Figure poses allow you to structure your characters more efficiently and effectively because they provide you chartered points to follow. Your figure can be almost anything in terms of what it looks like, but the pose and the way its body bends helps you sketch and create something that looks impressive and balanced.
You may have noticed how so many superheroes tend to assume a power pose, and they all look the same when they stand with their feet apart and their hands placed on their hips. The pose is the same, but each new character has a new face and body structure. If you look at Superman, Wonder Woman, and many others, they all use this pose. The artists that create these images tend to reuse poses because it makes it easier for them to produce a complete model, and it’s the shortest route to fulfilling their task.
Example of a Reference Pose
A figure pose gives you reference points that allow you to create a complete character. Sketched drawings only reveal the posture in terms of the head, upper body, lower body, torso twist, head tilt, etc. All these help to produce a pose, and they can be formed or used just with a stick image, which is all an artist needs. So, to say that one character has been copied from a previously famous one is incorrect, since sketch artists need a stick image to follow, and build their desired characters around that.
Original Concepts and Escaping Duplication in Appearance
With the need for originality being a significant problem today in creative work, it’s a real challenge for creative people to create something different. So, while poses might be a problem at a visible level, it is covered by all the creation in cosmetic differences. The initial sketch will almost always match many other characters, but they appear different by the time they covered with a completely new face and body. The entire body structures are different for most characters that are created, and this helps to make each one look quite different when you see them in cartoons, comic books, and a dozen other places.
You can search for figure poses in books that help with sketching and drawing characters, and you can also find plenty of helpful resources online too. Browse through all the resources available to get a good idea of what you can use for making your characters assume those famous poses.