Standing Back ArchPose Reference
Camera angles
Standing Back Arch keeps both feet planted and hands on the hips while the chest lifts, the upper back bends backward and the face turns to the ceiling.
Tags: leaning backfigure drawingfull bodyhands on hipsback arch
How to draw the Standing Back Arch pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The feet stand a little apart with straight legs, and the pelvis stays stacked over them, tilting only slightly. All the bending happens above the waist. The lower ribs push forward and up, the upper spine curves back in a smooth arc, and the shoulders end up behind the line of the heels. Both hands sit on the hip crests with the fingers to the front, while the elbows point out to the sides and a little back, opening the chest further. The neck continues the curve and the head tips far back, so the face looks up and slightly behind.
The side view from the figure's left shows the arc best: a straight vertical from ankle to pelvis, then a bow from belly to crown. Mark the deepest point of that curve at the lower ribs. The front view is the surprising one, because the lifted chest hides most of the head and only the chin and the top of the skull show above the collarbones; draw the neck as a short block disappearing upward. From behind the head appears to sink between the shoulders. The two elbow triangles stay readable from every angle and give the silhouette its width.
More on angles and common mistakes
Avoid pushing the hips far forward to fake the arch; that makes a sway-back standing shape instead of a chest-led bend. The opposite mistake is bending the knees as if limbo dancing. Keep the legs straight and let the ribcage do the work. Also watch the hands: on the wooden figure they rest near the top of the thighs and pelvis, not at the waist above it.
The pose works for a stretch after a long drive, a character sighing at the sky, someone laughing hard, or a person gazing up at a tall tower or a flock of birds. As a standing back arch pose it is also good practice for drawing a curved torso without the arms getting in the way. In Edit this pose, lower the head forward until the eyes meet the horizon; the chest stays lifted and the figure turns proud rather than skyward.
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.
Standing Back Arch 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 tall with feet slightly apart and both hands on the hips, elbows out to the sides. The chest lifts and the upper back arches backward while the hips stay over the feet, and the head tips back so the face looks up at the ceiling. Plain background.
Midjourney
full body person standing with feet slightly apart, hands on hips, elbows out, chest lifted, upper back arched backward, head tilted back looking up at the ceiling, stretching, plain background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, standing, hands on hips, elbows out, back arch, arched back, leaning back, chest out, head back, looking up, stretching, straight legs, side view, plain background
Negative prompt
hips thrust forward, bent knees, looking at viewer, upright neck, hands high on ribs, arms raised, leaning forward, extra arms, extra fingers, 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.
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Upload it to Photo to Pose. We detect the pose in your browser and put it on the mannequin, ready to adjust.