Box Men Explained
Box Men Explained
This lesson is premium only. Join us in the full course!
33:10

Assignment

Now that I've shown you how I draw box men, it's time to try this exercise for yourself.  Let your imagination and designer mind take over as you work through this exercise. Experiment with size, as well as the amount of box men you draw on a page! 

Newest
@joaquin18
6mo
Hi, im new to drawing and art, any critique is good, i tried drawing this 3 expressions. Pure imagination.
@tocohasmail
First attempts - very fun and I want to do a lot more of these guys! Finding it fun to roughly shape them out and then redraw over them to better define certain shapes
Joshua Bennett
My boxmen.
@shikaiwen
8mo
Joy came out the best. Have to remind myself to use the whole sheet.
Devon D. Yeider
Awesome excuse to DRAW
John Tollefsen
I have tried to draw box men with feelings, but I need to practice much more.
John Tollefsen
My first box men.
Dalvin Tapia
guys are better then me lol
Audrey S
2yr
First couple of days of boxfolk -- I tend to have longer limbs a la robot from castle in the sky but hey this has been a lot of fun. Done in fineliner to avoid eraser temptations
@magda
2yr
This is so much fun. Adding animals makes it even better.
Taylor Brown
I love this teaching style, I really needed to hear from a person with a “do it anyway” mindset. As a beginner, I was so overwhelmed by anatomy, perspective, etc. that it made me AFRAID to draw. But if I don’t draw, I can’t improve! Steven inspired me to just try it in this video. I finished a page of boxmen and the exercise really helped me tie things together. Hopefully I can continue to ditch the perfectionism and learn as I go instead!
@valerioshi
I'm kinda embarrassed to share this stuff. First time drawing anything in 30 years. Got a lot to learn, but I'm happy to be here!
Isaiah
2yr
Great to have you onboard, valerioshi! It is, indeed, quite brave to put your work out there for others to see, but I am looking forward to seeing more from you. I think my favorite is the guy who is sort of waving to the people to beside him as he walks by.
@lustef
2yr
Il manque une étape... C'est écrit "débutant"...
Me Ch
2yr
Do you need to understand anatomy to do the box man exercise?
Isaiah
2yr
As you improve in your knowledge of anatomy/figure drawing, your boxmen will also improve. However, the exercise isn't necessarily supposed to look good. It is intended to be a way to get your pencil moving, without stressing out about the result. When I posted my assignments for this course, I tried to make what I showed publicly meet some minimum threshold for quality (which was, by the way, unnecessary), but to really do the exercises in the spirit that the instructor intends, you should have someplace, like a sketchbook or a stack of cheap copy paper, where you feel comfortable making a mess of things. You don't have to show what you draw there to anyone else. Nevertheless, drawing there will help you grow and build skill. I hope this helps. I look forward to seeing what you make, if/when you feel comfortable posting your work.
@art4therapy1000
Well can we also talk about how when I thought I could draw ok, that I can't seem to draw a boxman correctly?
@tiny
2yr
I am finding out the same thing about myself... ;-)
@art4therapy1000
Do you have a stick figure class? Lol 😂
@katygus
2yr
I found this both really helpful in terms of thinking about body composition and positioning, and really difficult in terms of actually drawing what was in my head! As others have said, this feels like it’s aimed at people who are a bit past beginner, and it would be great to have a lesson before this one that gives a little more guidance for how to make a box man in the first place. That said, here are my attempts:
@gothamdemon
Box men HW. Had alot of fun with this and helped ease anxiety on making figures any feedback is welcomed! Thank you!
James Goodman
Well it turns out I can’t draw a box man anyway so my earlier post doesn’t matter…….
James Goodman
I don’t get how the box men exercise is helpful…. If it’s not something that will lead to anatomically correct figures, why bother? To see how well you can make a figure out of boxes? A design exercise? I struggle with drawing the figure from imagination so it seems it would be more productive to practice something that would help me improve. Not see if I can design a figure out of boxes or triangles or broomsticks or whatever….
Isaiah
3yr
I can see this exercise being beneficial when I progress to the figure drawing course. To ease into drawing, I want my first marks of a session to be playful and free from expectation. This exercise meets this criterion, but there is also an opportunity here for more consequential practice. I began page 1 with random marks and shapes, since this is how I normally begin my warmup sessions; it represents how it might look if I actually incorporate the exercise into my routine. I did use a reference to redraw the rotating figures on page 2, as the original proportions were somewhat embarrassing.
Monica Brinkman
LOL box man baby yoda!
Pink Valeranth
These are beautifully done. I even cracked up at the old man. Great grasp of character, proportion and foreshortening.
Brenton Smith
Loving the boxman! the selfie one really relays character to me :)
Tara Tillmanns
I love your presentation and conversational teaching style. It’s great. It would be really nice to have a video going over what a box man is and a slower version of how to construct a basic one. This feels like this is aimed at art students who have been doing them for a while, but need to learn how to be more loose with them. However, the title of the course says beginner. It just feels like a step is missing and I’ve jumped into the middle of a class.
Use Code BLACK20 to Save 20%
Full course
You will be given unexpiring access to watch the videos online .
View course details
Give a gift
Give a gift card for art students to use on anything in the Proko store.
Or gift this course:
About instructor
Designer, Illustrator, Instructor
Help!
Browse the FAQs or our more detailed Documentation. If you still need help or to contact us for any reason, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!