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Full course
You will be given unexpiring access to watch the videos online .
$150
Join Brian Knox, Ben Young, Erik Gist, and Jeff Watts of the Watts Atelier for an in-depth look at the Reilly figure drawing method.
I love the videos and I learned a lot watching them. I wish there would be atleast a short explaination / instruction video about the Reilly figure drawing method
To set the tone directly: this post is gonna be a negative critique of this course.
I don't want to slander it or anything, as the content does have value and I like it. But I think it hardly matches what is being promised, which got me a bit disappointed.
Anyway, Let me explain.
The course includes an ebook and a bunch of videos.
The videos are real-time demos of 4 different artists using Reilly rhythms to get some pieces done. And apart from Brian Knox - who takes the time to explain how he prepares his pencils, how to draw clean lines, perspective and such, before going into the usage of the Reilly method to construct the figure - they're not really teaching you how to do the same.
You'd think each specific rhythm would be explained, from how they relate to the actual anatomy down to how they look like in many different poses, but nah. Doesn't happen.
After Brian's done showing the big idea for the torso, no one does the same for the arms/legs, or break down things any further. It just becomes... commented demos, really, with Jeff Watts even stating that he doesn't expect us to really follow what he's doing because it's extremely advanced, or Ben Young not even using the Reilly rhythms at all to focus on tonal rendering instead.
As for the ebook, it does contains different diagrams for the Reilly rhythms, which makes for 3 pages. And the rest is made of commented pictures of the drawings that we're already seeing in the videos.
In the end, it's almost entirely up to us to figure out how these rhythms really work. I understand that students should learn some things by themselves, but a course should break some things down to make it easy for them. If it's just merely about giving clues, it breaks the whole purpose of a course: teaching.
Again, don't get me wrong. I don't want to roast this completely, nor to offend anyone!
These are genuinely great demos, and the ebook is good material to work from. I'm really happy to have them. But frankly, after coming from Stan's awesome courses (which include real lessons with explanations, exercises, critiques, etc.) this can only come as a disappointment.
And for all I know, maybe the team behind this is made of extremely good instructors. But in that case, I suspect that the good stuff is kept away in the main Watts atelier program, making this just a pricey teaser...
Anyway, feel free to express any counter-opinion.
I'm open for discussion, and would actually be really happy if someone were to change my mind about this. ^^
I'm also curious to see if anyone else shares my point of view.
I was very curious about this course because it's difficult to find good information about the Reilly method, and I've heard Jeff talk about it on podcasts before and he seems to not only possess the skills but also be a keeper of Reilly lore and histories. So reading this review was disappointing, but thank you for saving me money.
I agree. Some rhythms are explained but much of it is him doing what hes probably done a bunch of time. Not really a detailed course, especially for the price.
I do not share your point of view. I'm subscribed to their online version and this is the just a wide version of the course here on proko. There are more demos, differents ones, long ones but the price follows. It's good if you got some basic knowledge and want to expand. I actually went from Proko lesson to Watts Atelier Online.
Reilly rythms ain't complicated. If you get what Brian taught, you good to go. I don't see the necessity for the rest of the teachers to explain what he already explained. The torso and the pelvis are the most important parts of the Reilly rythms. If you got that from the differents views, you are good to go. If you learned what Proko taught about mannequinization and structure, you can follow this course, knowing that Stan himself is a student of Jeff. If you learn and know basic anatomy, you can find your way out easily.
Yes, Jeff draws a an advanced level unfortunately and it's hard to follow him but as an online watts student, I think I'm used to his style.
Hey, looks like a great new course. I'm just curious to know, are the lessons new recorded lessons or are they taken from the Watts Atelier, previously recorded either streaming or online classes?
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2yr
Hey Liza, this from Watts crew:
"The course we are releasing was from the streaming program, so the footage was only up on our site for a short time and isn't currently up, so to almost everyone that sees it it will be brand new. It most likely will not be released on our own site for a while due to some restructuring we are working on so these specific demos will be exclusive to Proko.com for some time."
Reilly Figure Drawing