How to Draw Structure in the Body – Robo Bean
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Figure Drawing Fundamentals

Robo Bean

How to Draw Structure in the Body – Robo Bean

1.2M
Mark as Completed

How to Draw Structure in the Body – Robo Bean

1.2M
Mark as Completed

The assignment for this lesson is pretty straightforward. Just find some poses (plenty available at proko.com/poses) and draw the Robo Bean for that pose. You’ll probably have a bunch of questions, concerns, and mistakes you might have made. So, after you’re done, watch the examples of me drawing the Robo Bean which hopefully will address some of your questions.

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Luka Reinmöller
Hello, I filled a page full of Robo Beans. I found the sitting poses the hardest. I struggled with the lower box pretty much. But they were really fun to draw! Critique is always welcome. Have a nice day :)
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Gannon Beck
Nice!
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Jonathan Mårtensson Jonsson
Here are my robo beans. Tried to keep the proportions between the torso and pelvis boxes fairly accurate, with varying degrees of success. The twisting poses caused me the most headaches I think, especially in poses where both front and back plane seemed to be visible at the same time... Great perspective practise! Anyway, I would love to get some feedback on these, especially pin pointing any reoccuring errors/misinterpretations.
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Billy Morris
Some Robo Beans in no particular order mostly after looking at the example videos. Looking back at them I think I need to work on getting the proportions on them more consistent. Gonna try to make more of a habit of starting with a full regular bean to see if that helps. Any critique, feedback, and or advice would be appreciated.
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@grugrugru
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@grugrugru
@Patrick Bosworth here are some more Robo-Beans after your critique, I still have trouble with proportions and identifying the upper box and lower box placement on body sometimes. Checking my work digitally helps with improving though :) thanks
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hArtMann
Struggled in locating some of the landmarks on some poses but managed to make estimations. Happy with how the last 3 turned out.
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Jesper Axelsson
Nice work! Three dimensional, clean and clear👍 - I would pay more attention to proportion/structure. Your drawings have the flow, now try to nail the structure. Structure and rhythm are not contradictions. Rather, the rhythm exists within the structure. It's a matter of placing the structure in a way that has rhythm, and isn't stiff. Some errors I notice: You tend to make the gap between the ribcage and hip to wide. Sometimes the proportions of the individual boxes could be adjusted. In the middle one in the top row, the boxes look to flat. In the drawing to the right in the top row, the top box looks to thick. It will probably be helpful to keep the proportion diagrams in mind (see downloads Human Proportions – Average Figure ). As an intuitive check, you could ask "If this was a real person, would they look weird or broken?". Most important of all, start being curious about proportion and structure. Start asking things like, "at what angle is this line? How does the angle of this other line relate to it? What's the distance between them?", "how much taller is this box in relationship to this one?", "how wide is the space between the boxes", "how far back can the torso tilt?" - Personally I prefer to keep the ribcage and hip solid, and let the twist happen in the flexible areas, such as the waist. Gives the drawing a nice balance between solid and flexible, joints versus solid masses. I know that Stan twists the boxes in his demonstrations, so think of this more as a suggestion that you could play with. Maybe there are times when flexible boxes work better. I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
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Noe Luis
Oct 24, 2023 Side view robo bean. Couldn't really draw the side view it was a challenge
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Ethan Cossett
Don't know if this would help you, but when I'm struggling with something that has a really prominent side plane and a smaller/trickier front plane (like one that's twisted or foreshortened), it helps me to just mentally imagine that the biggest, easiest plane is the front, and draw as if it were facing towards me. At least for me, getting stuck on a smaller, harder-to-see plane being "the front" can be a mental block that really trips up my sense of proportion. Hope that helps somehow!
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Marco Sordi
2023/10/23. Good afternoon everybody. Here's a robo-bean study I made today. Thanks for your suggestions or comments.
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@grugrugru
My work for this lesson, oldest to newest. Advice or critique would be much appreciated. First few pages are before watching Robo-Bean examples. When I was drawing with the example videos I did my sketch before Stan and then compared. If I was too far off I redid them. Last few pages are from Proko reference packs.
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Patrick Bosworth
Nice job doing so many robo-beans! Clean exercises, but keep an eye on your proportions and perspective though, some of the boxes get a little loose here and there. One thing that may help is going back over these with some tracing paper on top, or using photoshop to check your perspective. Stan recommends using an intuitive approach to perspective while drawing, but it can really help to go back once you're done and check your work as if you were using proper perspective so you can start to see where your eye for it is. Lightly drawing through each cube to show the opposite side of the box is also super helpful in visualizing it properly, you've done it in a few of your robo-beans and I think those are the most successful of your exercises. Keep it up!
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Noe Luis
Here are some robo bean drawings. There two references that I would like to know if I capture the form if possible.
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Martha Muniz
