Side lunge
A front-view lunge with one leg bent and the other extended, giving a wide, low, ground-hugging shape.
From the front, a side lunge is a wide base with an uneven top. One leg bends at the knee and takes the load, the other stays straight and reaches out, and the pelvis sinks toward the bent side. The torso stays over the loaded leg so the body does not tip, and the arms either rest on the bent knee or stay open for balance.
The shape is unusually wide for its height, which makes it useful when a composition needs a low horizontal anchor, and it shows the difference between an extended knee and a bent one more clearly than any other front-view pose. The inner line of the straight leg and the outer line of the bent leg make two contrasting curves across the figure.
Beginners draw a lunge like a split: both legs long, the body floating between them. The bent side must actually lower, with the knee travelling out over the foot and the hip dropping below the straight leg hip. Check the straight leg too, since it should turn the foot out and stay rigid rather than sagging at the ankle. The head stays roughly centered over the loaded hip, and the spine stays upright, not folded sideways toward the reach.
Drawing notes
- Drop the pelvis toward the bent knee so the two hips sit at different heights.
- Turn the foot of the straight leg outward and keep its knee locked.
- Keep the spine upright instead of folding it toward the extended leg.
Pose prompt
The description used to generate this study. Copy it into your own workflow, or hand it to the studio with your photo.
Full-body mannequin in a wide side lunge, front view.
Working notes
- A front-view lunge with one leg bent and the other extended, giving a wide, low, ground-hugging shape.
- If the pose reads like a split, add that one knee is deeply bent and the hips sink toward that side.
Put this pose on your own reference
Take this study to the studio and generate a new image in the same pose, or browse the rest of the action studies first.
