Original
Loomis
Reilly
Proportions
L + R
All
Loomis & Reilly method face construction line & proportions overlay — free online app
Drag & drop image hereTap to upload a photo
or click to browse
JPG / PNG, max 15 MB, max 8192×8192 px
(resized to 4096 px for processing)
Upload a face photo to generate Loomis and Reilly construction line overlays. The tool detects facial landmarks, estimates head pose, and draws anatomical construction guides used by artists.
| File size | Max 15 MB |
| Dimensions | Max 8192 × 8192 px (resized to 4096 px for processing) |
| Formats | JPEG, PNG only |
| Original | Unmodified input image |
| Loomis | Sphere & plane construction — cranium, brow, hairline, nose, jaw, center line, side planes, plus center-line quarter/third divisions (brow→nose and nose→chin) |
| Reilly | Rhythm abstraction — facial ovals, eye/nose/brow construction, cranial arcs, undercheek rhythm |
| Proportions | Proportional grid — thirds, five-eye-width columns, alignment lines, face triangle, ratio measurements (H/W, Eye/Face, Nose/Eye, Mouth/Nose, Thirds equality) |
| Loomis + Reilly | Both construction methods overlaid together |
| All Methods | All three methods combined |
Toggle the grid ON/OFF, adjust density (1–25), and pick a color. Per-image checkboxes control which images show the grid. Grid is included in downloads when enabled.
| G | Toggle grid ON/OFF (works in main view and lightbox) |
| S | Increase grid density |
| A | Decrease grid density |
| W | Next grid color |
| Q | Previous grid color |
Each image card has a Download button (JPEG with grid if enabled), Print button, and a Grid checkbox.
Click any image to open a full-size preview. The draggable panel on the right (MENU) contains accordion sections listed below. All modals (Themes, Image Info, Help) are draggable and close with × or Escape.
| 1 / L | Toggle Loomis overlay |
| 2 / R | Toggle Reilly overlay |
| 3 / P | Cycle Proportions: off → grid only → grid + text |
| O | Toggle Sphere Editor (replaces the Loomis overlay while on) |
| H / V | Manual Grid — place a horizontal / vertical line |
| Y | Manual Grid — subdivide the finished grid |
| B / N | Manual Grid — undo / redo |
| / | Tone Levels — swatch column of the tonal steps in use |
| ▴/▾ arrows | Per-layer line thickness (1–5) |
| G | Toggle grid ON/OFF |
| S / A | Grid density +/− |
| W / Q | Grid color next/previous |
| Scroll / + / Z | Zoom in |
| − / X | Zoom out |
| 0 / C | Reset zoom to 1× |
| Mouse drag | Pan image (when zoomed) |
| M | Toggle Regions accordion |
| Escape | Close lightbox or modal |
Opens a theme picker with 15 color schemes for the panel. Saved in browser storage.
| IMPORT IMAGE | Upload a new image (closes lightbox, opens file picker). |
| IMAGE INFO | Modal with file name, dimensions, size, megapixels, aspect ratio. Updates after crop. |
| CROP IMAGE | Enter crop mode (crosshair). Draw a rectangle to crop and re-process. |
| RESET CROP | Restore original image. Orange when crop is active. |
| SAVE IMAGE | Save as JPEG (includes grid overlay if enabled). |
| PRINT IMAGE | Opens Print Preview modal with 3 variants: Full Image (current view with overlays), With Thumbnail (overlay + clean original thumbnail in a corner), Reference Only (blank page with clean original thumbnail). Choose corner (TL/TR/BL/BR) and size (Mini/Small/Medium) for thumbnail placement. Draggable modal. |
| RESET ALL | Restore all settings to defaults (with confirmation). Does not delete your saved Profile. |
| SAVE PROFILE | Save current lightbox settings (methods, thickness, opacity, colors, grid, regions) to browser storage. Persists across sessions. |
| LOAD PROFILE | Restore previously saved settings. Available from any card’s lightbox. |
Interactive editors for working over your photo: the Sphere Editor gives you an adjustable Loomis ball, and Manual Grid lets you build your own proportional grid. They work side by side — more are on the way.
Sphere Editor gives you an editable Loomis sphere, seeded from the detected head pose so it starts aligned to the face. Turn it on to replace the static Loomis overlay (they are mutually exclusive; the previous state is restored when you turn it off).
