Hands in HairPose Reference
Camera angles
Hands in Hair stands the figure square with straight legs, both palms pressed onto the crown and the elbows thrown wide, chest lifted.
Tags: standingfigure drawingfull bodyhands on head
How to draw the Hands in Hair pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The feet sit a little wider than the hips and share the weight equally, so the pelvis stays level and the legs read as two plain verticals. Above them the lower back arches slightly and the ribcage rises, pushed up by the lifted arms. Each upper arm swings out to the side and slightly forward, then the forearm folds back in so the hand lands on top of the head, fingers curled loosely over the crown rather than laced behind it. The head itself stays nearly level, chin a fraction down. The whole upper body makes a diamond: elbows at the wide corners, hands at the top, the waist at the bottom.
For the hands in hair gesture to read, the arms must frame the face, not hide it. In the front and back views the diamond is clear and the forearms lean inward like a roof. The side view from the figure's left is surprisingly thin, because the elbows sit almost in the plane of the body; only their slight forward drift and the curve of the lower back separate it from a soldier's stance. The high angle shows the elbows spreading beyond the shoulders and the fingers resting on the skull. From the low angle, the arms form a heavy arch above the chest.
More on angles and common mistakes
The mannequin has no hair at all, so the fingers rest on the bare wooden crown. When drawing a person, sink the fingertips into imagined hair and let strands rise between the knuckles; that detail sells the gesture. Avoid pulling the elbows back behind the ears, which turns it into a hands-behind-head stretch, and avoid collapsing them forward so they shield the face. Keep the shoulders level too: one dropped shoulder makes the hands look mismatched in height.
Use it for frustration, disbelief, relief after a near miss, or a fashion shot where the raised arms lengthen the torso. Try Edit this pose and rotate the head down and to one side while leaving the arms alone; the same frame reads as stress instead of a confident stretch. Shift a little weight onto one leg for a looser version.
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 in Hair 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 with feet slightly wider than the hips and straight legs, weight even. Both hands rest in the hair on top of the head, fingers spread, elbows spread wide and a little forward; the chest lifts with a slight arch in the lower back, gaze forward. Plain background.
Midjourney
full body person standing, feet a little apart, both hands in hair on top of the head, fingers spread, elbows wide and slightly forward, lifted chest, slight back arch, level gaze, plain background --ar 2:3 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, standing, hands in hair, hands on head, both arms up, elbows out, fingers spread, arched back, chest out, straight legs, feet apart, looking at viewer, front view, plain background
Negative prompt
hands behind head, interlocked fingers, elbows forward covering face, elbows behind ears, uneven shoulders, bent knees, leaning forward, crossed legs, extra arms, extra fingers, fused hands, 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.