Lee Hammond's All New Big Book of Drawing: Beginner's Guide to Realistic Drawing Techniques

by Lee Hammond

Overview

Learning How to Draw Has Never Been Easier!

Lee Hammond's All New Big Book of Drawing is the culmination of nearly forty years of teaching. No matter what your experience level YOU CAN DRAW by following along these easy step-by-step demonstrations. Whether you want to create drawings of flowers, learn how to draw animals or how to draw a person, these drawing techniques, all-new projects, and expert tips will show you how to get great results with both regular pencils and colored pencils.


 • 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!
 • A lifetime of know-how! 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440343094
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/24/2018
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	247,291
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.20(d)

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

GRAPHITE BASICS

Graphite has always been my go-to medium when it comes to art. It was my first love when it came to learning basic drawing techniques. Because I am self taught, it was the easiest medium to master. It's also the most portable and clean medium, so it was convenient when I was raising my children.

In the 80s, I developed the Lee Hammond Blended Pencil Technique and started teaching it to small groups.

Like me, the students found graphite to be the easiest medium to control. By the 90s I was hooked — and writing books about it. This technique has changed the way people draw.

This section of the book will make you proficient in graphite drawing. Even if you have previous experience, the projects will give you additional skill and understanding. I hope the illustrations will inspire you and prove that graphite is not just a tool to be used for preliminary sketching, but is a fine-art medium in its own right.

Graphite Tools

You cannot create quality artwork with inadequate art materials.

My blended pencil technique requires the right tools to create the look. Don't scrimp in this department or your artwork will suffer.

I've seen many of my students blame themselves for being untalented when it was their supplies keeping them from doing a good job. The following tools will help you be a better artist.

• Pencils

Mechanical pencils are great for fine lines and details, and you never have to sharpen them. While a mechanical pencil is my pencil of choice, the lead is the most important part. 2B is a soft lead that offers a smooth blend. You can also use 4B or 6B with similar results.

• Smooth Bristol Board or Paper (Two-Ply or Heavier)

This paper is very smooth (plate finish) and can withstand the rubbing associated with a technique I'll be showing you later in the book.

• Blending Tortillions and Stumps

Both are used for blending the graphite. Tortillions are spiral-wound pieces of paper that are good for small areas. Stumps are paper pressed and formed into the shape of a pencil. They are pointed on both ends and work well for blending large areas.

• Kneaded Erasers

These erasers resemble modeling clay and are essential to a blended pencil drawing. They gently lift highlights without ruining the surface of the paper.

• Stick Erasers

These erasers resemble mechanical pencils with a click mechanism for advancing them. The erasers in these are made of vinyl and they erase pencil marks cleanly. The small point of the vinyl eraser can remove precise lines and details within your drawing.

They come in a variety of sizes from large tips to micro.

• Workable Spray Fixative

This is a spray used to seal your work and to prevent it from smudging when you are finished. Workable means you can spray down an area and continue to draw on top of it. However, I don't recommend it for the techniques in this book. It will change the smoothness of the paper and interrupt your blending.

• Drawing Board

It's important to tilt your work toward you as you draw. This prevents the distortion that occurs when working flat. Secure your paper and reference photo with a clip.

• Ruler

Rulers help you measure and graph your drawings.

• Acetate Report Covers

Use these covers for making graphed overlays to place on top of your photo references. They'll help you accurately grid your drawings.

• Reference Photos

These are valuable sources of practice material. Collect magazine pictures and categorize them into files for quick reference. A word of warning: Don't copy the exact image; just use the images for practice. Many photographers hold the copyright for their work, and any duplication without their express permission is illegal. You can avoid this issue altogether when you use your own reference photos.

Blending

I teach a special method of drawing with graphite that I call the Hammond Blended Pencil Technique. I first introduced this technique back in the 80s when graphite drawing had a looser, more impressionistic approach, and smooth blending was rarely seen. Over the years, this smooth and realistic approach has been embraced by thousands of people and become one of the most popular styles of drawing. To create this look, blend your graphite until it appears smooth. It is not as easy as it looks, but with practice you can master this technique.

The following examples show what your blending should look like and what it should not. The smoothness of your blend will depend on how smoothly you apply the pencil. It's important to place your pencil lines down slowly and evenly at the very beginning.

If your pencil lines are put down in a fast, scribble-like application, no amount of blending will make them look smooth.

The Five Elements of Shading

In order to draw realistically, you must first understand how lighting affects form. There are five elements of shading that are essential to depicting an object's form realistically. Without a solid foundation of these elements, everything you draw will look flat.

Your subject will look three dimensional only when the effects of light and shadow are properly placed. Each of the five elements of shading can be seen on the sphere below:

1. Cast shadow. This is the shadow the object you are drawing casts onto a surrounding surface. It is often the darkest part of your drawing because this is where the light is completely blocked. It should be drawn in as close to black as possible. As it comes out from the object, it will start to appear lighter. It is Number 1 on the value scale.

