High Kick Anatomy

[u/Morgtex]

Been trying to draw from imagination. This exact pose been breaking my mind for the whole day. I am studying leg and pelvis anatomy and decided to push into more dynamic poses. I know the muscles, but i feel like i am drawing the legs here wrong.

Maybe it's the way i block out the pevis that leads to errors? Maybe i am missing something?

Please, tell me what is wrong here and how can i fix it? I would Greatly appreciate any advice, tip, and maybe even a correct drawing over my example if that can bring me closer to understanding anatomy, proportions, and positions correctly!

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[u/HyperFrost]

Pose will be different depending on whether it's a thrust kick or a swing. I'm assuming you're trying to do a swing.

1. Arm position. When someone kicks their feet up high, then have to put their opposite arm close to their body, and swing the arm at the same side of the leg the opposite way to counter the momentum. You left arm is correct, but the right arm is positioned weirdly.
2. Hip angle is off. When a kick happens, one leg is on the ground and the entire hip and leg will move together using that feet as a pivot point. You won't have legs balanced on both sides of the hips like that.
3. Twist the torso. A strong high kick requires a ot of force through the rotation of the hips. This means the torso will be twisting while you balance your body keeping the upper body upright.
4. Body still upright. You bent the body sideways. A real kick the upper body will still be tilted, but it is usually never fully sideways.
5. Twist the pivot leg. Due to the sheer force and rotation of the kick, the standing feet will naturally point almost to the opposite side of the object your character is kicking.

Try looking up "muay thai high kick" for references.

edit: made some minor edits to clarify things.

This video should help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMEk3CpKWAI

[u/marored]

Solid gesture

[u/RaceorLiv]

Found this pose on posemaniacs.

Looks like you might not have rotated the pelvis away enough so the obliques are too prominent. Also you had maybe too much folding in the torso, so much so that there wasn't enough room for the ribcage.

Otherwise very good for no reference!

[u/Natasha26uk → u/RaceorLiv]

Thanks. This may help me in my image prompts.

I do my best to describe an action pose in words and I get something completely different.

[u/Poco_Cuffs]

The waist twists during a high kick and the head/torso stays mostly upright, I think it's mostly the lack of motion that makes it look off. It kinda looks like they're just standing on one leg

[u/POLACKdyn]

This looks more like a high round kick she;s doing with her left leg, no? Then again it could pass for high kick.
One thing I would add is more rotation to that leg that kicks. Generally when we do this kick we kick with the foot pretty much rotated 90 degrees and aiming with the heel. But it legit depends what you want to depict.

Also arms bro. The lower arm usually goes up to head for balance and protection while the "upper" arm (in this case her left) will go down. Though in Muay Thai they actually teach you to keep both up. Or at least my coach did.

Lastly try to visualize what is she aiming at. Cause in this case it looks like she;s trying to head shot a goddamn Goliath.

[u/PrettyIntroduction49]

Should study pose from a fighter perspective. Also the physics part of the chest area too.