Here are things I do when I make my poses: 1. Get a good book on art composition. Some of the How To Draw Comics books are good reference. They have tons of good advice on how to make a scene and pose interesting art and this directly applies to poser. Also grab some well done comic books and see what they do. They definitly don't look like family picture albums. 2. Break up symetry. No part of the left half should reflect the right half. 3. Poser everything. There should be no unposed hands, fingers, eyes etc. I cringe everytime I see a render and the figure is standing in stock arms out pose with sprayed fingers and glaring straight on eye stares. If you have a wig with posing MTs use them. Sway the hair. 4. Break the center line. Imagine there is a center line down the middle of your figure. Depending on mood, action etc, the body should never stack up on this center line but balance across it. For example, a standing pose should have the hips sway off center to the left, then the abs to the right, then the chest and bit to the left then the head back over. Weigh this in your mind. The amount of mass on the left should equal the amount on the right for a balanced figure. For a dynamic figure you want to throw this ratio off, usually in the direction of action. A punch thrower is going to be off center in the direction of the punch etc. 5. Avoid parallels at all times. This means no associated parts should ever be aligned. The forearm should never be straight with the shoulder. The abdomen should never be straight with the hips. Legs should never be straight. The neck/head combo should never be linear. 6. You have tons of facial dials, use them. The left half of the face should never mirror the right. One eyebrow should always be off from the other. One eye should always be more or less open. One lip side should be more or less curled. No human is perfect, only mannequins are symetrical. 7. Don't be afraid of foreshortening. This is where you bend or bring the figure into the 3rd dimension relative to the camera. Bend the figure toward the camera a bit. Point an arm forward. A lot of poses I see only work in two dimensions like the figure is on a sheet of paper. Don't be afraid to have a tilted forward head or chest or leg. 8. I use a technique I call the reversed head. Basically, depending on drama the head is more or less turned away from whereever the eyes are aimed. For example, a frightened person will look at the scary object with their eyes but turn their head as far away as possible. This increases drama for the head and eyes. 9. Pose the eyes. The more eye aiming you do the better. I make a simple prop a child of the head, aim the eyes at the prop then use the prop to point the eyes. It works great and makes eye aiming a breeze. No eye should ever be pointed straight. 10. Camera angles and composition are also key to good poses and scenes. You can have the most dramatic pose in the world but it'll look dull as hell if you set up your camera and scene like you're taking a family photo. Don't center everything. Don't try and get every strand of hair or toe in the shot. Tilt the camera sideways. Use top and worm eye shots. The camera should never be striaght on or balanced. There should always be some tilt or role. Again, look at comics. They don't do family photo shots. They tilt the angles, do odd perspectives etc. 11. Focus on what's needed to be shown. So what you got some cool set. If its not required for the shot, don't try and pan back and include it. Again, don't take vacation photos, take action shots. Hope that helps