@ScarletKnives
For my part, I started with shapes and skeletons. I begin each new species study by searching for pictures of the animal in profile (to show most of the body), then trying to find the shapes that composed the body (and don't hesitate to search tutorials "how to draw [name of the animal]"). I search then the skeleton of that animal cause it helps understanding how it's moving. Sometimes I also need the muscles, but that's either for specific poses and to understand some of the shapes.
For shapes: basically sphere and triangle are really interesting to use. Most animals have a cylinder for the ribcage/front part of their body. The triangles are really good for rear thighs. Here's an example of a tutorial which shows that:
For skeletons. The animal skeleton for a lot of species (mammals especially) have a similar structure than humans, just that the lengths of the bones aren't similar. Please check this link which shows how the skeletons are similar:
https://kylehallnationaltrust.weebl...differences-similarities-human-animal-anatomy
For Pokemon, they often are created from a real species, so taking references of the real one is interesting to learn how to draw them (some artists have done realistic version of Pokemon, you can check those too). They are mostly on the cute side, so if that's your thing, you can go rounder than the real animal/Pokemon, put big eyes, add a bit of blush, go pastel, whatever that makes them cute XD
And now the last thing is, if you draw humans/anthros a certain way (for example: skeleton then putting muscles then adding details), the odds are that you'll be able to apply the same techniques to animals. We're not that different.
Hope that helps
