How to Draw Dynamic Poses – A Beginners Drawing Guide

Understanding how to draw dynamic poses is a really useful skill that can be utilized for different character drawings. Different poses can represent a lot of a character’s personality traits, which allows us to bring more dimension to a character design. The anatomy of the human figure can move and position itself in various ways to represent fighting, running, and many other dynamic movements. Understanding how to represent the dynamic quality of the body is an essential skill for human anatomy drawings, which can be used for various works that involve characters moving in various ways.

Step-by-Step Guide to Drawing Dynamic Poses

In this tutorial on how to draw dynamic poses, we will explore a variety of different poses, starting with simple ones and moving our way to more complicated ones. As we do so, we will explore how to manipulate the proportion of a figure to define movements with interesting perspective and depth. As we work our way through the entire tutorial, we will find that our knowledge and ability to define unique dynamic poses will become much easier.

Understanding the Basic Proportions of a Simple Dynamic Pose

We can start by first understanding how the proportions of the body are defined within a simple dynamic pose. The intention is to always build the figure from a simple skeletal frame in its dynamic position.

The body is generally broken down into eight equal segments, where the pelvic bone becomes the middle point that divides the body into the upper and lower sections of the body. Naturally, with dynamic poses, we see that there will generally be a subtle distortion in these segments due to how they shift in space to represent the dynamic position of the body.

Once we establish the basic skeletal frame, we can form the body parts around that frame to define the unique pose. Shaping the figure around the proportionally correct frame makes the drawing process much easier and seamless. This allows us to focus more on the anatomical shifts in the body due to the dynamic nature of the pose.

Once we have the frame of the figure, we can then be more intentional about defining muscles and bone structures, and slowly constructing the figure. Remember, it’s always important to build the figure up from basic shapes, and skeletal frames and establish the right proportions. From there, we then can form the body parts and refine their anatomical features.

Understanding Distortion and Foreshortening

Dynamic poses are slightly different from static poses because we are defining movement in the figure. This comes with a lot of distortion, however, the process always starts the same by establishing the skeletal frame first.

From there, we can start considering the distortions in proportions due to the perspective and position of the figure. In many instances, the figure will have body parts that move from the background into the foreground due to the perspective. Foreshortening is a really useful tool that can help shape figures in really interesting positions.

We still consider all the segments throughout the figure’s unique pose, but we can slightly distort them to suit a specific dynamic position. From there, we start to integrate shading and details to define the anatomical likeness of the character.

With the use of distortion and foreshortening, we can start exploring more advanced positions in the body. Once again, we start very simply by identifying simple shapes and the basic skeletal frame of the figure.

By doing this, we also break down the figure’s body into these different scales that will define how the body moves in space. This is where foreshortening can become amplified to define extreme movements in the body.

Slowly, we start to construct the anatomical details into the figure to suit the position of the body. The body is very flexible and able to move in many ways due to its various points of mobility.

It’s important to know how the body moves and twists to position itself in unique dynamic positions. This is essential for understanding how to integrate foreshortening into the figure drawing.

Understanding Advanced Foreshortening

The more comfortable we get with this concept of foreshortening, the more extreme we can be with how we represent movements in a figure. This is where we can define unique perspectives with the shaping of the figure. This gives a unique aesthetic to the extremity of the movement, which can be useful for character drawings.

This is also a great challenge for working with anatomical likeness, and how we define muscles, bone structure, and facial features from extreme perspectives.

Slowly, we take our time forming the body parts around the frame, defining the anatomical features of the figure.

It’s always a matter of starting with the basic shapes, slowly refining them into the skeletal frame and then incorporating details into the various body parts. Remember, we always utilize the eight segments, regardless of how extreme the foreshortening may be. You want to make sure that you can find all the segments distributed throughout the body of the character.

Understanding Dynamic Poses in a Specific Context

Generally, we are trying to define characters in unique dynamic poses within a specific context. This generally means that they are clothed, however, we always start the same way with the fundamental skeletal frame.

