Project - Gestural Torso Boxes

1.3K
Course In Progress

Project - Gestural Torso Boxes

1.3K
Course In Progress

Level 1

Imagine the body with the limbs, arms, legs, and neck removed, focusing on the boxy area from the shoulders down to the hips.

The goal is to turn, twist, and lean this box to mimic poses. You can also bloat certain areas to represent the rib cage or hips. This exercise helps to practice intuitively drawing dynamic forms in perspective. Draw these simplified torso boxes from your imagination. Believe it or not, doing this from photos can actually be more challenging because of the anatomy that can be distracting and hard to interpret.

  • Fill multiple pages with these simplified forms.
  • Aim for at least 20 different torso boxes.
  • Experiment with various angles, twists, and poses.
  • If you struggle with certain poses, try them again with slight variations.

Level 2

I've attached some photos for you to work with, that you could find in the downloads tab. You'll notice each photo is numbered. Please label your drawings with the corresponding photo you're drawing to help me and the community give you a critique. Otherwise it would be very difficult to know which box matches each photo.

Draw the same dynamic torso boxes from the photos. Focus on interpreting the overall shape and gesture rather than copying anatomical shapes. The goal is to capture the essence of the pose in a simplified form.

Exaggeration

If you'd like to make it even more challenging, you can exaggerate the pose. Exaggeration can make your poses more dynamic and interesting. To exaggerate effectively imagine a baseline or neutral pose, observe how the actual pose differs from it, and push those differences further. Be careful not to overdo it. Subtle exaggerations often work best, maintaining believability while enhancing the dynamism of the pose.

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Deadline - submit by July 9, 2024 for a chance to be in the critique video!

Newest
Dani Torres
I find the twisting torsos/cubes really hard unless I exaggerate them 😕
Evan Wray
12d
Did a few pages from imagination and then tried level 2. Tried to limit each level 2 attempt to 10 minutes. Did #10 a second time because I left the front plane showing too much on my first attempt. The twist on #4 took me a while to figure out but I think ended up being my favorite. Still not sure it's accurate but I like the shapes.
@dollydigital
oof 14 is a struggle
Melanie Scearce
That was a difficult one! Challenging perspective. You have it here as a C curve as if she was bending forwards. I see her torso as bending backwards in a C curve shape and the ribcage slightly twisting towards the arm that is reaching down. I may have pushed that curve a bit more than is true in my drawing, but I think that it should be more of a convex curve. You did a great job with the twists in the rest of your boxes. I really like the deformation in #15. Keep up the good work!
Yevhen Syrchin
from proko's refs pack
@mightymike
These are from imagination and not meant to represent real torsos. Instead I was just playing with the motion of the boxes. This was fun but also exhausting for my brain 🫣 Feedback is welcome!
Daniele Olevano
Melanie Scearce
Very nice work! Keep pushing them. Some of your poses can be exaggerated to make them more gestural. Pay attention to both sides of the body -- when one side is stretching, the other side will be compressing. Emphasizing that relationship is a good way to give your drawings more energy.
Luke
3mo
I definitely started running out of ideas by the end of the imagination boxes. I was also experimenting with line weight and quality. I think I started to get the hang of it by the end, but I also tended to make the torso not wide enough for how deep they were. I also think I possibly moved too far away from boxes at some times, I usually focuses on the hard(er) forms of the pelvis and rib cage, then connected the two with a softer section. To end on a positive note, I do like how most of them felt tangibly 3D. Some were pushed too far, but as they say, if you have an omelette without broken eggs, something probably went wrong.
Carlo Julian
This was a lot of fun. The first two pages without numbers were from imagination. The rest are from reference. After torso number (9) I watched the critique video. From 10 to 18 I tried to exaggerate the gestures.
@osa
3mo
Here are my attempts! I redid some of the lv 2s that I didn’t like. I think that I found it a bit hard to do the lv 2s at first but, I feel like focussing on shape initially helped me make the form look good.
Angelica
3mo
Here is some Imaginary boxes. Not always sure how to connect the boxes but I did my best to try to figure it out.
@nasim_alchemist
Since I have limited practice experience with torso drawing it was easier with reference photos. Cool exercise
@aubrey
3mo
These look great!
I did not Want to see that
Here are my level 1 one level 2 assignment for the project. I could have made these a lot cleaner, so I will keep taking that criticism into account each time I notice it. Overall, there is room for improvement, but I don't think I did horrible. if there is any criticism to be given, I'd love to know!
John Edgeworth
I thing your lines are spot on, if this is your first attempt, you should be on the right track each and every step.
J. Menriv
3mo
Project - Gestural Torso Boxes
Amani Noor (Amu)
This was challenging. I definitely got confused with some of the poses.
@ray777
2mo
This looks awesome, great job! What kind of paper did you use for this exercise?
@joh48
4mo
U did amazing
Aleksander Steinsbekk
Did some drawings in level 2. All feedback is appreciated.
The guy from BluishDot
Here are some attempts at level 1 and level 2. Critiques are highly appreciated.
Melanie Scearce
These look great. The only one I see differently is this one, I would reverse the S curve to match the curve of the spine since he's hunching over.
Jack H
4mo
Here are my attempts. Level 2 are the labelled ones. Weirdly enough, I found level 2 easier than level 1. Maybe it's because I don't really have the visual library to confidently draw the torsos from imagination. My L1 ones look a bit weird, and number 10 on level 2 is a bit confusing to find the center line. Any feedback/critique will be appreciated!
@josephl
4mo
Here are my level 1 and 2 attempts after each video. Definitely felt like I improved a little bit, I think I had the most trouble with some of the photo references and then just thinking of new torso poses from imagination that I haven't done was hard too.
Rachel Dawn Owens
You did great!
Zeev
5mo
I was feeling to dependent on refs, this exercise was very fun and good to learn reference on a more free way
Biruh Abadi
wow, so cool
Vili
5mo
I found a funny way by drawing a box (torso) trying to catch a ball haha it helps me to draw a new posture from imagination (foreshortening, twisting)
Biruh Abadi
very nice.
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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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