YOU'LL LEARN

the principles of

drawing poses drawing poses and

how to apply them

by mitch leeuwe
Copyright © 2020 by Mitch Leeuwe

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
drawing poses
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For personal use only

mitchleeuwe.nl

Printed in the Netherlands

by mitch leeuwe
First Printing, 2020

Graphic design: Harmke Leeuwe

harmke.com

Copy editor: Nicole Cramer


Hi there!
Let me introduce myself. I’m Mitch Leeuwe and am an
illustrator from the Netherlands. I always drew a lot as
a kid. I even had the childhood dream to become an
animator at Disney. During my teenage years, I lost that
dream. Luckily, I slowly started drawing more and more.
When I was 19, I began to do some freelance work as
a graphic designer, which made me consider picking up
drawing again. I attended several drawing programs at
schools but I learned most from online resources. Now,
I’m a freelance artist working on visual development. This
means I design characters, props and backgrounds for
games, animation and toys. However, you probably know
me from my Instagram where I release tutorials and more.
My goal is to create a place where people can learn the
things I wanted to learn when I started out.
How to apply this book
This eBook is about drawing poses. A pose is the
position of your body at a certain moment. You’re
probably reading this eBook sitting, so your pose is
“sitting while reading” now. Drawing poses can be
complicated because everything (the character design,
the gesture, the expression, your personal drawing
style and more) comes together in that pose. Learning
to draw is similar to training your muscles. When you
go to the gym you don’t train all your muscles all at
once, you typically focus on specific areas of the body
at a time. The same is true with drawing. One day you
may focus on practicing drawing hands, or drawing
animals, or drawing construction, drawing perspective
etc. It’s best to focus on one of those things when
you’re learning how to draw so you can build these
competencies a step at a time.
Please don’t be too overwhelmed by this; look at this
as a new challenge each time you work on your skills
in a new area. We often overestimate what we can
learn in a short amount of time (in a day or a week for
example). However, we typically underestimate what
we can do in a couple of months or even years. Try to
take small steps. To this day, I also recognize that I can
always continuously develop and improve my skills with
drawing poses. As artists we are always learning. Like
a garden, in order to thrive and continue to grow, we
need to “give ourselves water” in the form of ongoing
practice and patience with ourselves. Slowly that
garden will look better and better. We have to have
patience and not give up. Little by little, small steps add
up.
One way to use this book is to copy the drawings in
it. Copying drawings is a great way to learn how the
original artist made the drawing. Try to mimic the steps
I demonstrate in creating the drawing.
Best,
Mitch Leeuwe

This is the line of action. You can
think of it as a single line that shows
the pose in its most basic shape.
When I draw a pose I start with an
idea or story. The story could be as
simple as “a running person”, but it
could be as detailed as “a running
20 year old male that is running late
for his first day of work at a new job
with a cup of coffee while looking
at his watch”. After I’ve defined the
storyline I want to convey, I ask
myself what kind of action line fits
best with that.
simplify
In the images here I demonstrate how to draw
action lines and the energy of the pose. This
may seem abstract and/or not very helpful, but
it is actually very valuable. It really helps me to
first start thinking as simply as possible. That
can be a challenge when you’re beginning
to learn how to draw, but keep in mind that
simplicity is key when starting your drawing.
One way to improve your ability to simplify
your first sketches is by watching movies
or looking online for gesture model session
photos or videos. In most cities you can
visit figure drawing sessions/lessons where
models will pose for a fixed amount of time.
This pushes you to set up a pose quite quickly
and to simplify your sketches.
When you have real life references
or a photo of someone making
a pose, first ask yourself: “What
does this pose represent?” and
“What is the story the model tries to
communicate with the body?” Once
the answers to these questions
are clear, you can start drawing
the action line. Once you have the
action line in place, you can draw the
gesture on top, as I have shown in
the second image.
In this example (top) the action
line is too complex. Keep it simple
and it will help make your drawing
much easier to read. When
we look at a drawing, our eyes
naturally glance over it. When
your drawing has a clear flow of
action it helps to smoothly guide
the eyes. When it’s too complex
your eyes can’t easily focus on
the action in the drawing, making
the image harder to read.
 pillow trick

