Redline for niviadragonrider

Redline for
Original: [link]

I took a still frame of the animation for the redline itself (and decided he was walking towards a food bowl or something, because I don't like leaving blank space, ehehe). After I link you to my references for general anatomy stuff, I'll touch on the subject of movement. First, the anatomy though!

The first thing I'll touch on is the overall proportions. The original drawing looks a bit "chibi" in proportions. I don't think that's what you were aiming for though (but let me know if it was!). To correct this, I made the head just a little bit smaller, lengthened the body, and made the paws smaller.

The head is overall nicely shaped! Just be careful not to make the muzzle too long. Keep referencing your cat, both in person (uh, cat???) and in photographs, along with additional online references and I'm sure it'll get even better! I know you probably wanted to keep it simple for the sake of animation, but adding a face can help you get the correct shape as well. Still, very nice overall!

Again, the body could be a bit longer, and make sure that you don't make it too skinny near the back legs. Even cats that are a healthy weight have a bit of chubbiness to them.

It looks like you were having a bit of trouble figuring out the anatomy of the legs. I'll link you to a nice skeletal reference when I discuss the movement, but for now I'll do a written walkthrough.
Starting with the back legs, the paws are a bit long. Keep in mind that cats walk on their toes, so the area right above what makes contact with the ground is still part of the foot, not a part of the leg, so don't make it too long. Speaking of the leg, make sure you know where the knee is located! It can be tricky to see on cats because their legs are so differently shaped than our own, but it's there. Again, I'll link you to a skeletal reference in the discussion of movement.
When it comes to the front legs on animals such as cats, a lot of people seem to confuse the shoulder blade with the elbow. I drew a little skeleton next to the redline to illustrate how it works. Also, something that's pretty interesting about cats is how their front legs connect to their body: The legs are placed almost in front of the ribcage, and the muscles flow directly into the neck. Because of this, cats actually have no "chest" showing between their legs (at least most of the time). What appears to be the chest is actually their upper leg (like the biceps on a human). Check it out on your own cat!

That's it for the basic anatomy stuff! I'll link you to the references I used for my redline, and then I'll discuss the movement!

References Used~
Cat walking: [link]
Another walking cat: [link]
Yet ANOTHER walking cat!: [link]
Info on Russian Blue characteristics: [link]
Sitting Russian Blue: [link]
Russian Blue face: [link]


Now onto the movement-related information! Sadly, I don't have any experience with animation (if anybody reading this does, please feel free to comment!), but I can tell you a bit about how cats move.
Looks like you've fallen prey to a common misconception on the pattern in which cats (and many other four-legged creatures) move. You have one left leg and one right leg moving at the same time, which seems like it would be correct, but it's actually not. Starting on the right back leg, the cat then moves it's right front leg. After that, it's the left back leg and left front leg. So instead of right left right left, the cat's legs actually move right right left left. Here's a really great video!: [link] It replays the walk cycle slowed down so you can see everything better.
Also, it's important to be very aware of where the joints are located in the legs. Here's a really nice skeletal reference which helped me a lot with feline anatomy: [link] As you can see, the knee and elbow are both located right near the bottom of the body. I noticed that you didn't have the elbow bend at all in your animation, but if you look at the video, there should be a bit more motion in that area.

I hope you found all of this helpful! Please let me know if you have any critique, and if you have any additional questions. I'd love to answer them! ^.^