CBM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

CHAPTER 7 - The Drawings

These are not ALL of the drawings I did for the Cardboard Man, but they are the ones that I think are the best and/or most important. They show how I came up with the idea and how the drawings assisted me in constructing the Cardboard Man.

CLICK ON THUMBNAILS FOR LARGER PICTURES IN A NEW WINDOW!

The Idea

The first set of drawings I did were merely concept sketches. It was a way for me to sort of mentally approach the idea of building a man out of cardboard. These were basically brainstorming sheets.

DRAWING 1: Cardboard Man - Preliminary Sketch - 1/15/2000

So this was the very first step of ALL of this madness. I thought to myself, "Huh. It would be pretty cool to make a gigantic LIFE SIZE man out of cardboard." The thought passed through my mind and then I drew this picture. Who knew this simple beginning would take me more than another YEAR to complete!

DRAWING 2: Cardboard Man - Joint Plans - 1/15/2000

At the beginning I remember talking about this project with my QUAD roommates. I was asking them what they thought about it, and how I should make the joints. My roommate Sam said something to the effect of, "Hey. If you are going to build a man out of Cardboard then I think the WHOLE THING has to be Cardboard." I agreed and so I set out to figure out which joints I was going to have to figure out with CARDBOARD.

This drawing is also important because it determined the mobility of the CBM. For structural purposes and ease of building I did not give full mobility to all of the joints. For example the ankle joints do not rotate.

An Exercise in Drafting

All of this Cardboard Man madness was going on during my Sophomore year at college. At that time I was just learning how to draft as well. So part of the appeal of this project early on was that I was going to make detailed scale drawings of every step of the process. I put in as much work into the first few drawings as I did in constructing the CBM. It was essential to have a working drawings for figuring out which pieces to cut and what size they had to be, etc. etc.

DRAWING 3: CBM Foot - 1/21/2000

This was the first drawing, and it's probably the one I'm the most proud of. The feet look EXACTLY like this drawing. This was all back when I was drafting with a protracter, a scale ruler and a mechanical pencil. No drafting table, no erasing sheilds, no T-square. OLD SCHOOL.

I should also note that I took carful measurements from my own body throughout the process to supply measurements for the drawings.

See CHAPTER 1 for pictures of the feet.

DRAWING 4: CBM - Leg Core/Knee - 1/25/2000

I think it's pretty crazy that this stuff was spilling out of my brain. I drew all the parts of these joints without cutting a single piece of cardboard. It was just a concept and it worked.

See CHAPTER 1 for pictures of the lower leg.

DRAWING 5: CBM - Hip Unit - 3/10/2000

This was the last of the "good" drawings. It was at a weird mid-point between the intial beginning of the CBM and the frenzied finish. I think I must have been bored and I said, "Maybe I'll do a drawing for the next part of the CBM. It's been a while since I worked on that."

See CHAPTER 2 for pictures of the hip unit.

Just Enough to Get the Job Done

There have been a few occasions where I have given people some pointers on mechanical drafting (mostly for Theatrical Technical Direction). And one thing that I always emphasize is that if YOU are going to be the one building from your OWN drawings then only make them as complicated as they need to be. If someone ELSE has to build from your drawings, they better be well laid-out, clearly dimensioned and easy to understand. But if it's just for you, you can save a lot of time and energy by drawing just enough so that you understand how to put it together.

That was how I approached these drawings, which were drawn during the crazy Spring Break 2001 build (see CHAPTER 2). And that being said, even I look at these drawings now and have very little idea what is going on. I was EXTREMELY involved in this project during that week. It was the only thing I was thinking about from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to sleep. So the drawings got pretty "loose."

DRAWING 6: CBM - Shoulders - Preliminary Sketch - 3/27/2001

This was basically a sketch to figure out how I was going to attatch the head and the shoudler joints into one cohesive torso unit. This became the Shoulder Box.

See CHAPTER 3 for pictures of the shoulder box.

DRAWING 7: Lower Arms and Hands Preliminary Sketch - 3/28/2001

This sketch helped me figure out the complicated Elbow Joint. You can also see me trying to figure out the wrist joint here. I ended up improvising the wrist rod--one of the few steps of the CBM building process that was not drawn out first.

See CHAPTER 4 for pictures of the arm joints.

DRAWING 8: CBM - Shoulder Joint - Preliminary Sketch - 3/27/2001

This is a more detailed sketch which specifically details the shoulder joint. You can also see me still trying to figure out how I was going to get the head and the arms to connect nicely into one box.

See CHAPTER 3 for pictures of the shoulder joint.

DRAWING 9: CBM - Fuselage Preliminary Plan - 3/31/2001

Madness! I don't really understand how this drawing led to the connection of the upper and lower sections of the CBM--but this was it! I think it's funny that I called this a "Preliminary PLAN" instead of a "Preliminary SKETCH" (like I had with all the previous drawings). I remember being really stressed out at this part of the process. I was afraid that after all this crazy work I wasn't going to be able to connect the two halves.

