How I Come Up with Poses - My Simple Approach

Hey everyone,

Creating gestures with poses is a great challenge for artists, today, let's talk about that! Especially how I come up with the ones I use for my illustrations and characters. This is a process well documented in posts that contain video processes, but for those patrons who currently don't have access to those posts, I'd like to briefly explain my approach to this particular part of the conceptual process and execution.

Concept

Usually, I have two ways of bootstrapping the character's pose process, one is by defining the character's motivation and the second is by using real-world references, which can be a human or an object.

1. Intention-Driven Approach: I think about the action the character will perform; the intention is key to having a direction. Many artists make the mistake of waiting for these poses to spark organically through sketching. Although I don't think this is bad, it's a process often found problematic as artists wait for something to happen, and if it does not, well, they are just stuck. So, put some thought into who your character is, its motivation, and therefore the action their gesture or pose will perform. The way things go in this step of the process is that I list the characteristics of the composition, and one of them is "action". Here is an example based on one of my latest pieces called "Wake Up":

• Action: Someone recently awake, a military figure putting versions of the character together.

If the action is clear in my head, I just simply move forward to the execution phase, explained down the line in this article. But it is often the case I move to the next step of the conceptual exploration, which is the search for references to cement my vision.

2. References: This is often the secondary step once I've defined my character's motivation or the goal of my composition. But when the character motivation or action is not precisely defined, I simply explore gestures or poses I find interesting in relation to the main subject. This often sparks some inspiration. Sometimes, I don't even use human references, especially when I try to create a character out of an object, animal, plant, etc. This approach might be rather difficult as I'm trying to figure out what aspects of the reference I can assign arms, legs, head, and so on, so when I need to create the character, it can share similar resemblances through the use of gesture.

In the next example, the reference of a seamstress inspired me to create the character in my illustration called 'Mannequin'.

I'm constantly pinning references on our Pinterest Board about gesture and expression. If you still don't have access, this can be a tremendous way to boost your pose execution approach. 

Execution

Execution is the phase in which I paint or draw the character's gesture. It's important to notice that in the past, I often started from this point, making lines and brush strokes without character conceptual definition. This indeed helped me explore organic building by trying to guess body shapes through pattern recognition, an exercise I still recommend if you are feeling stuck with a creative block. Read more about this here: Creating From Imagination! - A Pattern Recognition Exercise!.

But lately, I've noticed that by defining characters' concepts and intentions, as stated in the previous points, I make the process more streamlined and efficient. Especially when deadlines are involved. In any case, here is my execution approach for pose building, currently divided into shapes with big brush strokes and line art.

1. Big Brush Strokes for Visualization: Once an image makes sense in my head, I explore poses using big brush strokes. These strokes help me visualize the character's shape better. While lines are helpful, it's when I block the shape using grey tones that I truly understand the space the character's shape and gesture occupy. Here is an example from the process of "Wake Up".

This is a very rough process, in which I mostly care about the big shape and how much space characters will occupy in the composition based on their pose.

2. Curved Lines and Anatomy: Finally, I refine poses' shapes using lines, especially curved lines since curves create a sense of dynamism, reflecting the natural curvature of the human body. At this stage, I'm still not thinking about cloth; it's mostly how the human body will fit in my previous shape exploration. It's worth noticing that during this phase, I don't always rely on memory or imagination, so I prefer to use a reference that at least helps me solve key aspects of the pose, for instance in hands or any other body shape complex to achieve.

Sometimes my approach with poses starts with line art, especially when the big brush stroke does not define character shapes very well. It's good to know just in case you feel more comfortable trying out the other way around. After the steps previously mentioned, I proceed to add objects or cloth-like shapes on top of my characters.

Conclusion

When addressing poses, try to keep it simple. Think about your character's motivation, and how it can act based on the situation you are trying to create in your composition. Reinforce your vision by searching for references that fit your direction or simply take pictures of yourself in case online options are not sufficient. Last but not least, use rough brush strokes to try to capture part of that vision and lines to refine it.

If you want to know more specifics about my approach, please consider upgrading to the Mastering Maestro tier, where you will access the full-length process video of all my pieces from the last 6 months. There, I'm sure you will find a better comprehension of the points shared in this post.

If you enjoyed this article, here are some with similar themes:

Making Your Art Alive: Tips for Creating Lively and Expressive Characters! 

Don't Do This When Creating Character Anatomy and Gesture - 'Cut' Process Video and File 

.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing the process video of this piece along with the files and insights. They will be available for Mastering Maestro tier and above. Feel free to upgrade if you want more insights about my work.

Welcome to all new patrons! Feel free to drop any questions here in the comments, via DMs on Patreon, or in our Discord group. I'll be more than happy to answer and track your progress.

For more information, check out our Patreon FAQ: https://ramonn90.myportfolio.com/faq and Patreon Catalogue: https://ramonn90.myportfolio.com/work

Thank you for your support.