How do you think feline retractable claws would work on a humanoid hand? Thanks for the help ❤️
alright, finally clearing out my askbox backlog! thanks for your patience!
a good start is this post i reblogged a while ago that has some examples of claws on hands as well as monstrous teeth arrangements. it does show how to root claws onto the bone, but it doesn't cover how retractable claws work.
Part of the reason retractable claws work well for cats is because it fits into the digitigrade style of their feet, so it's a little tricky to fit them into humanoid fingers, but I've come up with a way i think it can work, so here are my study sketches:
(image description: simple study sketches of a human finger and a cat claw. In the human finger, there are three bones extending from the hand, connected by two different tendons and a ligament on each bone that acts as a pulley for the tendons. The nail sits above the bone of the fingertip, in the flesh of the finger.
In the cat claw, there are three bones in the toe connected by a tendon and a few elastic ligaments. The claw is attached to the toe tip bone and the ligament here connects to the previous bone instead of the tendon. The final joint of the toe sits inside the toe pad. When the claw extends and retracts, it does so by pulling the toe tip back against the previous bone or flexing it forward. end description.)
So, how do you do that in a human finger, where there's no thick toe pad to contain these funky bone arrangements? Also, do you want to add an extra bone to the fingers, or do you want to shorten the fingers by using the bones that are already here? I went for the second option, but you don't have to. Certainly, adding retractable claws will make the function of a humanoid hand a little more restricted. the claws, however, will be useful for grabbing things in a different way than a normal human finger. so keep that in mind.
(image description: three drawings of a humanoid hand with retractable claws, showing the bones under the skin.
In the first image, there is also another comparison between the bones of a human hand and the bones of a cat paw, demonstrating how the human hand is mostly flat while a cat's paw bends the joints more, making the two difficult to combine.
In all the simplified drawings of a humanoid hand with retractable claws, the final two finger bones are bent in a V shape that can be flexed straight. The flesh of the fingers is rounded and thick when the claws are retracted, and then flexes to be longer and thinner when the claws extend. end description.)
An important note is that the claws will remain visible when retracted, they'll just look smaller. And I didn't draw it here, but if you've ever had to trim a cat's claws you'll notice a sort of skin sheath at the base of the claw, which can be added here as well. Also, a claw is just a hard keratin sheath over a softer core, called the quick. It will bleed if the claw is cut or broken in the wrong spot.
hopefully that's a helpful start! you can go even more cat-like and add some finger/palm pads if you want.