On photos with the head tilted far up or down the automatic fit is unreliable, and the upload shows an amber notice saying so. The photo still processes — drag the sphere onto the face here to correct it.
| O | Turn the Sphere Editor on / off (same as the SPHERE button). |
| Drag inside ball | Orbit — rotate the head: yaw ±90° (full profile), pitch ±70°. |
| White dot | Move the sphere. |
| Gold square | Resize the sphere. |
| Red square | Roll — drag left / right to tilt the sphere in the screen plane (±90°). Rides the rim as it turns. |
| Blue square | Above the center line — drag left / right to shift its top (same as the Center L/R slider). |
| Green square | Below the chin line — drag left / right to shift its bottom (same as the Chin L/R slider). |
| Drag outside | Pan the image. |
| Elements | Toggle visibility of each line (interface, skull, shadow, hair, brow, nose, chin, center, jaw, dot lines). |
| ; | Dot lines — dashed rings through the brow→nose divisions, parallel to the brow line. Off by default; same as the DOT LINES element. |
| Interface | Hides every handle and turns off orbit — the construction stays, dragging just pans the image. |
| Pose sliders | Fine-tune yaw, pitch, roll and the center / chin line offsets. Drag with the mouse or step with arrow keys. |
| Undo / Redo / Reset | Step through edits; Reset returns to the detected pose. |
| Line Opacity | Fade all sphere lines from full to invisible. |
Manual Grid is a different way to draw: instead of following a construction, you box the head in and let the grid carry the proportions. Mark two horizontal lines — usually the top of the skull and the bottom of the chin — then two vertical ones down the sides. Each pair is split into quarters automatically, giving a 4×4 grid you can copy square by square onto paper.
Where you put the side lines is a matter of taste: the hair silhouette or the skull contour both work, as long as you stay consistent. Press Y to subdivide when you need more reference — 4×4, then 8×8, then 16×16, then back off. Pair it with Tone Levels to read the values inside each square while you shade — and press / (or the # button) for a swatch column of those values to compare against.
| H / V | Place a horizontal / vertical line. Two clicks make a pair; the grid appears once both pairs are down. |
| Tilted / Level | Line angle: follow the head tilt, or run square to the page. Locks once the first line is placed. |
| Y | Subdivide the finished grid: 8×8, then 16×16, then off. |
| B / N | Undo / redo the last pair. |
| ✕ | Clear the grid and close the editor (Escape does the same). |
| L / R / P | Toggle Loomis, Reilly, Proportions overlays on/off. |
| ● Color / Mono | Per-layer button — overrides global color/mono mode for that layer. |
| ◀ / ▶ | Per-layer line thickness (1–5 dots). |
| Opacity slider | Per-layer transparency of overlay lines (1–100%). |
| Color Mode | Global toggle between color (default) and mono (all lines black). |
| Image O | Opacity — fade photo toward white (0 = normal, max = white). |
| Image B | Brightness — 0 = black, 100 = normal, 200 = double brightness. |
| Image C | Contrast — 0 = flat grey, 100 = normal, 200 = high contrast. |
| Image G | Gaussian Blur — 0 = sharp, up to 16 px of blur. Softens detail so you read masses and values instead of texture; combines well with Tone Levels. |
| Image S | Saturation — 0 = black & white, 100 = full color. |
| Tone Levels | Stepper — reduces the photo to N tonal steps (2–16) instead of a smooth ramp. With S at 0 that is a value study; in colour it flattens the image into poster-like blocks. Click the number to toggle it off and back on. |
| Tone Method | Auto places the steps where the photo's own tones cluster, so every step carries detail — the safe default. Grid spaces them evenly across black to white regardless of the photo. One is active at a time, and neither runs while the stepper is Off. |
| Tone Bias | Grid only (−80 to +120). Shifts the photo along the steps before they are applied, like exposure: push it up and the light areas blow out to white until only a line drawing is left, pull it down and the darks sink into a single black mass. |
| Tone # (or /) | Swatch column — draws a stack of squares down the top left corner of the photo, one per tonal step, darkest first, in the exact greys the steps are painted with. Hold a square against an area of the photo to read which value it is. Only the steps actually on the image are listed: Brightness and Contrast run before the tone pass and can flatten several steps away entirely, so a 6-step setting may really be 2 — the column shortens and the stepper reads 2/6 in amber to say so. |
| ↻ | Reset the image block back to the untouched photo (all five sliders + Tone Levels). |
| Region Color | 12-color palette per region. |
| Region Opacity | Slider — transparency of selected region (1–100%). |
| FILLED AREA / LINE ONLY | Toggle — filled regions or outline only. |
| VISIBLE ALL / VISIBLE NONE | Toggle — show or hide all regions. |
| Region buttons | Head, Hair, Brow, Eye, Nose, Lip, Ear, Neck. |
| GRID ON / OFF | Toggle grid overlay. |
| Grid Density | « / » buttons to adjust density (1–25). |
| Grid Color | 12-color palette. |
| Grid Opacity | Slider — transparency of the grid (1–100%). |
Line thickness, image sliders (O/B/C/S), grid opacity, LRP color/opacity, and mono mode persist when switching images in the lightbox.
