

For a more dramatic look, use a steeper angle between the trapezoids that represent the upper and lower body. Accentuating the angles gives your drawing a haughty and hip look. Women really own these extreme poses. Note that guys don’t use shoulder and hip action as much as women do on the runway — guys merely pause at the end of the runway with a slight slant to their shoulders.

To create some extreme attitude for a female fashion figure, try these steps:

  1. Start by drawing a vertical balance line. Add shoulder angle and hip angle lines that slant toward each other.

    The sharper the angles, the more extreme the pose.

  2. Start your upper trapezoid at the shoulder angle line; end your lower trapezoid at the hip angle line. Add your center front and apex lines as dashed lines.

    The bottom line of the upper trapezoid is parallel to the shoulder line, and the top line of the lower trapezoid is parallel to the hip line.

    The center front line should still run through the center of the trapezoids, so curve the line a bit. The apex line remains parallel to the shoulder line.

  3. Sketch in arm and leg holes and add breast arcs. Add a slender neck and oval head to the top of the torso.

    Keeping the neck and head straight up and down can keep the model from looking like she's falling over.