20+ Poses for Your Original Character (OC)

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Plus, learn the dos & don’ts for designing your illustrated character

Co-authored by Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: March 8, 2026 Fact Checked

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OC Pose Ideas

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Designing Your OC

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When you’re designing your OC (original character), figuring out how to pose them in different situations can seem difficult. But when you have a reference, this seemingly difficult process quickly becomes simple and easy. In this article, we give you those references, listing 20+ poses to draw your OC in. We also give you advice on designing your OC so you can bring your story to life!

Top Poses to Draw Your OC In

Illustration of multiple sample poses for an original character (OC).

Standing Tall: Standing tall and looking towards the sky like a classic hero.
Sitting on a Throne: Sitting on a throne that represents your OC’s power.
Standing with a Sword Support: Lean on a large sword for support (and aura).

Section 1 of 2:

OC Pose Ideas

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Standing Tall Show your character standing tall and looking towards the sky, ready to be the hero! It’s a classic pose that’s used to convey triumphance (and just make your character look cool), and all you have to do is draw them with their legs shoulder-width apart, their hands on their hips, their back straight, and their head looking towards the sky.^{[1]
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- If your story calls for a more serious moment, draw them with their hands to their sides as they look up at an enemy in the sky.
If you’ve got a king or tyrannical character in your story, draw them sitting on a throne to show them in all their glory. Have them sit with their legs wide with one hand resting on their face for a more dramatic look, or draw them with their legs crossed and a devilish grin to show off their evil side, depending on how you want to portray your character.

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Crouched Down Draw your character crouched down to show them on patrol or taking on some action. Whether they just landed from the skies or are crouched on top of a building, this pose is great for your OC. When drawing this one, make the legs in an X-shape and draw the arms going down towards the feet with the hands serving as extra support.
- If they’re getting ready to mount an offense, draw your character with one hand supporting them and the other cocked back into a fist.
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Hands on Hips Whether your character’s the sassy type or you just don’t want to draw the hands, depicting your character with their hands on their hips is a great way to show them off without getting too deep in the weeds. Show them standing from the front with their arms bent at an acute angle and their hands sitting on their hips.
- If you’re having trouble with the hands, try drawing a C-shape with a hook for the thumb. Keep it small so it’s proportional to the arm, and make sure there are a few lines defining the fingers.
Draw your character with their arm stretched out beside them as they propel towards the enemy. Or show them with outstretched arms as they taunt their enemy in battle and beg them to take things seriously. Whatever the case, this pose is a great one to add into your story.^{[2]
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Crossed Arms To show that your character’s fed up (or a natural hothead), draw them with their arms crossed. Depict them standing tall with their arms folded into their chest at the elbows. The hands will be hidden by the arms, so make sure you conceal them when bringing this pose to life.
- If your character’s really upset, draw them with an angry frown on their face. Add some gritted teeth to make things really dramatic!
If you have a nonchalant character and you’re to show how much they don’t care, draw them with their hands in their pockets. This one’s a simple pose, as you just have to draw their standard body with their arms bent and their pockets covering their hands. To spice things up, draw them leaning against a wall or sitting on a desk.
To show off your character’s strength and battle-readiness, draw them holding their sword on their shoulder. Making this one requires you to draw the sword-holding arm raised (unless the sword is so big that it can rest on their shoulder from their side), so take extra care to draw it proportionally to the rest of the body.
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Standing with a Sword Support For a cool pose that shows off your character’s weapon and their willingness to use it, draw your OC with their sword next to them, leaning on the hilt for support as they stare down whoever’s in front of them.
- This pose works best for characters with large weapons, but you can still incorporate it into your story by having your character use a cane, branch, or pillar for support.
Whether you’re introducing a wise character or showing a royal character as they gaze upon their kingdom, drawing your OC standing tall with their arms behind their back conveys that they’re thoughtful and confident. It’s an easy one, too! Just draw them from straight ahead with their arms bent behind their back at the elbow.
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Wall-Crawling Give a shoutout to your favorite webhead and show off your character’s agility by drawing them crawling on a wall. To pull it off, draw a bubbled M-shape for the legs and back, a rounded triangle for the left arm, and the head at the top of the back, and a downwards cylinder for the right arm, adding fingers and feet once you’ve got the body down.
- Creating this pose is easy, as it’s made up of a lot of curves and lines.
- You will have to focus on getting the right angle for the face, though, as the top of your character’s head will be showing more than usual.
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Flying The classic flying poses are a welcome addition to any fantasy story. You can show your character with their arms out in front of them and their body straight to pay homage to the Man of Steel, or you can show them with their arms to their sides and as they look straight ahead for a dramatic effect.
- Draw them flying on a broomstick, cloud or another object if you want to link the power of flight to something in particular, instead of the character themselves.
This one works great for those moments when your character just wants to have fun. Whether they just learned how to fly and are swimming and soaring through the skies, or they just bested their enemy and are zipping through clouds in celebration, drawing them soaring through the sky with their hands held high and a big cheesy grin is a great way to brighten the mood.
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Holding Their Energy When the story calls for a decisive moment where your character must channel their power in their hand, show them holding their energy as they would a ball. Drawing this pose requires you to show them from a lower perspective, so make sure you make the lower half of their body a bit bigger when putting this on the page.
- They can be holding a ball of energy, manipulating fire, or shooting light from their palm…whatever your story calls for!
If your character just had an exciting victory or got the upper hand on the enemy, draw them with a big, happy grin on their face. For action-packed moments where the fight isn’t over yet, draw your character with their angry eyes and a wide grin to show that they’re ready to deliver a powerful counterattack.^{[3]
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Thumbs Up Express how happy or joyous your character is by drawing them with their thumbs up. Making this one is simple, as you draw them from the front with their arms held up and a smile on their face. Plus, it works in a bunch of different situations, from when they need to agree with something to when they need a pose that shows they mean no harm.
- You can even spin this one to work for villains, too. For example, if they’re taunting the hero as they make a mistake, show them with an evil grin as they give them a sarcastic thumbs up.
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Hand Out to Stop the Enemy Show your character standing up for themselves by drawing them with their hand(s) out in front of them as they block the enemy. Make them stand tall with one arm in front of them and outstretched hands. If the enemy is about to deliver a powerful blow, show them with their arms in an X shape, held close to their body and ready to block.
- If you want to show the magnitude of the blow or blast coming towards your character, draw them from behind and show the blow or blast in front of them.
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Charging Up When the stakes are building up and your OC needs to gather enough energy or morale for the coming moments, draw them charging up figuratively or literally. If your story doesn’t involve an energy-based power system, you can draw them charging up without the energy to show that they’re getting ready for whatever big moment awaits them.
- If you aren’t used to drawing bent limbs, take extra care when depicting the arms and legs. Make the knees and legs beneath them take up more space on the page than the thighs. Do the same with the biceps and lower arm.
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Running to the Action To up the stakes in your story and make your reader wonder if your character will be able to help in the moment, show them running towards the action. Draw them from the side as they run, and really try to focus on their facial expression to convey what they’re feeling at the moment.^{[4]
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- For example, if their partner is in danger and you want to make it seem like they’re not going to make it, draw your OC with furrowed eyebrows and a look of anguish and exhaustion on their face.
Your character just got a big victory against their nemesis, or they’re about to finish off an enemy after years of torment. You’ve gotta show them looking down at them for a cool, dramatic moment. Whether it’s a final stare down or they’re looking at the enemy as they sit in jail, this pose will surely make for an iconic panel!
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Prideful Thumb When you want to give your character a cool moment that shows that they’re confident in themselves (and makes a callback to Dragon Ball Z), draw them with their thumb pointing at themselves and a confident grin on their face.
- Pulling this one off isn’t hard, as you’ll typically be showing your character from the waist up, but you do have to focus on getting the proportions of the thumb right.

