Arms Back, Chest OpenPose Reference
Camera angles
Arms Back, Chest Open stands the figure upright with both straight arms sweeping down, out and behind the hips, wrists bent back and chin raised.
Tags: standingfigure drawingfull bodyarms backchest open
How to draw the Arms Back, Chest Open pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The legs are quiet: feet hip-width, knees straight, weight centred. All the action starts at the collarbones, which pull back and slightly down so the shoulder blades squeeze together and the sternum rises. From there each arm travels in a straight line diagonally downward, away from the thigh and behind the body, ending in an open hand whose wrist is cocked back so the fingers point out and slightly up. The upper spine extends, the neck follows, and the head lifts its chin a few degrees. The feeling is of someone inhaling deeply on a cold morning or opening the chest after hours at a desk.
A standing arms back silhouette is easy to misread from the front, where the arms simply look like a slightly lifted A shape. The true direction appears in the side view from the figure's left: the arm angles back so the hand ends well behind the buttocks, and the chest sits forward of the pelvis. The three-quarter view, from the front-left, foreshortens the near arm as it recedes. The back view shows the hands flaring outward like the tips of folded wings, each wrist bent sharply back. From the high angle the pulled-back shoulders make the chest look broad and the hands disappear behind the hips.
More on angles and common mistakes
Avoid bending the elbows; even a slight flex turns the gesture into a shrug or a running arm. Do not let the hands hang limply, since the flexed wrists are what make the pull feel active. A forward head undoes the open chest, so keep the ear roughly above the shoulder. On a real person the shoulder blades would form a visible crease along the spine and the pectorals would stretch flat; the wooden torso shows neither, so draw those planes from knowledge.
The pose works for breathing exercises, a character bracing against wind, an excited lean before a bow, or a superhero-style moment of resolve on a rooftop the image does not show. Edit this pose by raising both arms until they sit at hip height behind the body and adding a forward step; the result reads as the start of a dash.
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.
Arms Back, Chest Open 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 stands straight with feet hip-width apart and both arms held straight, angled down, out and back behind the hips, wrists flexed so the open hands point outward. Shoulders pulled back, chest lifted and chin raised slightly, as if taking a deep breath. Plain background.
Midjourney
full body person standing straight, feet hip-width, both arms straight and swept down and back behind the hips, wrists flexed back, open hands, shoulders pulled back, chest open, chin slightly raised, deep breath, plain background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, standing, arms back, arms behind body, straight arms, wrists bent back, open hands, chest out, shoulders back, chin up, deep breath, straight legs, feet apart, three quarter view, plain background
Negative prompt
arms at sides, bent elbows, hands clasped behind back, hands on hips, t-pose, arms forward, hunched shoulders, head forward, leaning back, extra arms, extra fingers, bad anatomy, cropped hands
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.