Reference

You can never have too much reference material. It is important for any artist to know the anatomy of the subject they are working on.

Unlike a human subject I can't say to a tiger, "please strike this pose for me," then take pictures from all sides. Instead, I rely on my years of artistic experience and a tremendous amount of reference.

For anyone interested in the anatomy of animals I would highly suggest the book Anatomy of Animals By Ernest Thompson. It was originally published in 1896 but you can get copies of it.

Another fine book is Eduard Lanteri Modelling and Sculpting Animals.