Lee Hammond's All New Big Book of Drawing by Lee Hammond

Lee Hammond's All New Big Book of Drawing by Lee Hammond ISBN-13: 9781440343094 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: North Light Books Released: Jan. 24, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from NetGalley:
Two books in one. The first half is a comprehensive course on using pencils to capture shape, form and likeness. The second half explores adding color using colored pencils.

88 step-by-step projects. You will learn to draw everything with this book! Starting with a simple sphere and working up to sea shells, sunsets, flowers, birds, horses, clothing, people--and so much more!

Lee covers it all--from big picture concepts (selecting tools, shading techniques, making sense of perspective) down to techniques for creating the look of feathers, capturing skin tones, and making surfaces look shiny or transparent. Using her straightforward, three-stage approach to lifelike drawings, Lee makes any subject approachable, from still life and landscapes to animals and even people. This project-driven tome will help you create realistic, frame-worthy artwork. Project by project and subject by subject, you will gain confidence and cultivate great joy in drawing.


My Review:
Lee Hammond's All New Big Book of Drawing is an art instruction book on using graphite and colored pencils. The first half of the book was about how to do the author's blended, realistic style of graphite drawing. He has you use the grid method to get your initial shapes correct and teaches readers about shape, light and shadows, and blending. He covered perspective and drawing shiny surfaces, glass, metal, textures, flowers and foliage, landscapes, furry and feathered animals, people (head, hands, feet), and fabric (folds and patterned).

The graphite step-by-step projects were: sphere, cylinder, eggs, garlic, stone well, shiny vase, a marble, silverware, wood, seashell, tree, leaf, rose, butterfly, long and short fur, animal eyes, nose, and mouth, head and shoulders portraits of a kitten, dog, and horse, feathers, a bird, human nose, lips, facial hair, eyes, eyeglasses, ears, hair, whole head, male and female hands (plus tips on old versus young hands), baby feet, hanging towel, and sleeve.

The second half of the book was how to use color pencils, specifically Prismacolor colored pencils. He used colors from the 48 pencil set. He covered many of the same subjects as he did in the graphite section, only using color and layering or burnishing to create the desired look. As in the first half, the step-by-step projects were three (sometimes four) steps long. He described which colors he used in which order. He described creating light or darker skin tones when teaching about facial features.

The colored pencil step-by-step projects were: a sphere, brown egg, peppermint candy, grapes, water droplets, onion, crystal goblet, drinking glass, marbles, pitcher, brass spittoon, wood grain, pearl, green leaf, autumn leaf, two butterflies, two flowers, clouds, sunset, dog eye, dog nose, long and short fur, head and neck of a horse, leopard head, swan, sparrow, human nose, mouth with teeth showing, mouth with facial hair, eye, ear, long and wavy hair, short and curly hair, baby hand, baby feet, hanging towel, and draped fabric.

He included samples of his work to illustrate his points plus in a gallery section at the back of the book. I felt he clearly explained his methods of using graphite and colored pencils, and a beginner will find this book helpful. If you've read his shorter books on Still Life, Nature, Animals, and People and Clothing, the introduction to this book said you'd mainly be getting what he said in those books plus a few new projects to practice.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.