Use the ✉ Contact button to report bugs, suggest features, or send feedback. Messages are delivered instantly. No account required.
Loomism is a free tool that overlays Andrew Loomis and Frank Reilly method head construction lines directly onto a face photo. Upload a portrait and it detects the facial landmarks, estimates head pose, and draws the construction guides automatically — no manual grid alignment, no signup. It runs online in your browser — there is no app to download and no install — so you can use the Loomis method on a photo straight away. Use it as a drawing reference to study proportions, check your own portraits, and learn to draw heads from any angle. The full user manual walks through every feature step by step, and is also available as a PDF download.
The Loomis method builds the head from a ball-and-plane construction: a cranium sphere with a flat side plane, divided by the brow line, hairline, nose line, jaw line and a vertical center line. Loomism fits this Loomis head construction to your reference photo so the brow, hairline and nose lines curve correctly with the head's pitch — front, three-quarter, side profile, tilted up or tilted down. Because the fit is automatic, you get the Loomis head construction step by step on your own reference instead of copying a diagram — the same drawing works from every angle. The center line is subdivided along two spans (brow→nose and nose→chin) with quarter and third division ticks, so you can check the vertical placement of the eyes, nose and mouth against Loomis's proportions.
The Reilly method abstracts the head into rhythmic curves — the facial ovals, eye, brow and nose construction, cranial arcs and undercheek rhythm — that capture flow and likeness. Where Loomis nails the structure, the Reilly abstraction brings the portrait to life. Loomism draws the Reilly rhythms on the same photo so you can study both — a fast way to bring Reilly abstraction into your head drawing practice without redrawing the layout by hand.
The Loomis method is about structure and proportion: a simple ball-and-plane head a beginner can place in seconds. The Reilly method is about rhythm and likeness: flowing lines layered over that structure. They complement each other, and Loomism lets you overlay Loomis, Reilly, or both together on a single reference image. Artists often compare these two with the Asaro head, a planar model for studying light and shadow; Loomis and Reilly are about construction and rhythm, while the Asaro head is about planes.
The proportions overlay measures the classic drawing rules — the rule of thirds, five-eye-width spacing, alignment lines and ratio measurements (height/width, eye/face, nose/eye, mouth/nose) — so you can check whether a portrait's facial proportions are accurate against the reference photo.
A head-drawing technique by Andrew Loomis that constructs the head from a ball (the cranium sphere) and a flat side plane, divided with brow, hairline, nose and jaw lines, to draw a face from any angle.
Yes — Loomism detects facial landmarks and head pose automatically, so the Loomis and Reilly construction lines align to your photo without placing a grid by hand.
Yes. It runs in your browser with no signup. Upload a face photo and download or print the Loomis, Reilly and proportion overlays.
Loomism is a free Loomis method app that runs online in your browser — there is nothing to download and no APK to install. Open it on desktop or mobile, upload a face photo, and the Loomis head construction lines are drawn on it automatically.
Yes. Loomism estimates head pose, so the construction lines fit a side profile, a three-quarter view or a front view. The brow, nose and jaw lines curve with the head's pitch, which is what makes the Loomis method work from every angle.
Start with the ball and plane: a cranium sphere with a flat side plane, then place the centre line, brow line, nose line and jaw line. Loomism shows this step by step on your own reference photo, so you can copy the construction onto paper instead of guessing the proportions.