Lifelike Drawing In Colored Pencil With Lee Hammond

I have always been a fan of Lee Hammond's. I have also been graphite/charcoal drawing for several years. With Lee Hammond's help my drawings have greatly improved over the years. I finally wanted to add a little color to my art and thought colored pencils (CP) were the best way. I started first with the most popular book  Colored Pencil Painting Bible: Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Ultrarealistic Effects  by Alyona Nickelson. I don't want to take anything away from this book, it is very thorough. Alyona Nickelson's works are exceptionally beautiful. But for me, it was difficult to achieve even a resemblance to her final works. It may be because I am too new to the art or maybe I lack the talent. Either way I was left defeated and felt that I should stick to black and whites. Everything changed once I came across this book.I have seen many reviews where people call Lee Hammond a cartoon artist, not a real artist, copycat, etc. Yet after just a couple of her warm-up techniques and exercises, I was able to achieve my first CP drawing. The exercises I performed looked very much like Lee Hammond's final products as well. She presents each of her books as if you are completely new to the subject. She takes her time to explain the materials and goes over the techniques you will need to become proficient at the art. Her books may seem repetitive but she does not over-power the books with just lessons on materials and techniques. For those that don't need to go over that information again and again, she also provides a fair amount of examples to follow. Her chapters are as follows:1.Getting Started2.Techniques3.Round and Cylindrical Objects4.Rectangular Objects and Perspective5.Fabric and Texture6.Transparent Objects7.Metallic Objects8.Nature9.Animals10.PeopleIn "Getting Started" she goes over the tools and materials she uses. Her favorite CP pencils are Prismacolor (she uses  Prismacolor Premier Soft Core Colored Pencils, 132 Colored Pencils (4484)  ). Although she raves about Cresent Ragmat and suede papers, I noticed she uses mostly  Stonehenge Paper Pad 100% Cotton 250 grms 9 x 12 inch White 15 sheets  and/or  Stonehenge Wired Pad White 9x12 32 Sheets . The latter is the exact same paper as the first but with 32 sheets and in a non-perforated spiral notebook mainly used for sketching and not final works. But it is still the more economical route to go (wherever you may purchase it) since I can just use my blade to cut the paper and still end up with the final draft.In "Techniques" she covers layering, burnishing, values scale/gradation, color and contrast, 5 elements of shading, basic shapes, and finally using a grid and view finder. The rest of the book (pages 36-141) covers different exercises on the various topics. Each exercise has anywhere between 3 to 5 steps shown. With the more complicated/detailed pictures beginning with a grid of the photo. Interwoven between the exercises are more relevant examples of her final works.So even with all the name calling she has made a better artist out of me. It may appear like copying photos but sometimes you need to start simple before you can improve. This book helps you get the basics down. I have even gone back and done Alyona Nickelson's exercises. At least now my final CP works have some resemblance to hers. I have even begun to branch out and create my own works of art. This is a great place for the begining CP artist to start their journey.

I love this book. Lee covers a huge variety of subjects to draw from still life to stoneware to pewter to silver to pottery to flowers to animals, water and waves, the sky to folded towels and human skin, and hair for a portrait. The best part is that she tells you what prismacolor pencils she used for the correct colors. In the book she includes 2 full pages of color swatches with their corresponding numbers so you can see them for yourself. If you like Prismacolor premier pencils you will love this book. She teaches you how to use a grid to get picture perfect proportions easily to start you on your way. Starting with a fairly accurate drawing using a graph will keep you inspired and still hone your skills. This book will keep you interested even if you are a total amateur and your name isn't Michelangelo. Lee accomplishes teaching you burnishing with a simple lesson of two cherries. Try one lesson or try all. Everybody in my senior center was impressed with my colored rendition of two cherries. I have since created a couple of other amateur "masterpieces". You will learn at thing or two even if you don't pick up a pencil and just browse around the book. Good Work Lee. Thank you for this wonderful book.

I have just purchased this book and the DVD by Lee Hammond in colored drawing. The book and DVD is good but Mrs. Hammond needs to invest in a dictionary. Numerous mistakes that she has made with basic words and their definitions. First "LAYERS" is stacking something on top of something else (i.e., books, color, or a layered wedding cake, etc.). All drawings have at least 1 layer (the sketch is layer 1)and applying additional color to the paper is only applying additional layers of color to the paper. Lee Hammond has implied that a fuzzy drawing is a layered one, which is wrong (peach). Her colored peach consisted of many layers (canary yellow-layer 2, orange-layer 3, crimson red-layer 4, etc.).Secondly, pressing down hard on a colored pencil is not burnishing the colors. Prismcolor and Derwen sells colorless pencils. The colorless pencils are labeled as blender/burnisher pencils. Prismcolor also has colorless blender/burnisher markers to sell, as well. I have both and I use both.Since Lee Hammond loves Prismcolor products, I would think that she would have purchased a real blender/burnisher colorless marker and/or pencil for that heavy and shiny look (shiny apple,vase,leather coat,etc.). DO NOT waste your expensive pencils with pressing down hard on the pencils to cover the surface with color (waste of time and money). DO buy a blender/burnisher pencil or marker to get rid of the white paper showing through your colors. Add contour,highlight, or reflected light for additional shine.Overall, the book is good but Lee Hammond is not a real art teacher and I hear that she actually works at the police dept as some kind of sketch artist?Quote from a textbook:Layer give you the ability to separate individual elements of your design, and then control how those elements appear. Layers is a group of transparent sheets STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER, where each layer contains a separate aspect of the total design.Indesign CS5 (page 169) author: Steve Johnson,Perspection, Inc. Que Publishing Company ISBN#978-0-7897-4446-3

This companion to the successful "Lifelike Drawing with Lee Hammond" addresses subjects in colored pencil that are largely not covered in the author's previous colored pencil books.Readers will learn to draw flowers, people, animals, water, glass and more from a veteran artist and instructor using reference photos, simple techniques and clear step-by-steps.The book includes before-and-after examples from Lee's students that prove how her simple graphing and blending techniques translate into remarkable drawings; the shape and 'puzzle piece' theories that can apply to anything readers want to draw; more than 40 step-by-steps; and plenty of tips for beautiful drawings.

The book was in very good condition, was delivered very quickly and the book is exactly what i wanted to learn about coloured pencils

I brought one book from this Artist and now I have lots, they are so helpful, I have many many art books and these are the most helpful so far. I definitely will be buying the new one in January 18 too.

Love the way the author simplifys the process of creating good drawings. This bookreally lets you achieve your potential as an artist

Excellent book and very detailed. I wish I could do as well as Lee Hammond!