Rawr Claw HandsPose Reference

The upper arms hang close to the ribs and reach a little forward, and the elbows bend so the forearms rise up and slightly outward; the hands end at shoulder height, just wider than the shoulders. Both palms face the viewer. Each finger bends at every joint, a little at the knuckle and more at the middle and end joints, so the fingertips hook forward and the fingers spread apart. The thumbs flex the same way, and the wrists bend back so the palms open to the front. The upper body hunches slightly toward the viewer, the lower and middle spine each bending a few degrees, and the head comes along facing front. The weight rests on the right leg; the legs are posed but cropped out of the waist-up images.

Claws are a foreshortening exercise. The fingertips curl toward the camera, so each finger shortens into three shrinking segments, and the imagined nails would face you. Start with the palm as a square plate tipped back, then bend each finger forward from it, and vary the curl slightly between fingers so the hand does not look like a rake. From the front the hands frame the head like two brackets. The three-quarter view shows the curl in profile on the near hand. The side view, from the figure's left, shows how far the hands sit in front of the shoulders and the small forward lean. From above the hands drop beside the shoulders; from below the claws rise over the shoulder line.