Each try with the male pose seems to get closer and closer--you captured a really nice rhythm and twist by the last one, and got the correct perspective for the boxes as we're looking from underneath all box planes. It could be pushed a bit more to match the original pose: if you look at the edge of the front side of his ribcage, it protrudes forward beyond the pelvis, creating an S curve connection that would be nice to emphasize for gesture. For the female pose, when placing the direction/perspective of the boxes, it can help to think about which plane we are viewing primarily. Concerning the torso, her pose seems to show more of her shoulders than the chest/ribcage area--so the corresponding top plane would be showing more directly to the viewer when we think of a box. Hope this helps!
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@pasqualed
hi all, i'm practicing with the robo bean. I drew this angle but I don't understand the torso if I did it right, it seems to me that there is something wrong but I don't understand what, the twists are a bit difficult for me, can you help me understand? A thousand thanks
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Dwight
Hey pasqualed, you have the right idea, I'd just push it a little farther. I've attached my anatomical version as well as my robo-bean version. Both are useful for construction and gesture. Hope I've helped!
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angelina andreas
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instant
some more robo bean work
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@michael_idahosa
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Grace Mounce
Hi everyone! I think I'm getting a little better but still struggling with the Robo Bean. This pose in particular I'm having a hard time with...The model seems very close to a side view here, so I'm not sure if I should show any front or back planes for the ribcage and torso. I did 4 different attempts at this pose. Do any of them look right to any of you? Thank you for taking the time to check out this post! Good luck with the Robo Bean everyone! Sincerely, Grace Mounce
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Charlie Nicholson
Hi Grace! This is a complicated pose. I feel like it's a good candidate for overlaying the sketches in photoshop to check your work. I think a combo of the upper and lower halves of these two come closest
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John Harper
Hey Grace, beautiful pose. The roboBean takes some time to really "get." Keep up the practice. I'll give this one a try. I'll do it quickly and post tonight. I'm in the middle of finals so I might not get to my try right away.
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Shelvs Fleurima
The only difference between the bean and robo bean is one does not have edges and the other doesn’t.
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Lance Brown
Hey, I have been working on the robo bean assignment for a few weeks now and I was wondering if someone could help me with critiquing some drawings of poses that I have been having trouble with. There are some poses that I feel more confident in (tilts, leans, some twists) but I find myself struggling with most foreshortening poses and poses where the model has a "straight-line torso". The first 2 pages are my most recent attempts, where I feel like I am mostly improving in. The last page has drawings where I don't really understand how/where to draw the boxes. If I could have help understanding how to do these kinds of poses, I would be very grateful!
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Jack
5mo
Hi, can someone critique please? The poses I did multiple times are numbered
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Allison Gobbell
It looks like you just need to keep going, the more you do the better you will get! The heavy outlines are not always necessary, but look better when varied - sometimes heavy other times light or even not there. It depends on what style you are wanting to develop - animation style or fine art, etc.
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Jack
5mo
Hi! Do these look right? Sorry I don't have the references.
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Micaza
Hi guys, hope to receive critique and feedback!! :) It took me a while for this one because I realized I misunderstood a lot of points and reviewed again, hopefully what I did now are better. Which areas can I improve on? Which did I do wrong? Really appreciate any comments! Thank youu!~~
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Shelvs Fleurima
Sorry wrong place. Discard my comments
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Grace Mounce
Hi everyone! So, I really struggled with the Robo Bean. I'd play Stan's example videos, pausing them at each example just before he started drawing. I'd draw the Robo Bean for that pose, and then I'd watch to see how Stan did it. It seemed like every time, I got the angle and the orientation of the boxes wrong. Maybe I need to go back and do the examples again. Here are some I did on my own. Often, I'd try the same pose twice to see if I could do it any better. If any of you can spot some of the mistakes I'm making here, I'd be very grateful for the feedback! Well wishes to all you artists! Sincerely, Grace Mounce
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Grace Mounce
@Shelvs Fleurima You are very generous with your time and effort to give me such good feedback. Thank you a million! You're a fantastic artist, so encouragement/critique from you means a lot.
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Shelvs Fleurima
hello you should review structure and practice drawing the box in multiple angles. I am a student just like you and I see a lot of potential, passion and skills. Keep it up.
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Shelvs Fleurima
I will see what I can do, but from what I am seeing you are doing good. I will do my best to explain it.
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Daniel Lykke
Here are my assignments for the robo bean. if you guys have any feedback please let me know. thanks for your time 😊
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Lynn Fang
Love your notebook.👍
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Daniel Lykke
I did some more and had a bit of a struggle with Aaron number 110 can’t really find out if I should twist the box or do it kind of like this? Do somebody know think it’s a bit hard when the torso is twisting
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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
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