What I'm Learning About Character Poses 🎨 Real-time Process Video (Patreon)

Hello everyone,

I've just finished the challenge for this month's Creative Illustration Curriculum, and you can join me for my quiet, real-time art process in the video above 💖 Beautiful Bluebells will be getting a voice-overed version soon where I talk about my process as I go.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I made a Pinterest board for us with lots of poses for inspiration! Click below to visit it:

Character Pose Pinterest Board

My learning focus this month is exploring different poses and how they can create more interesting illustrations.

I set the challenge this month to: design a character in a neutral pose (standing straight, looking forward), and then draw them again in an action pose - they can be doing anything!

I started with some pencil sketches of a character and explored a few different pose options, and then drew a digital version of one of the poses.

This character was already cute in a neutral pose, but putting them into a different position makes for a more interesting illustration because it tells us a bit of a story.

I tried not to worry to much about consistent proportions when I was playing with poses, instead I tried to focus more on a variety of positions and actions.

So here's what I've been learning about interesting poses:

Poses that indicate an action are interesting because they tell us about what a character is doing.

Their expression while doing that action tells us even more - are they happy while reading a book, or confused, or maybe cranky? That opens up the story more for us to question why they feel like that.

A pose that is clear even as a silhouette is more interesting to look at that than a neutral pose because it's more dynamic.

Poses that show movement have energy, while poses that are stationary can feel more relaxed.

Don't forget to download this month's curriculum pdf guide if you'd like to join in!

💖 Mimi