OC Poses: How to Pick Poses That Show Your Character

OC poses that show who your original character is: six starter poses, how to match a pose to personality, a silhouette test and a 15-minute practice drill.

OC poses work when the pose tells a viewer who your original character (OC) is before they read a word. Pick three traits, turn each into a choice for the head, torso, arms and legs, then check that the silhouette still reads. Six starter poses cover most of an original character's range.

What are the best poses to draw your OC in?

The best OC poses show one trait at a glance. Start with six: a confident stance with weight on one leg, a guarded crossed-arm stance, a relaxed seated pose, a crouch ready to move, a signature action, and a quiet moment alone. Together they show your original character's range better than twenty near-duplicates.

Lists of OC pose ideas are easy to find; wikiHow's list has more than 20 (updated July 2026). The steps below help you choose.

How do you choose a pose that fits your OC's personality?

Write three words that describe your character, then turn each word into a body decision. A proud character lifts the chin and opens the chest; a shy one pulls the arms in and drops the head. Decide the head, torso, arms and legs separately, then sketch the combination quickly.

That split comes from animation teaching: 2DAnimation101 advises deciding the character's attitude and intention first, then making small decisions for each part of the body.

How do you make an OC pose look less stiff?

Stiff poses usually keep shoulders and hips level and weight spread evenly on both feet. Shift the weight onto one leg, let the hips tilt, and let the shoulders counter that tilt, which is the classical idea called contrapposto. Then run one simple curve through the spine before adding any costume.

Contrapposto first appears in Greek sculpture in the early 5th century BCE. Our line of action guide covers the spine curve in more depth.

How can you tell whether your OC's pose reads clearly?

Fill the figure in solid black and look at the shape alone. Arms pulled away from the body, a clear head position and a readable prop should still tell you what the character is doing. If the silhouette looks like a blob, change the angle or open up the limbs before adding detail.

Animators call this staging. Johnston and Thomas described it as presenting an idea, whether an action, a personality or a mood, so that it is unmistakably clear ( twelve principles of animation ).

Which poses belong on an OC reference sheet?

Published 2026-11-06 on the Refimages blog.