How to Draw Exaggerated Poses

Lesson by

11K

Assignments 141Lesson NotesDownloads 2

How to Draw Exaggerated Poses

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Figure Drawing Fundamentals

11K

Assignments 141Lesson NotesDownloads 2

Exaggerate Some Poses

Try doing the process that I just described from any poses you feel could be more dynamic. I’ve also included a collection of a few photos with 2 versions of the same pose. One rigid and another more dynamic one. Try exaggerating the rigid ones and check your drawing against the dynamic version.

Keep in mind that there are multiple ways of exaggerating something. If you choose to exaggerate in one way, then check it against the dynamic version and it’s different, that doesn’t mean yours is wrong. They could both be right. You chose to exaggerate it one way and the model chose another way. The dynamic pose is just there as a suggestion. But keep in mind that the model can actually feel the pose. Compare yours to it and see if there’s something you like better in the dynamic photo. Is there something you can learn from it?

mike mcdonald

•

20d

It’s kind of interesting - I always thought it was weird when Stan would say “exaggerate because it will get stiff” but now I get it. You’ll think you’re exaggerating, you’ll think you’re capturing motion, but then it won’t even look different at the end. I had to shift the robo bean what seemed like a comical amount, and you can still barely tell I altered the poses.

Michael Longhurst

•

2mo

Here are two sets that I did for exaggerating the pose. After looking at it, I don’t think I foreshortened the torso enough on the woman when I had her lean back, so I think made her upper body look too long.

Tommy Pinedo

•

3mo

I worked on two personal projects to use the skills I learned from drawing basics and figure drawing up to this point. I decided to use these reference to draw two poses of my original character Eva. it was good practice and I always have fun drawing her. Feedback on proportions, lineweight, and compositions are welcome! 🙏🏻

Tommy Pinedo

•

3mo

I just realized I posted this in the wrong chapter lol, I wanted to post it in the balance chapter lol.

Dave S

•

11mo

This was super difficult for me. Felt like I didn’t get the angle of the legs and feet right on the exaggerated pose. Critiques welcome.

Dead Dino

•

8mo

You must be tripping, this is great! The exaggerated pose looks 100 times better, really nice twist of the upper body there. It's the original pose where the angle of the ribcage looks a bit off, as if we were seeing only the back of the box, whilst we are supposed to clearly see the chest of the model (so we should see the front of the box). Don't be afraid to twist and deform those shapes a bit (you did it in wonderfully in the exaggerated pose); these volumes are supposed to be organic and flexible. I would suggest you use the square shoulders Stan sometimes uses in his mannequins, since they convey a better sense of direction that the spheres don't quite match, and that you're actually conveying better when you draw the deltoids. Great job, Dave!

May Berry

•

1yr

Nicole Guz

•

1yr

I usually use traditional but I dont have a transparent paper so i thought id do it in digital which prove to be very different and difficult for me. But let me know how I did!

Rachel Dawn Owens

•

1yr

Wow, these are great studies! I like how far you pushed some of these poses. Your boxes look really nice. They bring a solid 3d form to the drawing that gets lost in some of the others. I think you could use more straight lines to balance this out. Heres a quick demo to show you what I mean- Keep it up! I like your drawings!!

Filippo Galli

•

1yr

Exaggeration. Very rough.

Joseph Cicero

•

1yr

Here are my attempts so far for exaggerated poses. I decided to try a Balanced, Exaggerated, and Unbalanced pose for each of these to see if I could come up with interesting poses. The exaggerated and unbalanced continue to be super challenging for me with trying to draw from imagination. I found that I need to continue building my visual library (aka using references to get an idea of what I'm thinking) for these poses to understand where everything is positioned to make it look believable. Any critique is welcome!

@egusisoup

•

1yr

Exageration - Day 4 & 5 This has been an interesting exercise. I have been trying to push the poses more with varying levels of success. Thankfully, it has helped me begin to understand how twisting the torso works.

