Lying Side by SidePose Reference
Camera angles
Lying Side by Side shows one person resting on the back while the partner lies beside them, propped on a forearm, gazing down at their face.
Tags: couplelyingpropped on elbowfloortwo people
How to draw the Lying Side by Side pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The figure on the back is almost passive: arms loose at the sides, the near knee bent up with the foot flat, and the head rolled toward the partner. That raised knee is the only vertical in the lower half of the picture. The partner lies on one side with the hips on the floor and the chest lifted on the lower forearm. Its elbow rests on the floor beside the first person's shoulder and the hand curls onto that shoulder, so the support arm doubles as a touch. The free hand rests on their waist, and the legs trail long behind, softly bent, never stacked like logs.
Height is the problem to solve. Everything lies within a hand's span of the floor except the partner's raised chest and head and the bent knee, which make two small peaks against a long flat line. The side view, along the bodies, shows those peaks best and is the clearest view of the propped elbow. From the front and back the figures foreshorten hard, so measure the head size against the torso before you trust your eye, and use the high angle to check where each limb ends up. The two bodies touch at only two points, shoulder and waist, so leave the gap between them visible; a strip of floor keeps the pair from fusing into one shape.
More on angles and common mistakes
The usual mistake is a propping arm that holds the partner too high, a near push-up that looks strained. Keep the upper arm close to vertical and the shoulder sitting over the elbow. Another is a stiff, straight back figure; the turned head and raised knee give it life. In this couple lying down pose both mannequins are 175 cm, so the partner's head lands just above the first person's face; shorten one figure in the editor if you want a different reach.
Picture it on a blanket in a park, a hilltop meadow under stars, a bedroom morning scene, or a calm moment in a romance comic. Edit this pose: select the figure on the back and lift its far hand to the partner's cheek, then give each figure a different body type.
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.
Lying Side by Side 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
Two people lying on the floor side by side. One lies on the back, arms relaxed, one knee bent up, head turned toward the partner. The partner lies on one side propped on a forearm beside their shoulder, looking down at their face, free hand resting on their waist, legs long. Plain background.
Midjourney
two people lying on the floor, one on the back with one knee up and head turned, partner lying on side propped on elbow, hand on their shoulder and waist, gazing down at their face, relaxed tender mood, plain background --ar 3:2 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
2people, full body, lying, lying on back, lying on side, propped on elbow, knee up, head turned, looking down, eye contact, hand on shoulder, hand on waist, on floor, close together, relaxed, from side, plain background, simple background
Negative prompt
push-up, arm straight, sitting up, standing, lying on top, merged bodies, fused legs, arm through body, extra arms, extra legs, bad hands, missing fingers, deformed anatomy, cropped feet, blurry
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.