth look.

- There is a ridge of bone over the top half of his eye sockets, which not only gives the top of his skull a helmet-like look, but would probably result in a lack of an upper eyelid. Also, I added a crest at the back of the skull because the stiffness of the mane suggests some sort of inner support, likely an extension of cartilage.

- I would theorize that the first six or so of the tail vertebrae are not flexible, which if why Arceus's tail is always held outward in that particular upward-curving, then parallel shape.

- I did not draw the wheel, but only the braces that connect to the body along the ribs and spine. We all know what the wheel looks like anyway.

So yeah, I had a lot of fun doing it, even though it took waaayy too long to finish. And as a final note, I really only have an amateur knowledge of anatomy, never having taken an actual class on the topic. So any expert who sees this and spots obvious problems that I am not aware of, going "that skeletal structure is not realistic at all and would not ever work properly in real life!" Well...he's God, he can make his anatomy work however damn well he feels like.

Description
Arceus is a real sonnuvab**** to draw. >>

I was revising my old ink Arceus drawing because I liked the pose and the stylistic aspects, but the anatomy, with the revealing of official anime art, has been proven completely wrong. So while I was sketching the new drawing, I ran into all sorts of problems trying to make it fit with Arceus's official appearance, but still have a bone structure that made any sort of sense at all.

I mean, look at him! Most art makes him look like he swallowed a beach ball, and has no shoulder joint at all. So, on a spur of the moment decision, I started drawing his skeleton, using a horse for reference. I hoped this would help me to be better able to portray him.

Arceus has a highly unique anatomy, and I noted the following things while drawing this:

- Because of the long pointed hooves being fused the joint, Arceus cannot bend the lowest part of both the front and hind legs (the finger joint of the foreleg, and the ball joint of the hind leg.)

- Arceus either cannot bend, or has very limited movement over the scapula and humerus. When looking at official art and his movement in the anime, only the elbow and wrist joint ever move prominently.

- Arceus's sternum is not level with the ribs, which is why a profile view shows the gray chest fur curve outward at the front of the chest, dip inward and then curve outward at the belly. With the arms held in a normal standing position, this gives the odd appearance that his chest seems to not connect to the belly, contributing the aforementioned "beach ball-swallowing" problem.

- Horses have longer spines on the vertebrae at the shoulders and hips, which is why the back tends to slope inward. With Arceus, this is actually reversed--the spines lengthen in between the limbs, giving his mid-body the distinct circular shape.

- Arceus does not have a mouth. However, I didn't see this as a reason to completely reinvent his skull structure. I simply fused the jawbone to the skull. He likely has very few facial muscles. The cartilage of the ears (not shown) extends downward and attaches to the angle of the jaw, giving the side of his head that distinctly smooth look.

- There is a ridge of bone over the top half of his eye sockets, which not only gives the top of his skull a helmet-like look, but would probably result in a lack of an upper eyelid. Also, I added a crest at the back of the skull because the stiffness of the mane suggests some sort of inner support, likely an extension of cartilage.

- I would theorize that the first six or so of the tail vertebrae are not flexible, which if why Arceus's tail is always held outward in that particular upward-curving, then parallel shape.

- I did not draw the wheel, but only the braces that connect to the body along the ribs and spine. We all know what the wheel looks like anyway.

So yeah, I had a lot of fun doing it, even though it took waaayy too long to finish. And as a final note, I really only have an amateur knowledge of anatomy, never having taken an actual class on the topic. So any expert who sees this and spots obvious problems that I am not aware of, going "that skeletal structure is not realistic at all and would not ever work properly in real life!" Well...he's God, he can make his anatomy work however damn well he feels like.