@egusisoup

•

1yr

Exaggeration - Day 2 First day of trying to exaggerate a pose on my own. Was incredibly difficult but looking forward to trying more this week

Rachel Dawn Owens

•

1yr

Don’t be afraid to take it too far. Push it till it breaks and you will learn the limits with practice. It’s easier to pull back than it is to push a pose further. These are very nicely proportioned and balanced figures. Great work 😃

Billy Morris

•

2yr

Not quite sure about these. Looking at them now lot of them do look like they could of been pushed more but I think I can improve on that with time. What's worrying me the most right now is my mark making as going through this process of drawing the figure has made the issue that much more apparent to me. I figured that it would improve as I go through the lessons and I do think I have been making strides but I'm worried that I may only be continuing to develop bad habits in the long run if I don't find a way to tackle the issue head on. I plan on revisiting the landmarks section in a week or two, I think that may be part of the problem. I also intend to go through the basics course as well at some point as I defiantly think that is worth looking into as well. Any thoughts and/or critique is appreciated.

Gannon Beck

•

2yr

The Drawing Basics course is pretty great. I've been drawing for many years and am astounded by how much was missing from my drawing foundation. One of the big things that has helped me in the course, and I think might help you, is Stan's explanation of how he uses rhythms in his gestures. I've watched the videos several times and it's been very helpful. You can check out my album if you want to see how it's been improving may own figure drawing. I believe the PDF E-book Stan made for rhythms is a part of the free section. Here is a link: https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/ebook-rhythms/discussions Your structure stuff is looking good. Keep at it!

hArtMann

•

2yr

Definitely the most challenging assignment so far from this course. Saw a reference that looked static and gave me ideas on how to exaggerate it so I used it and tried to add some drama to it.

@grugrugru

•

2yr

Exaggerated poses, challenging lesson to think how u can exaggerate and how much. Had more trouble with the second drawing, my failed attempt is there too. Critique or advice is much appreciated.

Canaan Yuhl

•

2yr

Hey I just wanted to ask what kind of brush do you use. You have really clean line work. I'm still messing around with different sketch brushes but can't seem to find the right one.

Arman Jucutan

•

2yr

Hello everyone here is my handins for this lesson. please feel free to give your thoughts and critique

Jack

•

2yr

This is my first attempt. I don't have premium, so I don't really know if I'm doing this correctly.

Patrick Bosworth

•

2yr

Nice exaggeration!

Daniel Lykke

•

2yr

Here are my assignments. I feel like I am missing some thing they feel very stiff and doesn’t have any gesture? Should I just redraw the finished posts and add the gesture there or what do you guys think?

Daniel Wood

•

2yr

Lenserd martell

•

2yr

@jganzy

•

2yr

These are awesome

Samuel Sanjaya

•

2yr

my 2nd attempt, and doubles as measurement exercise. my bad habit to not converging the torso enough is coming back again, so the torso is turning towards the viewer way more than it should. This often happen when I get too fixated on the measurement. I have a hard time doing exaggeration, especially to "imagine" the pose and movement of the forms. Get overwhelmed really quickly this time. Need some feedbacks on this. Maybe on how to break this bad habit, and not get too fixated and balance all aspect of drawing.

Samuel Sanjaya

•

2yr

doing exaggeration from the reference picture provided. I tried to exaggerate without looking from the exaggerated picture first, turns out to be different. did I exaggerate too much ? I hope i can get some feedbacks.. thank you..

Allison Gobbell

•

2yr

I think you did well! I would show a bit of overlap in the arch of the back, as the skin would fold in upon itself. Also, not sure if you meant to turn her toward the viewer but the front of torso is a bit slimmer if she is facing the same way. Also the buttocks are a bit lower and I believe would be going out a bit more. Subtle changes!

Josh Fiddler

•

2yr

Consider that when the model leans back this far, to maintain balance, she will have to push hips forward more, causing more tension in the thighs. Meaning: there would be more bending at the hips and a rounder midsection into the thighs. The bottom of the ribcage would also be pushing out through the skin. Look at the reference on the far right. See how just in this position her lower ribs are strongly pushing outward?