Side Sit, Hands UpPose Reference
Camera angles
Side Sit, Hands Up folds both of the wooden figure's legs to one side on the floor while the hands lace behind the head and the elbows open wide.
Tags: sittingfigure drawingfull bodyside sittinghands behind head
How to draw the Side Sit, Hands Up pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The side sitting hands behind head pose has no hand support at all, so balance comes entirely from the base: weight rests mostly on one buttock while the folded legs fan out across the floor as a counterweight. Both knees bend sharply and stack, with the feet tucked in beside the hip. Above that base the torso rises tall in a gentle S-curve, the pelvis tilted by the uneven seat and the rib cage shifting back over the centre so the shoulders level out. The hands interlace at the back of the head, and the elbows lift and spread until the upper arms are close to horizontal, framing the face. The head tips slightly.
The raised arms make a broad trapezoid, the strongest shape in the image; check it first in the front and back views, where the elbows reach their widest. The three-quarter angle shows how the folded legs sweep away from the pelvis in two layered arcs. The side view from the figure's left lines the elbows up with the ear and turns the torso into a narrow upright column, a useful test for the S-curve: if that column looks perfectly straight, the hip tilt has been lost. The high angle shows the folded legs as a flat crescent.
More on angles and common mistakes
A frequent error is seating both buttocks level, which makes the folded legs look pasted onto a cross-legged seat. Another is letting the elbows swing forward to meet in front of the face; they should open to the sides with the shoulder blades drawn back. Because the hands are hidden, keep the forearms long enough to meet behind the skull. The mannequin has no hair, so any imagined hair passes over or under the laced fingers.
The pose suits stretch breaks, lazy afternoons in a park, a pause before an exam, or a character waking up on a floor mat. In Edit this pose, lower one hand to the floor beside the hip; that single change restores a support and makes the sit feel steadier.
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.
Side Sit, Hands Up 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 side-sits on the floor with both knees bent and folded to one side, feet tucked beside the hip and weight on one buttock. The torso rises tall in a gentle S-curve, both hands laced behind the head with the elbows raised wide, and the head tips slightly. Plain background.
Midjourney
full body person side sitting on floor, both legs folded to one side, feet beside hip, tall torso in a gentle S-curve, hands laced behind head, elbows wide, head slightly tilted, stretching moment, plain background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, sitting on floor, side sitting, legs folded to side, knees bent, hands behind head, arms up, elbows out, upright torso, s-curve, head tilt, front view, plain background, simple background, stretching, visible feet
Negative prompt
nsfw, cross-legged, upright kneeling, elbows together in front, hands on top of head, slumped back, level hips, leaning on hand, extra arms, fused fingers, missing feet, distorted pelvis, cropped elbows, chair
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.