SalutePose Reference

The saluting arm does most of the talking. Its upper arm lifts out sideways almost to shoulder height, so the elbow points away from the body, and the forearm angles back up and inward to the face. The forearm turns over so the palm faces forward and a little down. All four fingers stay straight and pressed together, the thumb lies tucked along the side of the index finger, and the wrist bends just enough for the blade of the hand to meet the brow, with the index fingertip near the outer end of the eyebrow. The other arm is a relaxed counterweight: fingers open over the hip bone, wrist cocked back, elbow pointing out and slightly behind the body. The head lifts a fraction and turns a few degrees toward the saluting side. The legs stand with the weight on the left foot, posed but below the frame.

Draw the saluting hand as a thin, flat slab rather than a mitten. From the front you mostly see its edge and the back of the hand, so the fingers shorten into a narrow wedge that overlaps the forehead; keep that overlap line clean, because it is what reads as a salute at thumbnail size. The front and low-angle views show the level line running from elbow to shoulder to the opposite shoulder. In the side view from the figure's left, the saluting hand sits on the far side of the head and only the raised elbow pokes out behind it, while the hip arm makes a clear triangle of empty space against the waist. The back view is good for checking that the raised elbow really sits at shoulder height.