2. Shadow edge. This is also referred to as a turning shadow. It is not the edge of the object, but rather the shadow on the object that shows it's a rounded surface. This is a dark gray tone that corresponds with Number 2 on the value scale. You will find this shadow where an object has protruded and the surface recedes to the other side.

3. Halftone. This is the true color of your object, unaffected by the light. It has no shadow and is Number 3 on the value scale.

4. Reflected light. Look at the sphere below. You'll see a subtle rim of light along the edge of the shadow side. This is the light bouncing up from the surface and coming from behind. It is the element most often left out of a drawing. Yet without it separating the shadow edge and cast shadow, your object will look flat. Be sure to study your reference for the reflected light — it is always seen on the edges, rims or lip of an object. While it is lighter than the shadows, it is still seen on the darker side of the object. It should never be left too white, or it will not look realistic. It is a light gray and corresponds with Number 4 on the value scale.

5. Full light. This is the part of your subject that receives the most light. It's Number 5 on the value scale, where the tones fade gently into the white of the paper.

Matching Values

It is important to match the values of your subject matter. I always tell my students to analyze and replicate the tones. However, there are times it may be difficult to judge the values in your reference photo and determine whether or not you are close. To compare your tones, use this little trick: Take two small pieces of white paper and punch a hole in each. Place one over an area of your reference photo. Place the other over the same area of your drawing. Look at both of the holes and see if the tones match. By isolating the tones within these holes, you can then compare them to white and see how dark they really are.

Backgrounds & Edges

Graphite is a foundation medium. The gray tones it produces provide you a means for fully exploring and understanding the importance of value and the five elements of shading.

One way you can use value to achieve a better sense of depth in your drawings is to add tone to the background. Notice below how the dark backgrounds affect the look of the shapes. If these shapes were set against white backgrounds, their edges would look much different.

When it comes to drawing shapes, there are two distinct types of edges: hard and soft. Hard edges are found where two surfaces come together or overlap. They are quite defined as their tones create the look of an edge by stopping abruptly. Soft edges can be found in areas when an object bends gently. They have a gradual change in tone.

Line Drawing: The Grid Method

The foundation for any good piece is an accurate line drawing. And it is best to have your line drawing perfected before you begin rendering because once blending and shading have been applied, it is much harder to make corrections.

There are many different methods for creating an accurate line drawing, but the grid method is the most popular method for acquiring shapes. It consists of evenly sized boxes placed over your reference photograph. You can make a copy or draw the grid right on top of the photo. You can also make a reusable grid by drawing or printing onto a clear acetate sheet. (Report covers work well for this and can be found at your local office supply store.)

Tape the grid onto your photo so it doesn't move. Then lightly draw the same number of boxes onto your drawing paper. Looking at one square at a time, draw the individual parts of the image into the boxes like a puzzle.

You can enlarge or reduce your drawing with a grid if needed.

To make your drawing bigger than the photo, enlarge the size of the boxes you draw onto your paper. To reduce it, make them smaller than the grid on the photo. As long as the boxes are perfect squares, everything will be relative.

Once the image is drawn, your grid can be gently erased with the kneaded eraser. What is left behind is an accurate line drawing.

Segment Drawing

Another useful method for capturing shapes accurately is segment drawing. All you need to do for this is make a small viewfinder with some black paper or card stock. The window should be 2-4 inches (5cm-10cm). When placed over your reference photo, only a small portion of the image is revealed. By making the subject less recognizable in this manner, you will be able to see the shapes and patterns of light and dark more accurately.

A segment drawing is a good way to practice your drawing skills without investing in an entire project. By concentrating on just small studies, your drawing skills will grow and improve rapidly.

Perspective

When drawing buildings or other structures, it is important to learn the rules of perspective. Without these rules, the illusion of depth and distance will be lost. Perspective is a complicated mathematical process, and entire books have been dedicated to it.

For architectural renderings and interior design, the elements of perspective must be exact. For general drawing, just the basics will suffice.

When we look at something, often the angular lines appear as optical illusions. Something may appear slanted upwards, when in reality it is going down. Or it may appear tilted, when it is actually straight. Knowing some perspective basics can help you see and draw things more realistically.

Now let's go over some basics of one-point and two-point perspective to help you draw structures more accurately. In one-point perspective all of the lines lead to one point on the horizontal horizon line. Two-point perspective occurs when the lines extend out to two different points on the horizon line.

CHAPTER 2

STILL LIFE

Understanding the basic shapes is very important when drawing any object. The effects of light and shadow on those shapes is what creates the form. If you learn how to apply the correct principles to drawing glass, shiny surfaces, metal and other textures, it will enhance the look of your still lifes.

Many will avoid complicated subjects like this, but complicated doesn't necessarily mean it's hard. It may be more time consuming, but the procedures are repetitive. Knowing that all things are drawn using the same principles makes it much easier. Even complex subjects can be mastered if you learn to see and draw everything as patterns of light and dark.

