Camel PosePose Reference
Camera angles
Camel Pose kneels upright with the hips stacked over the knees while the spine arches back and both straight arms reach down to grip the heels.
Tags: yogakneelingback bendhands on heelsfull body
How to draw the Camel Pose pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The knees sit hip-width apart and the shins and insteps lie flat behind them, so the floor contact is a long strip from kneecap to toe. The thighs stay close to vertical; that upright column is what separates a camel pose from a seated lean, where the hips would sink toward the feet. Above it the ribcage lifts and rolls back, the shoulders travel behind the pelvis, and the arms hang straight down the back of the figure until each palm lands on its own heel. The head drops back last, finishing the arc instead of breaking it. On the 175 cm mannequin the head ends up only 85 cm above the floor, while the centre of mass stays near 49 cm, almost directly above the knees.
Study the side view, taken from the figure's left, before anything else: it shows the full bow from knee to crown and the open window framed by thigh, arm and shin. The front view hides the face behind the lifted ribcage, which is correct and worth keeping, because a missing head reads as depth. From behind, the two arms and two thighs make four near-parallel verticals, and the high angle squeezes the torso into a short wedge. The wooden spine bends in a few rigid segments, so spread the bend evenly through the lower and upper back when you draw a real body over it.
More on angles and common mistakes
The usual error is letting the hips drift back over the heels, which collapses the arc into a squat. Bent elbows are another giveaway; the hands then seem to rest on the calves instead of the heels. Avoid folding the neck at a sharp angle while the rest of the spine stays flat. The reference suits yoga class illustrations, fitness instruction graphics, dance warm-up scenes and anatomy studies of spinal extension.
For a half-camel variation, open Edit this pose, lift one hand off its heel and raise that arm overhead, then rotate the head slightly toward the raised hand so the neck follows it. No mat or ground plane is drawn, so add your own floor line under the shins.
Free to use (CC0). The pose images on this page are released under CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication). Use them for drawing practice, commercial illustration, reference sheets or AI image generation; no attribution is required. A credit to PoseMaker is appreciated but optional.
Camel Pose pose prompt
Copy a prompt for your AI image generator. Pair it with the OpenPose skeleton in ControlNet so the generated character matches this exact pose.
General prompt
A person kneeling upright in camel pose, knees hip-width apart, thighs vertical, tops of the feet flat on the floor. The back arches deeply as both straight arms reach behind to hold the heels, and the head drops back. Full body, side view, plain light background.
Midjourney
full body person in camel pose, yoga back bend, kneeling with thighs vertical, both hands holding the heels, straight arms, head dropped back, insteps flat on the floor, side view, plain studio background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, camel pose, ustrasana, yoga, kneeling, back bend, spinal extension, hands on heels, straight arms, head tilted back, thighs vertical, knees hip width apart, insteps on floor, side view, plain background, studio lighting, fitness
Negative prompt
hips sitting on heels, bent elbows, hands on calves, flat back, sharp neck bend, knees together, flexed feet, extra arms, extra legs, fused fingers, distorted spine, cropped feet, blurry, nsfw
OpenPose skeleton for ControlNet
Load the PNG into a ControlNet OpenPose unit (preprocessor: none), or import the JSON into an OpenPose editor.
Have a photo of the pose you want?
Upload it to Photo to Pose. We detect the pose in your browser and put it on the mannequin, ready to adjust.