Hello! I took the time to setup my XP-Pen 16.5 Pro drawing tablet and Rebelle Pro 8. It was fairly straightforward and I was able to test pen sensitivity with an oil brush in Rebelle. After that it was time for day one of approaching illustration from a different angle. I was doing some research on a method to improve at illustration in a somewhat rapid manner, if the principle is followed from start to finish with no deviation in the process. TRBC stands for: Trace, Reference, Blind, and Correct. Here's what each step encompasses.

Trace- You find a piece of art that you want to emulate/replicate and capture. In day one, I chose an image of DC Comics' Supergirl on Pinterest. It had a anime/manga style that I am wanting to attain. I placed the image within Rebelle Pro 8 as its own layer and turned down the opacity to 30 percent. I used blue ink to draw over the lines, working on the facial features.

Reference- My next step was to draw from reference. I had the Supergirl picture on one monitor and draw a picture from reference as closely as I could. This proved difficult as I could not get close in some aspects when drawing from the image. This let me know that my mind and hand are not quite in sync yet. Once I finished this step, it was on to the next step.

Blind- The second to last step is the Blind draw. I closed the image and hid the other layers in Rebelle so I had a blank canvas. This step I was forced to recall what I had traced and referenced and tried reproduce the portrait of Supergirl one more time. I fell back on a quick anatomy circle and rough chin line using the graphite brush and then added a second layer and drew blue ink over it. At this point, I was concerned that I was way off on this version of Supergirl and did not want to do the last step...

Correct- I adjusted my Trace, Reference and Blind drawings to be the same size to see how close I was in the reference and blind drawings. At this point, it was important to use red ink and circle the areas that had issues and make notes on what needed to be corrected. Each drawing had faults at different areas and it showed how much work I really need to do in order to get to where I want to. The red ink provides the immediate feedback and I can then make a new attempt the next day.

Note: The process I am working through using TRBC will go on for the next 30 days or more. We will then compare this day one effort with my progress after 30 days.