Hands Clasped in FrontPose Reference
Camera angles
Hands Clasped in Front turns the knees in until they touch, feet apart, arms hanging forward with hands joined low and the head tipped down to one side.
Tags: standingfigure drawingfull bodyhands claspedknees in
How to draw the Hands Clasped in Front pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
Both knees bend softly and rotate inward until they meet, while the feet stay apart with the toes pointing slightly in. The legs therefore read as a narrow V above the knees and a wider inverted V below them, with the weight spread evenly over both feet. The arms hang straight down in front of the body and the hands clasp low before the hips. The shoulders roll forward and inward, narrowing the chest, and the head tilts to one side and down. Every joint closes toward the midline, which is what makes this a shy, guarded stance rather than a neutral one.
Draw the kneecaps facing each other; if they point forward, the inward turn disappears. In the side view from the figure's left, look for the rounded shoulders, the slightly forward head and the hands sitting just in front of the thighs. The back view shows the shoulder blades drawn apart and the feet clearly wider than the knees. The high angle shrinks the figure into a small, closed shape that suits a vulnerable character, while the low angle restores some height. The mannequin's hands are simplified, so the clasp reads as one block; decide yourself whether the fingers interlace or one hand holds the other wrist.
More on angles and common mistakes
Watch for straightened knees, elbows pushed out to the sides, and hands drawn at the waist when they belong down near the top of the thighs. A head tilt without a lowered chin also looks curious rather than timid. Artists use a hands clasped in front pose for nervous or shy characters, someone waiting in a queue, listening or apologising scenes, and acting studies of closed body language.
In Edit this pose, straighten the knees and raise the chin while leaving the clasped hands exactly where they are. The same arms then read as polite and composed, which shows how much of the emotion lives in the legs and head.
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.
Hands Clasped in Front 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 shyly with knees softly bent and turned in until they touch, feet apart and toes pointing slightly inward. Both arms hang straight down in front with hands clasped low before the hips, shoulders rounded forward, head tilted to one side and down. Full body, plain background.
Midjourney
full body standing person, shy closed stance, knees bent inward touching, feet apart, toes slightly in, arms straight down, hands clasped in front of hips, rounded shoulders, head tilted down to one side, plain background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, standing, shy, knees together, knock-kneed, feet apart, pigeon toed, arms down, hands clasped, hands in front, rounded shoulders, head tilt, looking down, front view, plain background, simple background
Negative prompt
straight legs, knees apart, hands on hips, hands behind back, arms crossed, chest out, chin up, confident stance, nsfw, extra arms, extra fingers, fused hands, 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.