The experience of learning to draw animals with the same confidence I draw humans took about two years of deliberate study. Here's the approach that worked.

Animals have the same underlying anatomy logic as humans — skeleton, muscles over skeleton, skin and fur over muscles — but the proportions and the forms are different and the pose vocabulary is completely different.

I started with cats because they're accessible, dynamic, and their anatomy is well-documented for artists. I worked through all the major pose types: walking, running, sitting, grooming, in various positions. I didn't try to memorize — I tried to understand the skeletal and muscular logic.

After cats I moved to horses, which are the most technically demanding common animal to draw convincingly. The shoulder and hip structure, the limb proportions, and the movement logic are all different from quadrupeds like cats.

The general animal study framework that emerged: start with the skeleton (find an animal anatomy reference), understand the bony landmarks that produce surface bumps and grooves, then build the surface form over that structure.