Another way to help you with this

concept of drawing action lines
is to think of a pillow making the
poses. Ask yourself how a pillow
would express this pose. This
forces you to think in abstract
shapes but also makes it easier
because it gives you a real world
example using something familiar This is an exercise animators use to learn how to animate. own variations of these poses. Maybe even take your
to you. As is the case with animation, the poses also need to be own pillow (or a bag filled with rice, flour or other grains)
unmistakably clear. Whether you’re drawing for cartoons and place it in some poses. Alternatively, watching some
or illustration, you want the viewer to be able to tell what animated movies that have a character that resembles a
the pose is saying intuitively—at first glance. You can pillow, like the magic carpet from Aladdin, can also help.
start by drawing these pillows first and after that try your
When you see poses of the pillows, it can be hard to
imagine how you can translate this to a pose of a more
traditional character. It’s a great tool for when you’re
stuck because it is so effective! Try to apply the poses
we created with the pillow to your own character, like
I did above with the mouse. I’m often asked if copying
drawings as a means of learning is a good way to learn
how to draw. Yes it absolutely is! It’s actually how I learned
how to draw, and this would be a great exercise to try out
yourself. Take these pillows as an example and draw them
with a different character. You can also try it the other way
around: draw the poses of other characters as if they were
a pillow.
 direction of the action line
These are two other examples of the action line. Notice
that the figures lean in different directions. In the first
drawing, the child is apologizing and leaning backward.
That leaning backward is very important because it
communicates the feeling that fits with the story “child is
apologizing.” In the second drawing, the child is leaning
forward; the leaning forward is aggressive and fits with
Practice with the action line and
construction by drawing these
characters. First draw the action line
and then the construction on top
of that following the energy of the
action line.
the storyline of “child is angry and yelling.” So a line that
is simply pushing forward is a great base to start for this
pose as it communicates that aggressive body language
associated with someone who is upset. The big advantage
is that this drawing method can help you establish a basis
for your drawing that clearly communicates, at an initial
glance, the emotions of your character.
 get the flow
In the second step I add the
construction. Drawing with
construction is essentially using
Here I’m showing some poses with humans! The human body is a bit more complicated than that of a rat, but the basics basic shapes like a sphere, cylinder
are the same. When you find the human body hard to draw, it is good to start with the action line like I have shown in and cube to build the body. I’m using
these examples. I’ve added the silhouette behind it to show you how the silhouette follows the line of action. This also these shapes because they are
demonstrates that even with a silhouette you can already tell what story the pose should tell. easy to rotate, which makes it less
complicated to draw the character
in a different pose. Once I have the
construction ready, I can begin to
draw the final drawing on top of it.
The most challenging part here is that
your character loses the energy of the
line of action in this step. When this
happens, try to figure out how this
happened and redraw your character
until you’ve recaptured that energy.
Drawing characters and poses
is always a matter of finding a
good balance between flow and
construction. Without flow the
drawing will look stiff and without
construction the drawing would feel
too flimsy and not solid.
It may take some time to figure
this out, so don’t worry when you
don’t get this concept immediately.
Learning how to draw is all about
making progress over time, like
developing any new skill.
Here is another example of how I draw a character. Notice how the shapes follow the line of action. The pitfall of
depending on construction too much is that your drawing can tend to look stiff. To prevent this, you can let the
construction follow the action line. As a last step, when creating the sketch on top of the construction, you can connect
all the shapes and let them flow into each other.

When you’re not using a flowing line (or no line at all), chances are that your character will look stiff. See the example
above. This even applies when you‘re drawing a standing character. Not everything can follow the line of action
perfectly, but you can use the flow of the action line to loosen up your character (f.e. in the arms and/or the legs).

In this image I’ve shown how I
drew this little fox. I actually used
two action lines here: one for the
body and one for the tail. With the
construction I gave the fox a solid
base, but also made the basic
shapes flow nicely into each other
creating an appealing character.
This is another example of a sitting
character. This character has a bit
more complex anatomy because
it’s a human character. This more
detailed anatomy makes it more
difficult to draw but the principles are
the same. Also note how I drew the
lines on the clothing here, they are
following the flow of the drawing.
 Here are three more examples of the girl in various
poses showing her really thinking and acting. When
you are drawing a character, it can be helpful to ask
yourself what the character is thinking. You can also
use a mirror and act it out yourself, or even better
ask someone else to pose for you! A pose comes
to life when you can see what is going on inside the
character’s mind.

