How to Draw Structure in the Body – Robo Bean

Lesson by

1.3M

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Assignments 412Lesson NotesDownloads 2

How to Draw Structure in the Body – Robo Bean

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Figure Drawing Fundamentals

1.3M

Mark as Completed

Assignments 412Lesson NotesDownloads 2

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.

Post your work and participate.

Mike Hugh

•

Ah! I was so focused on boxes I missed out on the lines of action. Next time! I was also far more comfortable with a stick of compressed charcoal then a light pencil, but want to work on my fine line quality.

@mightymike

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3mo

I keep coming back to this exercise because getting everything right at the same time like spotting the landmarks, getting the perspective right, drawing dynamic boxes, and doing so with clean lines is just such a challenge.

Robert

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3mo

The Boxes with numbers represent the numbers on the ref images. - I think I did well on the bending and stretching of the boxes and the general orientation - The angles for pelvis and shoulders are pretty decent in my opinion Questions: -Number 11 (Twisting sitting pose): How do you draw twisted boxes? It was hard to wrap my head around it - How do you determine the distance between ribcage and pelvis? How do you determine the general size relationship between them? - I already forgot but how do I place the little traingle thing above the tailbone? Generally I am really content with the ribcages. They look way better than my gestures. Would appreciate answers/feedback on my questions

Cristian Reyes

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3mo

having a hard time maintaining clarity when adding the connection so I kept it to just the boxes. Feedback appreciated. I definitely found this more challenging than the bean.

Brian Judy

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4mo

I went through this class long ago, and I'm in a season where it's time to revisit it. 🥰 I'm a casualty of the "drawing from the right side of the brain" era, being intermediate to advanced in portraits from reference, but not so good at imagination. Well, after studying for years, tonight was a break through for me. I feel like I actually could start to see the rotation of the subject in my mind's eye and then translate that to paper. I can see some things off... still it feels like a jump for me! Please, any critique appreciated - I'm ready to grow!

@dropfeeling

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4mo

Some of these could be better, but it's a start!

Jonnathan Avelino

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6mo

Critique is appreciate

Jim H

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6mo

these all look like a proper bending torso to me, looks good. The first one top left, is a bit bending in the rib cage: I don't know if I could pose in that position. :D

Dave S

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6mo

My Robo beans. I did the first set, then watched the critique vid, then did the second set with a little more data in my brain.

Nicole Guz

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8mo

Let me know if I did the boxes right. I am a beginner so I am not sure if I did it right. There are times that I just know it is wrong but I dont know how to draw the box in a way that is correct.

Jonatan

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9mo

I need some help here, how do you make a robo bean of this pose? I can figure this one out, please I'd really appreciate it

Nicole Guz

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8mo

Im a beginner so take this with a big grain of salt 😅. I just wanted to share my try on it. Let me know if you solved this problem yourself!

@maximilienle2d

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9mo

Jonnathan Avelino

•

6mo

amazing.

Jocelynn Darlene

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9mo

A few robo beans. I struggled a bit at first but I found it easier to start by drawing the entire torso as one long rectangle. I still get lost when it comes to the pelvic area, particularly when it is foreshortened...

Giorgi Karkuzashvili

•

9mo

Some practice with robo beans. The key is to maintain both gesture and structure

Stephen Clark

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9mo

I especially like the bottom left one on this page. The tilt of the head with that kind of backwards ben and extension is a really important element to sell that pose.

@sikcool

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11mo

Here are some beans I drew after watching all the robobean material. My linework got messy as I tried to find the right angles. Feels like you have to be more precise with the robobean compared to the regular bean.

@yoyoy12

•

1yr

Aaron Smith

•

1yr

Not gonna lie, I'm finding it tricky to get my head around the Robo Bean! Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance :)

Rachel Dawn Owens

•

1yr

These are looking good! My favorite is the one of the model’s back. You pushed the pose by tilting the hips forwards. Thats the sort of thing you want to do for this exercise. I noticed the one on the right felt off. It seems too stiff. I think it’s the perspective of it. I drew my own version to help. Keep it up! You’re doing great :)

@lwel

•

1yr

Here is a handful of my attempts. Feedback appreciated!

Michael

•

1yr

Here's my attempt at the Robo Bean. Didn't use charcoal like I did for the Landmarks submission as it just got too messy, so I hope this is better! I have put the drawings/references side by side in order. Had particular difficulty with twisting and foreshortening when following along with Stan's examples, so I included some here. As always critique is most welcomed :)

Melanie Scearce

•

1yr

Great work! I think you did a good job finding the twists in these poses. I think especially for the poses where the model is bending backwards, you can push the squash and stretch of the ribcage against the pelvis even more by looking at the angles of the bottom of the ribcage and the top of the pelvis. These are beautiful studies, keep up the good work!

@egusisoup

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1yr

Robo Bean Day 2

@lwel

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1yr

The main issue I see is that the cubes are very warped. You have to imagine that the edges of one side of the "boxes" continuing further and converging at some point. I drew an overlay so you can see what I mean. I think you drew the twists very well!

@quitpayload

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1yr

Okay so, I've been trying to grasp the Robo bean for literally months now, and I just can't figure it out. I've tried following along with the examples to no avail and I've tried tons of different ways of visualising them to no avail. I've tried to move on to the next parts of the course, but I can't grasp those either. I'm at a total loss as to what to do next.

Brando Gould

•

1yr

Also just to follow up, if this is really challenging, perhaps take a look at the drawing basics course! I have been drawing for years and it has helped me MASSIVELY!

Brando Gould

•

1yr

I had a SUPER hard time at the beginning. I think the most important parts of getting started with the robo bean are... 1. Understanding gesture. (That main line that follows the path of the head, ribcage and pelvis) This will be the starting point. 2. Seeing the left and right shift of the forms. * *So for the ribcage: Can you see more of the left or the right side of it? If yes, draw the box with the side you can see more of in perspective. This is the main thing we are training to see. Left, right or straight on. 3. Is the rib cage tilting away from us or towards us? Same idea as #2, but a little harder in my opinion. This is where you have to imagine the top and the bottom of that box and make a judgement of whether the tilt is toward/away from you. Helpful to know, if you can see the TOPs of the shoulders, thats a good indication that the tilt is towards you. To me, making sure these boxes that represent the rib cage and pelvis are accurately drawn in proportion is the most important part of this exercise, but adding the understanding of overlaps (squash and stretch) make this an even more valuable tool to understanding how to draw 3d forms on a 2d surface. It ain't easy! Hope that helps! Good luck

Rachel Dawn Owens

•

1yr

Sometimes, all you can do is keep going. Can I see some of your Robo bean drawings?

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.