Knee Up, Ankle HoldPose Reference
Camera angles
Knee Up, Ankle Hold leans the seated figure back onto its right hand while the left hand reaches down to grip the ankle of the raised left knee.
Tags: sittingfigure drawingfull bodyknee upholding ankle
How to draw the Knee Up, Ankle Hold pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
There are three supports: the seat, the right palm set behind and outside the hip, and the left foot flat on the floor close to the buttock. The right leg lies long and straight in front, almost relaxed. On the other side the left knee points up, and the left arm drops nearly straight down beside the shin so the hand can wrap the ankle. With the torso tilted back and toward the bracing arm, the body leans away from the knee it is holding, which gives the pose its easy, unhurried feel. The head stays fairly upright and looks forward.
Notice the two near-parallel verticals on the figure's left, the raised shin and the reaching arm, set against the diagonal strut of the right arm. That contrast is the gesture in one glance. The three-quarter view, from the front-left, shows how the fingers close around the ankle in front of the foot. From the left side the raised knee sits nearest the camera and hides most of the hand, so pair it with another angle. The back view is best for judging how far the shoulders drift toward the supporting hand, and the high angle lays out the full length of the extended leg.
More on angles and common mistakes
Placing the hand on the knee or mid-shin is the most frequent mistake; the grip belongs low, at the ankle. Letting the left foot slide forward drops the knee and loosens the whole shape. A bent support arm or an upright torso removes the lean that explains why the right hand is on the floor at all.
The sitting holding ankle pose suits a pause after a run, stretching a calf at the park, checking an imagined shoe (the mannequin is barefoot) or chatting on a beach. Edit this pose: slide the left hand up so the forearm hooks over the knee instead, and the same frame becomes a cosier hug-the-knee rest.
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.
Knee Up, Ankle Hold 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 leaning back on the right hand, the right leg stretched straight forward and the left knee raised with the foot flat near the hip. The left hand reaches down and holds the left ankle. Torso tilts back toward the supporting arm, head upright, plain background.
Midjourney
full body person sitting on floor, leaning back on one hand, one leg stretched forward, other knee raised, hand holding ankle, relaxed casual seated pose, head upright, plain background --ar 3:2 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, sitting, on floor, one knee up, holding ankle, leg extended, leaning back, hand on floor, straight arm, foot on floor, relaxed, casual, three-quarter view, plain background
Negative prompt
hand on knee, hugging both knees, both legs straight, bent supporting arm, upright torso, crossed legs, foot far from hip, kneeling, chair, extra arms, extra fingers, fused hand, bad anatomy, cropped feet
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.