The rough sketch for this cute little

girl is how my sketches really look
like, often even messier. As you can
see, I really think about the action
line and how the construction follows
this flow.

action & reaction
When you’re drawing two or more characters it’s really
helpful to think about how the action of one leads to the
reaction of the other. This interaction with another person,
object, or creature makes the drawing more interesting
and entertaining to look at. Keep in mind that this also
affects the action lines. As you can see in this image, the
person in action (left) has an action line that is leaning
forward and extending while the person that is reacting
(right) has an action line that is the inverse of the other
character, almost collapsing in nature.
Here is another example of
interaction. Can you decipher
between which is the action and
which is the reaction? Both images
can be described as the same: one
bear hitting the other. However,
the example with the stiff, standing
straight action lines (top) lacks
energy: the punch just doesn’t seem
to have any effect on the other
character. In the example on the
bottom, you see and feel how the
energy from the right character flows
into the other character through the
punch. This illustrates how important
action lines are for interaction.
 open vs closed

You have open and closed poses. In the examples above you can see the difference between open and closed poses. An open pose is good to use when you are showing your character happy, jumping, or greeting someone they like, for
You should choose a closed pose when the character is feeling grumpy, shy, or sad. When your character feels that example. The energy of the open pose moves outwards and the energy of a close pose moves inwards.
way, you want to portray that they are trying to hide and make themselves as small as possible.
 importance of silhouettes
moving characters

The simplest way of demonstrating

how the action line works is with
this side view of a running kid. The
curve of the action line pushes the
character forward. As you can see
in the silhouette, this creates a very
strong and clear pose. You can
immediately see what is happening
in the drawing; the character is
running. In the last draw-over I show
how the flow is going through the
body. Having this flow will guide the
eye and makes it easier and more
Earlier in this book I showed a few silhouettes and the importance of them. Here I show the difference between a weak appealing to watch.
and a strong silhouette. When you look at the left silhouette you can’t really tell what is going on, but when you look at
the right silhouette you can clearly understand what is happening with the character.
This soccer-playing lion is an anthropomorphic character, meaning that it isn’t a human character but has human
characteristics. Here I show the steps of how I drew this character. Because this character has human-like anatomy, I
started with a construction that is similar to a skeleton. Next, I connected the large shapes and added smaller shapes
and details.
 Next, I add the legs and lastly draw the arms. I save the arms for last because you can draw them in that stage in a lot
of different poses. The legs are very important for the overall balance of the body.

Here I draw a jumping kid. It should be no surprise by now that I start with the line of action. After the line of action is in
place, I typically start with the head construction. That can be approached as a personal choice, but personally it helps
me orient the rest of the body. Once the head is established, I then add the torso and pelvis.
 exaggeration

Here I show different ways of

moving! Before you draw the
character ask yourself what kind
of pose fits in that moment for the
character, what is the story that you
want to tell? In this example you can
ask yourself: Where is this character
Exaggerate your drawings! Of course you should not exaggerate to the point that your drawing breaks or becomes going? Why is the character doing
unbelievable, but at least try to challenge yourself to push it as far as you can. For example, when a character is looking that? Is he just walking to another
up, don’t simply draw only the eyes looking upwards but let the whole body tell the story! Don’t be scared to use every log or is he running away from a
possible limb and muscle in the body to strengthen the acting. Drawing is communicating with the viewer and we want falling tree? Everything is possible,
to be it as clear as possible. depending on what you want to tell.
 Try to notice anticipation in real life. Did you notice that you
also bend slightly before standing up from a seated position?
Have you ever tried standing up without bending first? I dare
you to try. A place where you can very clearly see anticipation
is in sports. For example, the movements just right before a
throw, jump or kick are full of anticipation! Draw the action line
anticipation of those actions and draw your own character in that pose.

Anticipation is the action before the

main action. In this example the
jumping character bends slightly
before she jumps up. This principle is
often used in animation. An exercise
animators use when trying to
illustrate anticipation is animating this
bouncing ball. You can apply these
same principles to characters. I have
previously explained the concepts of
squash and stretch which you can
see here in the ball sequence.
 This book isn’t about anatomy
but here you can see that a basic
understanding is important for
drawing poses like this. You need
to know how to draw the muscles
from different sides. To draw a
strong punch, think about where the
energy in the character is and where
it is going. Keep in mind that you
should keep the silhouette as clear
as possible. In the example I drew
Lifting a light ball is way different than a heavy ball. This influences the action line, the anticipation and even the the construction of the first pose, a
expression of the character. Make sure these elements all tell the same story. helpful exercise is to draw the other
poses construction as well.
 balance

Always check if your character is in balance. If you work digitally you could flip your canvas. If you’re working on paper
you can use a mirror to see the drawing flipped. This helps you to find balance mistakes in your drawings.

In these examples I show how you can

check if your character is in balance by
drawing a dot on the weight point and
then drawing a line straight down. This
way you can see that your character isn’t
toppling over.
straight vs curved Using a combination of straight and
curved lines opposite of each other is a
great way to make sure your character
looks appealing and dynamic.

