W-Sit, Leaning BackPose Reference
Camera angles
W-Sit, Leaning Back tips the torso behind the folded legs onto straight arms, palms flat beside the hips, while the chest lifts and the face turns up.
Tags: sittingfigure drawingfull bodyw sittingleaning back
How to draw the W-Sit, Leaning Back pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
The thighs still point forward together and the shins still fan out to the sides, but the pelvis rolls back so the trunk can recline. Two straight arms angle down behind and just outside the hips, palms flat with fingers turned back and out, catching the lean. With the shoulders pushed down by the props, the chest rises and the head tips back on a long neck until the gaze points at the ceiling or the sky. The curve from knees through belly and chest to chin is the line of action.
Seen from the figure's left, that line becomes a shallow bow, and the arm reads as a clear strut from shoulder to floor. The front view is all foreshortening: the face turns away from you, the underside of the jaw becomes the biggest shape on the head, and the arms open into a tent on each side of the hips. From behind, the arms make an A-frame while the shins spread beyond the hands. The low angle hides almost the whole face behind the chin, so use the three-quarter view if the expression matters.
More on angles and common mistakes
Bending the elbows makes the figure sag, and setting the hands far behind turns the lean into a full recline. Throwing the head back too hard breaks the neck line. Remember that the knees stay together; if they drift apart, the folded shins no longer read as a W.
A w sitting leaning back pose suits sunbathing, watching fireworks or falling snow, a sigh of relief after a long day, or laughing at something overhead. Nothing in the sky is drawn; place the imagined stars or ceiling yourself. Edit this pose: bring the head forward until it is level and turn it toward the camera, and the same lean becomes a relaxed look at a friend sitting nearby.
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.
W-Sit, Leaning Back 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 sits in a W position, shins folded out to both sides and knees together, leaning back slightly on straight arms with palms flat on the floor beside the hips. The chest lifts and the head tips back to look up at the sky. Plain background.
Midjourney
full body person w-sitting on floor, knees together, shins folded out, leaning back on straight arms, palms beside hips, chest lifted, head tilted back, looking up, relaxed sunny mood, plain background --ar 3:2 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, w sitting, sitting on floor, leaning back, arms behind, hands on floor, straight arms, chest out, head back, looking up, knees together, legs folded outward, relaxed, three-quarter view, plain background
Negative prompt
bent elbows, lying down, hands far behind, looking at viewer, knees apart, cross-legged, sitting on heels, leaning forward, broken neck, 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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