When it comes to creating illustrations, especially those involving humans or humanoid characters, one of the hardest things is poses or how you want your character to be positioned. It’s even worse when it’s a particular angle you’re looking for. While some people can easily envision such a thing and draw it from their mind, many can’t. Thankfully there are resources out there that can help. 

One way is by using photographs. The internet has a plethora of options when it comes to finding photos. One of my favorite resources for photos is AdorkaStock (formerly known as Senshistock) on deviantart. She has a large gallery of different stock photos that can be used as pose references. On her Gumroad she also sells flashdrives packed with thousands of reference photos from the photoshoots she does along with just packs of stock photos. 

Beyond deviantart, other stockphoto sites may have what you’re looking for as well. For a handy-dandy list of stockphoto resources you can check out my blog post for it here!  

Of course there is always the old fashion way which involves finding a model of your own and taking the pictures yourself. If you have the resources, time and patience for that then go for it! Having human models may not always work out though, especially when it comes to time. Whatever the case, an alternative to live models is dolls and mannequins. The most common is the typical wooden mannequins that have somewhat articulated joints. These are good for getting a grasp on the very basics of breaking down shapes in the body and even some very basic poses. However, I’ve found that most of the time they’re not very helpful, considering the limited articulation of the joints along with the fact that there’s no discernible features. A better alternative in terms of mannequins are Body-kun & Body-chan. Body-kun and Body-chan are highly articulated and detailed dolls that can serve as models or references for your drawings. Some of the sets even come with accessories, props, and even multiple hands; all of which to only further aid you. All you have to do is pose up Body-kun and/or Body-chan and then take pictures to use. This way you can take photos from multiple angles

Overall I have to say that my go-to resource for poses for my illustrations is a program called DesignDoll. With DesignDoll, you are given the freedom to manipulate the 3D model in just about any way and angle. Not only that but you can customize the way your model looks (ie body features). There is a free version of DesignDoll and a version you can buy for $75. The differences really between the two are mainly that with the paid version you can save the poses/models you create and you can import models that other people have created. Otherwise the free version is just as great. DesignDoll may seem intimidating to work at first, I’ve found the UI to be easy to learn and get a hang of. You can even import 3D models, such as items. 

Hopefully with these resources, never again do you have to struggle with trying find the right pose for your human/humanoid subjects!