Overhead stretch

A front-facing figure with both arms reaching straight above the head, stretching the torso into a narrow column.

Travelling overhead along the body axis, both arms do three things at once: it lifts the ribcage out of the pelvis, narrows the waist, and elongates the gap between the hips and the hands. The figure becomes a tall column with one modest widening at the shoulders and a smaller one at the hips.

Because the pose rises out of the frame, it is excellent for tall page formats and for character sheets that need to show the full reach of the arms. It is also a clean anatomy study for the shoulder girdle, since raising both arms rotates the scapulae and opens the armpits where most garments fold outward.

Draw the arms as two long segments with a slight angle change at the elbow, and keep the hands roughly above the shoulders rather than converging over the head unless the study shows them touching. A common mistake is letting the arms form a perfect narrow V with the elbows locked, which makes the figure look like a drawing of a triangle rather than a person. Watch the neck, which disappears slightly when the shoulders rise; leave enough length between the jaw and the collarbone for the head to still read.

• standing
• overhead
• front view
• stretch