Squat, Hands on HeadPose Reference
Camera angles
Squatting with hands behind head: the wooden figure drops into a deep squat on the balls of its feet, knees wide and fingers laced behind the skull.
Tags: squattingcrouchhands behind headknees widefull body
How to draw the Squat, Hands on Head pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The heels lift off the floor and the weight sits on the forefoot of both feet. The knees open wide to the sides, so the thighs point outward and the pelvis drops between them, with the head at about 119 cm. The torso stays upright inside that frame rather than folding forward, which only works because the knees travel out instead of ahead. Both hands lace together at the back of the head and the elbows spread wide, so the upper body forms a diamond that echoes the square opening of the legs below. Fitness instructors know a version of this as the prisoner squat, done with the hands in the same place.
From the front, look at the two stacked frames: the elbow diamond above and the space between the shins below, joined by the vertical torso. The side view from the figure's left shows the raised heels clearly and confirms how upright the spine stays; the elbows overlap the head there, so draw the far one partly hidden. The back view shows both heels lifted and the fingers laced at the base of the skull, and the low angle makes the knees the widest point of the silhouette.
More on angles and common mistakes
Frequent errors are planting the heels flat, letting the knees collapse inward, and leaning the torso forward until the elbows cover the face. Keep the forearms behind the ears, not on top of the head. The pose is mechanical, so the face should stay neutral unless the scene calls for effort or fatigue.
It fits exercise illustrations, a runner resting between sprints, a tired character waiting on a platform, or a warm-up scene. For the squatting hands behind head pose in Edit this pose, lower both heels to the floor and see how the torso has to tip forward to stay balanced, or bring the elbows together in front of the face for a weary variation.
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.
Squat, Hands on Head 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 in a deep squat on the balls of the feet with heels lifted, knees opened wide to the sides, torso upright between the thighs, and both hands laced behind the head with the elbows spread wide. Neutral expression, full body, plain background.
Midjourney
full body person in a deep squat, heels lifted, on the balls of the feet, knees wide apart, upright torso, hands laced behind head, elbows spread wide, neutral expression, plain background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, squatting, deep squat, heels raised, on toes, knees apart, upright back, hands behind head, interlocked fingers, elbows out, prisoner squat, fitness, front view, plain background, clear joints
Negative prompt
heels flat on floor, knees together, torso leaning forward, elbows covering face, hands on top of head, sitting on floor, kneeling, extra arms, missing hands, fused fingers, distorted feet, cropped feet, nsfw
OpenPose skeleton for ControlNet
Load the PNG into a ControlNet OpenPose unit (preprocessor: none), or import the JSON into an OpenPose editor.
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