Shiny Surfaces

You have already learned how the five elements of shading help make subjects look three dimensional and how contrast is important to creating realistic forms. All of these same principles apply when drawing shiny surfaces, but the highlights are often more exaggerated. Shiny surfaces also require very smooth blending with no irregularities in the tones.

Study the drawing of the vase below, along with its close-up segments, to gain a better understanding of the role lighting and tone play in capturing shiny surfaces realistically.

Glass

There is oft en a lot of confusion when it comes to drawing glass and other transparent objects. How do you draw something that's clear? The answer lies in the way you look at the object. Even objects that you can see through have patterns of light and dark. It is the proper placement of these overlapping light and dark patterns that gives the illusion of transparency.

Metal

Drawing metal is similar to drawing glass because metal is also made up of patterns of light and dark. However, metal has one very distinctive characteristic — its reflective, mirrorlike surface will always create exaggerated contrasts of extremely light and extremely dark areas. The reflected light and shadow edges appear very extreme, while the halftone is hardly seen at all.

Study the drawing of the pitcher below. You will see the extremes with very few areas of gray in between. Notice the way the edges of the pitcher change according to the tones of the background.

Textures

Textures are not as complicated as they look. They are done using the same methods and procedures we've been using so far. Don't overthink it. Remember, most of drawing is just an illusion. The effects of light and shadow can completely alter the way a subject looks — especially when it comes to textured objects.

CHAPTER 3

NATURE

Drawing nature is a challenge, but you can produce beautiful images with graphite. Many artists reserve nature studies for color only, using paint or pastel to capture them instead of regular pencil. In the second half of this book I will show you how to capture nature with colored pencil. However, a graphite study in black and white can be every bit as beautiful.

Backgrounds

When drawing nature, it's best to work from back to front. In nature everything overlaps, so it is easiest to complete the background first. Human nature wants us to dive in and draw the recognizable objects right away, but nothing looks worse than drawing the things in the foreground first and then trying to create a background around them. (For more detailed instruction, you can refer to both my book and my DVD titled Draw Animals in Nature.)

Skies & Water

Drawing skies and water with graphite can be a fun challenge. You can easily create believable looking clouds using the bending and lifting techniques shown in the previous exercises. Likewise, the sparkle of water can be created by lifting out with a kneaded eraser using horizontal strokes. This proves that any subject can be captured with graphite using the same drawing principles.

Flowers & Foliage

It is not necessary for something to be in full color for it to be artistically impressive. Graphite is a wonderful medium for learning the value scales associated with different types of subject matter. Beautiful flowers and leaves can be drawn in graphite. While many automatically use color for flowers, a black-and-white study can be very impressive. The drawing procedure is always the same, even when drawing flowers. It consists of:

1. Creating an accurate line drawing

2. Adding the dark patterns

3. Blending

4. Lifting highlights and deepening dark areas

CHAPTER 4

ANIMALS

Animal drawing is one of my favorite subjects to teach. My animal-drawing classes are very popular, and the subject attracts many artists. I think the subject matter appeals to so many because it presents an opportunity to really capture the personality and soul of the animal you are drawing.

The pressure to produce an exact likeness is not as important when drawing animals as it might be when drawing people — where all of the features must be perfect to capture their likeness. With animals, there is a little more leeway to relax and let your artistic license take over.

Fur

Realistic animal drawing means learning to draw all different types of animal fur. In the animal kingdom you will see short, long, curly, striped and spotted hair. Oft en there will be more than one type of fur on a single subject. Drawing fur may appear difficult at first, but like any other subject matter, fur can be drawn using the same simple procedures we used before.

Features

You must learn the facial features of different animals before you attempt to draw the whole thing. Each animal species has different characteristics to look for. No two will ever be alike. Study your reference photos for the unique traits that each particular animal possesses.

Creating segment drawings will give you practice drawing different types of animal features. I recommend taking each of these drawings and reproducing them for practice work.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "All New Big Book of Drawing"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Lee Hammond.
Excerpted by permission of North Light Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction, 6,
PART ONE GRAPHITE, 8,
CHAPTER 1 GRAPHITE BASICS, 10,
CHAPTER 2 STILL LIFE, 28,
CHAPTER 3 NATURE, 42,
CHAPTER 4 ANIMALS, 52,
CHAPTER 5 PEOPLE, 70,
CHAPTER 6 FABRIC & CLOTHING, 96,
PART TWO COLORED PENCIL, 102,
CHAPTER 7 COLORED PENCIL BASICS, 104,
CHAPTER 8 STILL LIFE, 124,
CHAPTER 9 NATURE, 148,
CHAPTER 10 ANIMALS, 168,
CHAPTER 11 PEOPLE, 188,
CHAPTER 12 FABRIC & CLOTHING, 208,
Gallery, 212,
Conclusion, 218,
Index, 219,
About the Author, 222,