How to Draw Sitting Poses
Drawing your characters sitting can be tricky. Not only are you drawing your character, but you are drawing an environment, and an object to be sat upon.
In this art reference pose series, we will be going over how to draw characters sitting, and how to draw sitting poses.
And also, make learning how to draw sitting poses a bit easier!
We will go over:
- How to draw characters sitting in chairs or on top of objects
- How to draw a character sitting on the ground
- and How to draw your characters with proper proportions while sitting.
Having a good collection of reference poses will help you a lot when drawing anything, but especially humans, and specific poses.
My favorite place to look for reference poses is Pinterest. I have a great Pinterest board dedicated to reference poses, and you can find that here.
After you’ve found some good reference poses that you like, let’s get started drawing!
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How to Draw Someone Sitting on the Floor
Let’s start with learning how to draw someone sitting on the floor, from a side angle.
We will look at this position first because it may be a little easier since you won’t have to start by drawing an object for your character to sit on.
First, we will draw a character sitting on the ground from the front, and then from a side profile.
When I am drawing someone sitting, I always start with finding where their hips should be.
Start by drawing a large circle that will represent the hips and rear.
Next, let’s draw two more circles about the same size where the ribcage and head will be.
Notice how these circles are about equidistance apart.
In this next step, find the shoulder joint, elbow joint(s), wrist(s), and knee(s).
Connect these points by straight lines, creating a stick figure type character.
This will help us find the proper dimensions when we flesh out our character.
Begin to flesh out the character. Below is an example of the character with more depth and dimensions.
If you need help with character dimensions, I will have a tutorial teaching this soon.
Below, you can see my fully fleshed-out character seated on the ground, in a crossed-legged position.
How to Draw a Seated Person – From the Front
Now that we’ve learned how to draw someone sitting on the ground, let’s go over how to draw a person sitting in a chair from the front.
After this step, we’ll go back to drawing in a side profile, but in a seat as well.
Step One: Find your surface first
What is your character sitting on?
For my example sketch, I will show you how to draw someone sitting on a chair.
I know that we like to jump straight into drawing our characters because for a lot of us that’s the fun part.
But to get the dimensions right, we need to draw the object being sat upon first, even if it’s just the floor.
Step Two: Find your Skeleton & Joints
Like we did in the first sketch, draw a circle for your character’s hips and bottom area.
Especially when our character is sitting in a seat, it’s easiest to get dimensions right when we start there.
Next, for your rough sketch draw your main dimension points: knees, ankles, shoulder joints, wrists, and the character’s head.
This will start to look like a basic stick figure once you connect the dots.
Finding these ball joints first will help us to picture where everything is.
Remember to use proper anatomical proportions when measuring the joints.
When drawing characters sitting, I will always start with the knees and hips, since they are what is sitting on the chair.
Then, flesh out the rest of the body’s dimensions.
If you need help finding dimensions and drawing bodies with proportions, I will be adding that post soon!
Step Three: Rough Sketch
Once you have picked and drawn your surface, we will start sketching out our character.
This is where the body becomes more than just a stick figure.
I have found for myself that the best way to get dimensions and proportions right is to do a VERY rough sketch first.
This will be a lot of line work, and lines that will be altogether erased in the end.
Once you have your rough sketch, practice polishing it up.
The next step is all up to you!
Create clothing for your character, maybe a table in front of them, and create an environment behind them.
This is where (if you are using traditional media such as pencil, graphite, or pens/markers) you can outline your character, create clear linework, and begin to erase your sketch beneath if desired.
If you are using digital media, as I did for this drawing, you can add a layer on top of your sketch and make the linework clearer, and add color.
How to Draw a Seated Person – From the Side
Drawing a character sitting from a side angle is sometimes easier because you don’t always have to draw the whole body.
In the example below, my character is sitting on a bench reading a book.
Starting with the very basic linework and ball joints as before to find dimensions and proportions.
In the next step, you can flesh out and color your character, and add clothing and items.
Below, you can see my colored character, and see where the ball joints are for example.
Thank you for reading till the end! I hope this tutorial on how to draw sitting poses helps you better your drawing skills, and that you were able to learn something valuable from it.
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What to learn next:
How to Draw Legs for Beginners
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This is just what I needed to draw my vision. Thank you!
I’m so glad! I am going to be doing more pose drawing tutorials soon, so keep an eye out!