Reilly Mask 2
© 2023 Aunt HerbertSecond attempt at finding a good hatching/crosshatching pattern for the face.
This time I tried to stick mostly to the concentric circles from around the nose tip, and treat all other rhythms and lines of the Reily abstraction just as modification of the circles. (with the exception of eye lids and lips, ofc.)
It looks different than the first attempt, but I am not certain, whether I like it more or less.
I guess, the structured approach here is to not fret about this decision at this early stage, but rather to pump out half a dozen to a score of those daily, until the whole array of possible pattern gets imprinted into my visual cortex, and I don't have to focus on just following them, when hatching faces.
I am just too giddy about how well the idea works to draw at the moment, so I decided to take a break and treat myself by uploading the first two attempts.
I am not gonna spam all of my daily routine, I promise.
Aunt Herbert
Polyvlios. the Raily Abstraction of the face is a set of lines and rhythms, there is no inbuilt clock. It makes no sense to rush it.
The best way to build speed for the Reilly Abstraction is the Tai Chi way: Start doing it slowly and properly over and over again, until the movements of the hand become automatic, and the sequence of rhythms and lines follows spontaneous.
I did the Reily Abstraction itself, without the cross-contour and without a subject image, so far about 40 to 50 times, just to be able to draw it by heart, and without checking the reference for the Abstraction itself.
The cross-contour masks over the Reilly Abstraction I done so far 10 without a subject image. This one was the very first attempt to even try a cross contour mask, I was more or less wildly guessing with the brush while doing it, I said in the description the line quality is atrociously bad.
You should check out the image with masks 3 to 9. By the 9th one I got really bored, and my movements took up a lot of speed from impatience alone. I didn't check a stopwatch, but I think masks 8 and 9 might have been under 5 minutes, so within the limit of the conditions you just set.
You are right so, that the whole shtick still needs a lot more repetitions, until I no longer have to consciously solve problems all the time.
I tried applying the Reily Abstraction to drawing from observations yesterday twice, but the results were so disappointing, that I did not even bother to upload them. Just following the pattern "from imagination" and applying it to a model is a whole different ball game. I tasked myself with repetitions of applications to a model, until I get it done without hesitation.
2 to 5 minutes sounds like a big ask. I'll just start with the grind now, and report back with results this evening. Let's see how fast I get it by then.
Good morning, Aunt Herbert, but welcome back. You know, I think your cross-contour of the Reilly face ink drawing. I feel that the forces and line quality are still too hesitant to me yet. Would you please go loosen up your hands with 2 5-minute Reillys?
As a result, your lines of action will become less stiff, but more fluid, but fully flowing, but organic, in terms of simple, more caricatured face sketches. For more tips and tricks, please look into a free PDF of Drawn to Life Vol. 1, for drawing faces and expressions.
Thank you.