How to Simplify the Motion of the Torso – The Bean

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How to Simplify the Motion of the Torso – The Bean

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Figure Drawing Fundamentals

78K

Mark as Completed

Assignments 631Lesson NotesDownloads 2

Draw the Bean

This week, practice drawing the bean from the pose photos at proko.com/poses. It shouldn’t take you more than 30 seconds to a minute for each pose. Look for tilting, leaning, twisting, and foreshortening. Exaggerate the motion and draw the two volumes, the skin in between, and the centerline.

Post your work and participate.

@dropfeeling

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12d

First attempt at bean drawing. It's quite difficult figuring out the twists.

@elyusium

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These are actually quite well shaped, good job. I would suggest you to now try to do them with cleaner, more continuous lines. Focus on big gestural motions, drawing them bigger overall. It will become easier to feel the gesture that way. And don’t forget to pay close attention to how you place the center lines, they will make or break your volumes. Best of luck! :)

Dave S

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1mo

Bean practice.

Robert

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2mo

Here are some beans I did. I got one question regarding tilt: When you got someone in profile and there is pinching happening, how do you indicate that. I usually draw the pelvis over the ribcage or the other way around but what do I do, if the ribcage and the pelvis are on the same level or the same distance away from you? Would appreciate some feedback

Rachel Dawn Owens

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2mo

I would say, just pick one part of the bean to be in the front. The overlap will give the drawing more dimension.

Nicole Guz

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3mo

Eric Birdman

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3mo

Beans from the Proko Gesture Reference Sampler. I drew all of them, Please critique, and thanks in advice

W.I.M.U

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4mo

Here’s my new approach to the bean ! Any feedback is welcome. I added a bit of shadow though I’m not sure if I’m supposed to do that. @Bob Ross is it any better then before?

Soul

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3mo

Hi, I think it'd help if you drew them a bit bigger, like just having 5 ones done to the best of your ability covering an entire page, so that we can see it clearer. And also, this is sorta an extra step but using Canva to sorta group the references with the drawings could help, it's free too. Or maybe numbering them using the editing stuff in your phone with the corresponding picture could be cool too

W.I.M.U

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4mo

I have been practicing the bean for a while now and I am absolutely desperate for help. It feels like I still don't quite understand how to deseing the forms or make them look enjoyable to look at . I've been trying to focus on making them accurate, but the lines and the forms don't come out very nicely. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Bob Ross

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4mo

My first recommendation is to get blank paper. It's much harder to read the beans on lined paper. The other is to do them bigger and make sure your using your arm to draw. The final thought is to really look at the motion before drawing, for exemple in 1 there's no real sense of them stretching up in the in the bean and the twist is missing in the bean, based on the bean I'd expect them t obe standing upright.

@fruchtose

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4mo

Here are some beans I've been practicing. I'd love a critique.

Soul

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3mo

Hey :) Good stuff, but I think it'd be a more approachable to critique you if you did just a few poses to post, like maybe your 5 best ones.

Jocelynn Darlene

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5mo

Here are some of my lil beanses

Soul

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4mo

If you can, could you include the references too? To compare where you exaggerated and stuff too :P

Giorgi Karkuzashvili

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5mo

Beans before watching demos and critiques. Was actually fun

Soul

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3mo

Hi @Giorgi Karkuzashvili, I think you're off to a good start but it's a bit hard to see the photo. I'd recommend using a page dedicated to just a few poses, maybe 5 max, and then also posting it with the reference image as well. And then it'd be a bit more approachable to go in depth on the nuances of your beans. Best wishes :^)

Jocelynn Darlene

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5mo

Nice! Let's see the after demo results. I just finished this lesson and found the beans fun to draw aswell.

Phil

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6mo

More beans! Cleaner and more intentional on this attempt

Chee Rei Tan

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6mo

These are some of my bean attempts. I used the poses from the videos without copying Mr. Proko. I struggled the most with foreshortening and twisting. (Foreshortening is quite hard because I wasn't sure how foreshortened the ellipse should be, twisting is hard because I'm not sure which direction is the pose twisting to exactly) Would appreciate any feedback given, thanks!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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6mo

These look great! All I notice is this one bean is missing the midline in the front. I also added a line for more pinch to the side. This little extra overlap helps the beans pop Keep it up!

DrawYer

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7mo

These are my beans attempts before watching the demo. I realised (after watching the demo), that I was following the forms that I was seeing a bit too much, instead of trying to simplify it. It’s part of the training I guess. I often tried multiple variations of the same pose to see what I could improve or if something was missing. Some twists give me brain knots I won’t lie. As usual, any comments or feedback welcome :))

@jensdawg

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8mo

Here’s a page of beans. I think I struggle the most with bend its foreshortening. Any further feedback is appreciated!

Devon D. Yeider

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8mo

Bean using the timer tool with @Gannon Beck and @Adam Davis

Gannon Beck

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8mo

Good work Devon!

@yoyoy12

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8mo

Gannon Beck

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8mo

I did a few of these. I've done this lesson before and I don't feel like it's my strongest skill. Not that the ideas aren't useful, especially the idea of stretch and pinch, but I apparently am not great at drawing ovals.

Brando Gould

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8mo

I agree! They look pretty good! but practicing ovals is something I also need to get better at, Sometimes I feel like the brush i'm using just isn't what feels right, but i know it's probably just me.

Fabian Ayala

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8mo

These came out pretty good though. Good job

Jonatan

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8mo

50 thirty second beans using the proko image sets, pretty useful! Been doing this for like a week now and I think I'm getting the hang of it! I feel I could probably try exaggerating more and I might be playing it too safe, will try doing that next time! Any feedback is appreciated :)!