Section 2 of 2:

How to Design Your Original Character

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Study fashion and clothing magazines for inspiration. Anime & manga expert David Ross says to look into fashion and modeling magazines to see what draws your eye the most. Many character designers take inspiration from old 80s magazines, so follow in the greats’ footsteps and study magazines that match the theme of your story.^{[5]
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- If you’re writing a story about a woman who wants to make it in the modeling industry, for example, draw design inspiration from popular modeling magazines, like Vogue and ELLE.
- Getting inspiration from real life can also help you understand how different poses work and how the body twists and turns.
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Incorporate the theme and story into their design. What is the main message of your story? How does your character embody that? When coming up with your design, graphic design expert Shari Fairclough says to ask yourself those questions and choose colors and design choices that make sense for your story.^{[6]
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- If your story is about the horrors of war, design your main character in a way that shows they’re directly impacted by war. Consider giving them a missing leg, scars, or a thousand-yard stare, for example.
- When designing your war story OC, use colors that convey the feelings in war, like black or red for fear and anger.
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Give them a recognizable silhouette. Digital manga artists and manga experts Arklight Blues and Sea Cucumber say that the most important thing when it comes to designing characters “is that they are recognizable by silhouette. You [should be able to] tell who the character is by blacking them out entirely.”^{[7]
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- Think of characters like Goku from Dragon Ball and Luffy from One Piece. You can tell who they are even when they’re blacked out because of their recognizable silhouettes.
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Don’t add too many design elements. Arklight Blues and Sea Cucumber say, “Putting too many elements on the character design is bad because you will either crowd the page to the point where it’s not easy to distinguish what’s going on or you will exhaust yourself having to draw all of that every time.”^{[8]
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- Give your OC a few defining characteristics, like cool hair, scars, or a unique garment, but don’t overcrowd the page.