CBM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

These are not ALL of the drawings I did for the Cardboard Man, but they are the ones that I think are the best and/or most important. They show how I came up with the idea and how the drawings assisted me in constructing the Cardboard Man. CLICK ON THUMBNAILS FOR LARGER PICTURES IN A NEW WINDOW!
The Idea The first set of drawings I did were merely concept sketches. It was a way for me to sort of mentally approach the idea of building a man out of cardboard. These were basically brainstorming sheets.
	DRAWING 1: Cardboard Man - Preliminary Sketch - 1/15/2000 So this was the very first step of ALL of this madness. I thought to myself, "Huh. It would be pretty cool to make a gigantic LIFE SIZE man out of cardboard." The thought passed through my mind and then I drew this picture. Who knew this simple beginning would take me more than another YEAR to complete!
	DRAWING 2: Cardboard Man - Joint Plans - 1/15/2000 At the beginning I remember talking about this project with my QUAD roommates. I was asking them what they thought about it, and how I should make the joints. My roommate Sam said something to the effect of, "Hey. If you are going to build a man out of Cardboard then I think the WHOLE THING has to be Cardboard." I agreed and so I set out to figure out which joints I was going to have to figure out with CARDBOARD. This drawing is also important because it determined the mobility of the CBM. For structural purposes and ease of building I did not give full mobility to all of the joints. For example the ankle joints do not rotate.
An Exercise in Drafting All of this Cardboard Man madness was going on during my Sophomore year at college. At that time I was just learning how to draft as well. So part of the appeal of this project early on was that I was going to make detailed scale drawings of every step of the process. I put in as much work into the first few drawings as I did in constructing the CBM. It was essential to have a working drawings for figuring out which pieces to cut and what size they had to be, etc. etc.
	DRAWING 3: CBM Foot - 1/21/2000 This was the first drawing, and it's probably the one I'm the most proud of. The feet look EXACTLY like this drawing. This was all back when I was drafting with a protracter, a scale ruler and a mechanical pencil. No drafting table, no erasing sheilds, no T-square. OLD SCHOOL. I should also note that I took carful measurements from my own body throughout the process to supply measurements for the drawings. See CHAPTER 1 for pictures of the feet.
	DRAWING 4: CBM - Leg Core/Knee - 1/25/2000 I think it's pretty crazy that this stuff was spilling out of my brain. I drew all the parts of these joints without cutting a single piece of cardboard. It was just a concept and it worked. See CHAPTER 1 for pictures of the lower leg.
	DRAWING 5: CBM - Hip Unit - 3/10/2000 This was the last of the "good" drawings. It was at a weird mid-point between the intial beginning of the CBM and the frenzied finish. I think I must have been bored and I said, "Maybe I'll do a drawing for the next part of the CBM. It's been a while since I worked on that." See CHAPTER 2 for pictures of the hip unit.
Just Enough to Get the Job Done There have been a few occasions where I have given people some pointers on mechanical drafting (mostly for Theatrical Technical Direction). And one thing that I always emphasize is that if YOU are going to be the one building from your OWN drawings then only make them as complicated as they need to be. If someone ELSE has to build from your drawings, they better be well laid-out, clearly dimensioned and easy to understand. But if it's just for you, you can save a lot of time and energy by drawing just enough so that you understand how to put it together. That was how I approached these drawings, which were drawn during the crazy Spring Break 2001 build (see CHAPTER 2). And that being said, even I look at these drawings now and have very little idea what is going on. I was EXTREMELY involved in this project during that week. It was the only thing I was thinking about from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to sleep. So the drawings got pretty "loose."
	DRAWING 6: CBM - Shoulders - Preliminary Sketch - 3/27/2001 This was basically a sketch to figure out how I was going to attatch the head and the shoudler joints into one cohesive torso unit. This became the Shoulder Box. See CHAPTER 3 for pictures of the shoulder box.
	DRAWING 7: Lower Arms and Hands Preliminary Sketch - 3/28/2001 This sketch helped me figure out the complicated Elbow Joint. You can also see me trying to figure out the wrist joint here. I ended up improvising the wrist rod--one of the few steps of the CBM building process that was not drawn out first. See CHAPTER 4 for pictures of the arm joints.
	DRAWING 8: CBM - Shoulder Joint - Preliminary Sketch - 3/27/2001 This is a more detailed sketch which specifically details the shoulder joint. You can also see me still trying to figure out how I was going to get the head and the arms to connect nicely into one box. See CHAPTER 3 for pictures of the shoulder joint.
	DRAWING 9: CBM - Fuselage Preliminary Plan - 3/31/2001 Madness! I don't really understand how this drawing led to the connection of the upper and lower sections of the CBM--but this was it! I think it's funny that I called this a "Preliminary PLAN" instead of a "Preliminary SKETCH" (like I had with all the previous drawings). I remember being really stressed out at this part of the process. I was afraid that after all this crazy work I wasn't going to be able to connect the two halves.