How to Draw Structure in the Body – Robo Bean

Lesson by

1.2M

Mark as Completed

Assignments 411Lesson NotesDownloads 2

How to Draw Structure in the Body – Robo Bean

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Figure Drawing Fundamentals

1.2M

Mark as Completed

Assignments 411Lesson 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.

Jonnathan Avelino

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Critique is appreciate

Jim H

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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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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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2mo

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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3mo

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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2mo

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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4mo

Jonnathan Avelino

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amazing.

Jocelynn Darlene

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4mo

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

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4mo

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

Stephen Clark

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4mo

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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5mo

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

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6mo

Aaron Smith

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7mo

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

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6mo

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

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7mo

Here is a handful of my attempts. Feedback appreciated!

Michael

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7mo

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

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7mo

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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7mo

Robo Bean Day 2

@lwel

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7mo

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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8mo

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

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7mo

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

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7mo

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

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8mo

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

@ebr0

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8mo

here's my notes and assignments of the robo bean any feedback welcome

@lwel

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7mo

I know it has been 29 days. But your pictures aren't very clear. Maybe you could try darken the lines with a softer pencil or pen, and then photograph outside with sunlight. Also put the camera straight in front and not an angle.

Ken 3D

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8mo

Here's my attempt. Any feedback is welcome.

Dante Leão

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8mo

Some of the poses are bending foward and you seem to have drawn them stretching backward (the 2 from Yoni and that one from Laura) look for folds in the belly if you are having trouble understending the direction the torso and hips are going. Also, try to look for the underlying structure and gesture of the trunk, not the other body parts. In that last drawing of Sekaa she is fully bending backward, but the action lines of her neck, arms and breasts can make it seem like her torso is curving upwards halfway through. The movement of the neck and arms do not affect the underlying structure of the torso

Brandon

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10mo

I think if i use the moodboard it would be easier for people to critique, all of them are in the same placement as my drawing. Any advice would be much appreciated, such as form understanding, shape design, line weight, etc.

Vue Thao

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10mo

william burzynski

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10mo

Hi Vue. Hard to comment since you posted the robo bean sketch but not the source image. I think you got the concept. Now you need to measure to make sure your primary forms have the correct length width and depth. Taking the time to measure and correct forms now will save gobs of time later.

Luka Reinmöller

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1yr

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 :)

Gannon Beck

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1yr

Nice!

Jonathan Mårtensson Jonsson

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1yr

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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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.