Of course there are TV shows and

other mediums that use straight lines on
both sides of the drawing for their own
reasons such as for style or fitting the
comedic style of the show. However,
I like to draw in a more organic style
because I personally feel that’s more
appealing.

Preferences can be different and there

is no wrong or right method in practice.
You may ask, why am I showing an X
and a check mark if there is no wrong or
right? I find consistency important and I
want to use some rules to keep my work
consistent.
With this example I’d like to show how I’m using this theory in my actual character drawings. The green lines are curved
and the blue lines are straight. Of course, there is a variety in the level of curvature and straightness, but the most
important thing I’d like to show you is how to use opposing lines and avoid symmetry. You can of course still go for
another style and have a more symmetrical, graphical style if you prefer.
 simple vs complex
Another contrast you can apply to your character design and pose is to combine simple and complex lines. In this
example I added these two lines to show the difference between the complex and the simple sides of the drawing. You’ll
notice that one side appears stretched and the other side is squashed.

Here is an example of simple vs

complex and anticipation together.
Observe the torso of the character
closely. Drawing the torso as a
bean makes it easier to draw this
angle where the ribcage is tilting
slightly over.
 C S I

There are three types of lines you

can use when you’re drawing a
figure: C, S and I. It’s important to
actively use these various types of
lines and combine them as it will
make your design more appealing
to look at. For example, if you start
with a C you can follow it with an S RHYTHM
or I shape. The key is to avoid two
C’s next to or opposite of each other. two C shapes if you want to make your design feel mechanical. If you want to
If you do that you’ll get parallel lines make your poses dynamic and fluid, use CSI and try to mix it up as much as Another technique that makes your poses stronger is to add rhythm to the design. Rhythm is when you use lines that
in your drawing, which can make it possible. flow into each other (as illustrated in the example above). It also helps to think about avoiding symmetry. When you’re
feel unnatural and more mechanical. drawing a pose with a strong rhythm, think about it as if you you’d like water to flow through it. You can also visualize a
Alternatively, you can use these Advanced tip: Also try to mix long, medium, and short lines in your design. Ping-Pong ball in your drawing, bouncing nicely downwards.
 THRUST & ENERGY

This drawing shows how everything comes together. Here I broke the action line down into thrust and energy. You can
also draw one action line, but sometimes I prefer to break it down into two lines.

In this specific drawing it’s almost like an interaction between two different energies inside one body. The line I called
thrust creates a strong base so the energy line is even more powerful. That’s why I drew it straight opposite from it. It’s
similar to a bow and that fits with the pose and energy I was looking for.

I advise not to use more than two lines though, and still prefer using only one line for the line of action in most cases.
USE PERSPECTIVE
Sometimes your drawing can become more interesting when you exaggerate what you see a bit. One way you can
do that is to add some more perspective, making your figure more dramatic and dynamic. You don’t always see this
extreme perspective in real life when you are drawing a model or drawing from a screen.

When choosing an angle for your perspective, keep in mind what story you’d like to tell. An upward perspective makes
your character look stronger, downward makes it look weaker or cuter and a diagonal perspective can add speed to the
character (like in the example of the running woman).

You can also choose for a more dramatic perspective if it emphasizes the story and character. This can also make your
pose more readable by creating space between the body parts (using negative shapes).
 OVERLAP

To create a sense of depth, it’s

important to use overlap in your
drawings. When you stack two
shapes on top or in front of each
other you can clearly see which one
is in the front and which one is in the
back. Try to find a point of view for
the pose you’re drawing where you
can emphasize the lines where there
is overlap.
 foreshortening
add a
little twist

This is a trick I always use when

I’m drawing a standing character to
check whether it’s in balance or not.
It’s also an easy trick to give your
character extra energy in a basic
standing pose. At the same time, it’s
something that is easy to overlook
or forget when you’re not actively
checking for it.

