Kneeling AkimboPose Reference
Camera angles
Kneeling Akimbo puts both hands on the hips with the elbows flared, the hips eased back from the knees, the chest leaning in and the face tipped up.
Tags: kneelingfigure drawingfull bodyhands on hipslooking up
How to draw the Kneeling Akimbo pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The thighs slope back about halfway toward the heels, so the pelvis sits well behind the knees without resting on the feet. To stop the body falling backward the torso leans forward, and the neck answers by tipping the head back to look up. In profile this makes a zigzag: shins flat, thighs back, chest forward, face up. Both hands settle on the hips just above the joints, and the elbows point out to the sides, making the arms symmetrical and the shoulders broad.
Look first at the two windows of empty space between each forearm and the waist; together with the shoulders they form a wide diamond that reads instantly as confidence. The side view, from the figure's left, is the clearest place to judge the zigzag and the sharp angle between the forward chest and the tipped head. In the front view the leaning chest shortens and the face sits a little higher than expected. The back view shows the elbows as the widest points. A high camera meets the upturned face directly, which suits a character looking up at someone; a low camera presents mostly the chin and throat.
More on angles and common mistakes
The most frequent mistake is drawing the torso upright while keeping the hips back, which leaves the figure off balance. Elbows swept too far behind the body and hands slipping down to the thighs also weaken it. This kneeling hands on hips pose fits defiant or determined moments, a challenge to someone standing above, and studies of balance in a partial kneel. The other figure is not shown, so place the imagined target of the gaze before drawing the head.
Edit this pose: straighten the thighs to an upright kneel and level the head; the same arms then read as calm self-assurance instead of a challenge.
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.
Kneeling Akimbo 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 kneels with the hips eased back from the knees and the torso leaning slightly forward for balance. Both hands rest on the hips with the elbows pointing out to the sides, and the head tilts back to look up. Plain background.
Midjourney
full body person kneeling, hips eased back from knees, torso leaning slightly forward, both hands on hips, elbows out, head tilted back, looking up, confident open silhouette, plain background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, kneeling, hands on hips, akimbo, elbows out, leaning forward, head back, looking up, confident, shins on floor, pointed feet, symmetrical arms, from above, high angle, determined expression, plain background
Negative prompt
upright torso, sitting on heels, hands on thighs, elbows behind back, looking down, looking at viewer, standing, one hand on hip, falling backward, extra arms, extra fingers, bad anatomy, cropped elbows, cropped feet
OpenPose skeleton for ControlNet
Load the PNG into a ControlNet OpenPose unit (preprocessor: none), or import the JSON into an OpenPose editor.
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