This paper presents an implicit orthotropic model based on the Continuum Damage Mechanics isotropic models. A mapping relationship is established between the behaviour of the anisotropic material and that of an isotropic one. The proposed model is used to simulate the failure loci of common orthotropic materials, such as masonry, fibre-reinforced composites and wood. The damage model is combined with a crack-tracking technique to reproduce the propagation of localized cracks in the discrete FE problem. The proposed numerical model is used to simulate the mixed mode fracture in masonry members with different orientations of the brick layers. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)