On the next 2 pages I applied this to

a sitting and a standing character on
Foreshortening is how we see any object through our eyes in the world. When we look at a cylinder in perspective the a skateboard.
farthest side looks smaller than the side closest to us. Using foreshortening in your drawing can help make a drawing
much more interesting and dynamic compared to if you don’t use it.
Drawing a sitting character with a line of action is essentially the same process as drawing a standing character. I Here I’ve drawn a character skateboarding. This is a fairly basic pose but by adding a twist to it, it already becomes
wanted to create a bit of a closed but twisted pose because that fits this character. In this drawing the legs are close to more dynamic. These little additions can make a huge difference in the story you want to tell with the pose of your
each other and by adding a clear overlap, you can see that in the pose. character.
REFERENCE
This proves how important it is to actually use reference
to avoid certain mistakes. This example uses a man
running to demonstrate the easy mistakes that can be
made when drawing. For example, when we are running
we try to keep balance. If you have both your right arm
and leg in front of you, you’re out of balance and you will
fall down more easily. It’s very common to make these
types of mistakes when drawing. Using a reference or
acting out a pose yourself can really help avoid this.
Especially now that it’s so easy to use a search engine to
find reference photos, you should ensure that you do this
often and use it to your advantage.
 INFLUENCE OF AGE
When you’re drawing someone within a certain age
group, think about what kind of pose fits with that age
and character. For example, when you’re drawing a
baby, ask yourself what is a pose that fits a baby and the
personality of this character. What kind of story can you
tell with the pose? In this case the story I came up with
was “baby eats a popsicle.” A grown-up person would
(most likely) eat a popsicle in a completely different
way from how a baby would eat a popsicle. This also
depends on the personality of the character, but a
baby assumedly would be a messier eater. Think about these choices when drawing a character. Try to draw some
characters from different age groups and think about how they would approach eating a popsicle, or come up with a
different fun example! For example, I drew the adolescent with a phone. Think of how a baby would use a phone or
how would a senior use a phone.
apply the pose

I do figure drawing because

eventually I want to use the
knowledge for my own character
poses. In the example I show how
I used a reference to create these
poses. Most of the time I search
for poses of people online, but
sometimes I act them out myself and
photograph it to use as reference.

Some people say using references

is bad but I don’t agree with them.
Of course you shouldn’t steal other
people’s work but you can look at
a pose, become inspired, and try
to capture the idea behind it. When
using a reference you should always Tip: Always try to exaggerate the real life reference in your drawing so the story and pose is more clear and easier
to try to take something purely as to read. Try these steps with some other references. You can look for some photos of an athlete or images from your
a reference and then enhance it in favorite sport.
your drawing.
 how it all
comes together

We’re almost at the end of the

book! I’d like to recap what we have
covered in the book. For the line
of action: try to keep it simple but
keep in mind that that doesn’t mean is easy to read at a glance and that the viewer can tell what is going on intuitively. Try to have flow in your pose, use
the character has to be basic. The these flowing lines to draw attention to the focus point. The focus point is the point that is the most important point, with
essential idea needs to be as clear characters that is often the eyes. Here you can also see rhythm again. Look for the purple arrow and ball bouncing
as possible so that the character between the curved “walls.”
 model sheet

This is a drawing I’ve made for my portfolio. It’s called a model sheet where I have drawn various poses of a character.
If you’re a character artist and want to make a portfolio, it’s important to show that you’re able to draw poses that fit with
the personality of your character.

Here I’m showing the construction of this character. These cartoon characters are very toy-like and you can see that in
the construction as well. It’s really basic. That’s also the reason why these types of characters are great to play around
with when you’re learning these fundamentals (mainly construction and line of action).
 conclusion
& thank you

that's it!
Thanks for reading this ebook. I hope you’ve learned some
new skills and that it will help you to draw strong poses for
your characters. Whether you’re drawing for fun or if you
want a career, drawing poses is a great skill to have and
with that you can create your own model sheet, or comic,
storyboard, and more. Learning to draw poses can take
some time, but it will pay off if you keep practicing.
Another great thing to do to learn to draw poses is going
to figure drawing class or if you can’t find a class that you
can visit publicly look for it online. Look in your search
engine for figure drawing references or model drawing and
you’ll find a lot of references to draw from. You can also
go outside, maybe to a skate park, library, train station,
or a pub and draw the people around you. Look how
people move and observe them, there are a lot of small
movements that make up our overall movement (such as
the small dip before getting up from a chair), that you may
not realize unless you directly observe someone in action.
Some people tend to think that learning to draw is all about
talent. Talent can only get you so far. The most important
thing is to work hard and don’t give up, especially when
you want a career as an artist. Eventually you’ll reach
the level you need to be to become a professional artist.
If you work hard and try to learn a little every day, you’ll
continuously grow and make progress to reach your goals.
It really helps to think of your drawing skills as a garden.
You need to water it every day (by
practicing drawing) to let it grow. This
doesn’t have to be hours of practice
each day, just try to pick up your
pencil and work on your skills daily.
Your future self will thank you for the
investment.
People tend to overestimate what they
can achieve in a short amount of time,
but they underestimate what they can
achieve over a longer period of time.
Best,
Mitch Leeuwe
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