As we slowly build up the figure, we then continue to do so by forming clothing around the figure as a last step.

We still follow the same process of building the figure from the skeletal frame to the last details, in this case, that can be a unique attire that is specific to a sport, event, or so on. With clothing, we start to reconsider some aspects of scale, because fabric can flow in various directions. This becomes a stylistic choice due to how we would like to define the unique set of clothing and how it serves the context of the character drawing.

It’s important to remember that clothing contextualizes the movement as the fabric shifts due to the dynamic nature of the figure.

Remember, we always start with a simple skeletal frame formed by the corresponding segments throughout the body.

Again, clothing moves in various ways when it defines the movement of the character, we want to consider the movement of the fabric when drawing the character.

We always want to think about how the clothing further contextualizes the movement as it shifts according to the dynamic nature of the figure.

We can then take our time forming the clothing around the figure’s body parts, and how the specific body parts may cause items of clothing to be positioned in certain ways.

all the little movements in the fabric can be very telling of how the body is shifting inside them. generally, fabric pulls in the opposite direction to that of the movement of the body, causing the effect of motion in the clothing.

As we build the clothing around the figure, we can take our time defining ripples and striations to bring more detail to the fabric From there it’s about taking your time, however, the most important thing to remember is to build the figure up from skeletal form to anatomical features and then clothing as a last addition.

Tips and Tricks to Remember

• First, understand the basic proportions of a figure. Understand how to use the eight segments in simple poses first.
• Build your way up to more complicated poses. Slowly start trying more unique poses with foreshortening techniques.
• Build your figures up with layers. Always build your figures in layers from skeletal form to bodily shapes.

Understanding how to draw dynamic poses is quite simple once you know how to use the right techniques. It’s simple when you construct the figure in their basic lengths and shapes, which you can then refine with details later on.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Draw a Sporty Dynamic Pose?

You can always work with the rule of eight segments, where you slowly construct the figure with these proportional values in mind. However, dynamic poses often come with unique perspectives, which will require foreshortening. This does not necessarily mean we do not use the rule of eight segments, but it does require us to distort them to suit the unique pose of the figure. In the case of running, jumping, fighting, or any other sporty pose, you always want to consider which body parts are in the foreground and which are in the background. From there, you can construct the figure with these distortions in mind as you draw the figure through the use of foreshortening. The intention, however, is to always build the figure from a simple skeletal frame, capturing the form of the dynamic pose, and then proceeding to construct the body around the frame.

How to Draw Dynamic Poses in Perspective?

We always start by defining the basic skeletal frame of the figure and then proceeding to shape the figure around that skeletal frame. This is where we negotiate which body parts are shifting between the foreground and background. Naturally, we utilize the tool of foreshortening to enlarge some features so that they appear to be moving. We want to maintain our understanding of the body being broken up into these eight equal parts, but the scale of each part may change due to the foreshortening aspect. It is simple when you start with simple shapes, a simple skeletal frame, and then proceed to build the details of the figure around said shapes and frame.

Matthew Matthysen( Drawing and Painting Artist )

Matthew Matthysen is an educated multidisciplinary artist and illustrator. He successfully completed his art degree at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, majoring in art history and contemporary drawing. The focus of his thesis was to explore the philosophical implications of the macro and micro-universe on the human experience. Matthew uses diverse media, such as written and hands-on components, to explore various approaches that are on the border between philosophy and science.

Matthew organized various exhibitions before and during his years as a student and is still passionate about doing so today. He currently works as a freelance artist and writer in various fields. He also has a permanent position at a renowned online gallery (ArtGazette) where he produces various works on commission. As a freelance artist, he creates several series and successfully sells them to galleries and collectors. He loves to use his work and skills in various fields of interest.

Matthew has been creating drawing and painting tutorials since the relaunch in 2020. Through his involvement with artincontext.org, he has been able to deepen his knowledge of various painting mediums. For example, watercolor techniques, calligraphy and lately digital drawing, which is becoming more and more popular.

Learn more about Matthew Matthysen and the Art in Context Team.