I was going to respond to Matt's post but decided to reply with a different subject line. 

Let me say first that we spend about 8 months of the year on the road teaching and/or participating in carving events, quite often without internet availability.  Therefore my involvement here may be somewhat sporadic.  I hope all of you will feel free to jump in with a comment or suggestion any time you would like to respond to a posted thought.

There are two ways to show action in a figure.  Both involve creating a feeling of tension, a feeling that something has happened or is about to happen. One is to have the figure off balance as if it was about to fall over.  An example could be a tennis player on one foot reaching to return a serve or a baseball player "diving" off to one side to make a catch.  Another way to show action is through the use of angles in the pose.  Bent arms and legs, a twisted torso.  These elements show action.  My rock-a-billy guitar player (pictured above) uses this approach.

OlDon

I really like the suggestion to give look of movement is to "look like something just happened or is just about to happen" It reminds us that the figure is in the middle of something rather than just waiting there.

Thanks alot  for the thoughts!