Hugging One KneePose Reference
Camera angles
Hugging One Knee seats the wooden figure on the floor with one knee pulled to the chest, both arms wrapped round its shin and the other leg stretched out.
Tags: sittingfigure drawingfull bodyknee uphugging knee
How to draw the Hugging One Knee pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
Weight sits on the pelvis and the back of the extended leg; the raised foot is planted close to the buttock and carries little load. The arms form a closed loop: the upper arms run down alongside the raised thigh, the forearms cross in front of the shin, and the hands clasp each other just below the knee. That loop draws the thigh in, while the back lifts tall with a slight arch instead of rounding over it. The free leg lies along the floor rotated outward, knee softly bent, so its inner edge faces up. The head tilts toward the hugged knee.
For the sitting hugging one knee pose, find the shin first, because everything else is wrapped around it. In the front and low angles the forearms overlap the shin and hide part of the thigh, so draw the full leg underneath before adding the arms on top. The side view from the figure's left is dominated by the long extended leg in the foreground, with the raised knee standing behind it like a tent pole. The back view shows the elbows jutting out on both sides of the trunk, and the high angle packs knee, forearms and head into one tight cluster.
More on angles and common mistakes
Watch for arms that stop at the shin instead of passing around it, and for a raised foot that drifts too far forward, which keeps the knee from reaching the chest. Another error is slumping; the spine stays upright, and the closeness comes from the arms, not from collapsing over the leg. The wooden model shows no clothing, so imagined trousers would bunch at the knee and under the clasped hands.
Typical uses include waiting or thinking scenes, a character sitting on a beach or rooftop, quiet beats in comics, and studies of overlapping forms. In Edit this pose, tip the head further and lower it until the cheek rests on the raised knee; the mood turns more withdrawn without moving the arms or legs.
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.
Hugging One Knee 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 sits on the floor with one knee drawn up close to the chest, both arms wrapped around that shin and hands clasped in front of it. The other leg lies along the floor turned out with the knee softly bent. The back stays upright and the head tilts toward the raised knee. Plain background.
Midjourney
full body person sitting on floor, one knee pulled to chest, arms wrapped around shin, hands clasped, other leg extended along floor and turned out, upright back, head tilted toward knee, quiet mood, plain background --ar 3:2 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, sitting on floor, hugging knee, one knee up, arms around leg, clasped hands, one leg extended, knee slightly bent, upright back, head tilt, three-quarter view, plain background, simple background, visible feet, quiet pose
Negative prompt
nsfw, both knees raised, hugging both knees, arms through leg, slumped spine, floating raised foot, crossed legs, extra arms, fused fingers, missing hands, broken wrist, cropped feet, distorted pelvis, 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.