Whether you are drawing a simple portrait, an action scene, or just want to have a character looking cool you'll need to start with the pose.

 

Poses are one of the basic steps when making a piece and learning how to use them effectively can drastically change the approach you take.

 

In this article, we will go over some strong tips and tricks that can help anyone get better at striking that perfect pose.

1. Body Structure

For a pose to work, you need a good body to work with.

 

Learning from reference is one of the best ways to not only improve the accuracy of your character but also improve your skills with the human figure in general.

 

Using your own photos, live models, or even photographs from the internet can drastically improve and set the tone for the piece as a whole.

 

Of course, anyone can draw without reference, and some decide to use 3D models as well, like the ones provided in Clip Studio Paint. However, learning the fundamentals even if it is only the surface will always provide the most improvement.

2. Framing of the Scene

What should you make the major focus of your piece?

 

Framing helps you decided what kind of emphasis you want, and how big or small you make that framing changes what people look at.

 

If you keep the entire portrait in a scene from head to toe, then the entire character and possibly a background matters. If you only do the waist up, then more focus is on the clothing, skin, hair, etc.

 

Where you draw your line depends on the framing you want to give it.

 

It is important for an artist to decide how much they want to show, and learning to do it well can help with other avenues like comics and graphic novels.

3. Points of Perspective

Perspective greatly changes how your pose will look depending on the amount you want.

 

1-Point Perspective is like if you were looking down a flat desert road with an empty sky. There is only 1 vanishing point towards the middle. Your classic portraits against flat backgrounds can work well with this.

 

2-Point Perspective adds another vanishing point, with both points being towards the edges. This perspective works well for expansive scenes like landscapes and greatly helps with areas like cities, forests, and small towns.

 

3-Point Perspective adds the third point, now giving us changes in height while also keeping perspective. This perspective is getting our eyes and is even more intensive. If you want to make large interiors or lots of objects fill the scene going into the background this will be the best one to go with.

 

Picking the perspective you want to use prior to drawing is the best way to keep pieces consistent, but you can definitely do it later if you want.

4. The Fisheye Lens

For those who wish to see even more, the fisheye lens is the perfect tool.

 

Fisheye Perspective is a 3-Point Perspective that goes further by warping the images at the edges in a spherical shape. This change makes images towards the edge get drastically warped, allowing for more information to be shown for the cost of a circular bend on all objects.

 

Great for focusing on 1 major element of a piece while keeping in more information. Could be used for showing off hands, arms, legs, and feet for a more personal look.

 

This is the hardest type of perspective to work with, so really think about whether you want to use it and if you do how much complexity you want it to have.

5. The Environment around The Character

Another important aspect of the pose is where that pose is set in, the environment.

 

From having a simple gradient background like a photoshoot or having a full existing location like the downtown area of a city, setting the environment can help make a pose feel more appropriate to the viewer.

 

So say you have a character about to strike a killing blow, maybe having a storm happen with lighting flashing could increase the tension. Maybe your character is just lazing around and chilling, a comfy bedroom with some warms colors can help everything feel easy breezy.

 

This is one of the aspects some illustrators don't focus on, so making some good environments could help you stand out from the crowd.

6. The Lighting of a Scene

Now you have the scene before you, but what about the lighting?

 

Where you decide your light source and how the materials react to that light is one of the most important parts of any piece.

 

If you have a figure brooding down at the city below you probably wouldn't want it to be a bright day with barely a shadow, Making sure the lighting supports and enhances the major aspects of the piece makes them very succesful.

 

So before you get too far ahead, plan out the lighting and try a bunch of different levels and placement of that light.

Conclusion

Combine all these elements together and I can bet that you will grow even stronger as an artist.

 

I hope that you enjoyed these tips and can use them in your practice.

 

Hope you have a wonderful day, and stay creative!