Customer Reviews

Amazing Crayon Drawing With Lee Hammond: Create Lifelike Portraits, Pets, Landscapes and More

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I was a child my very favorite gift was a big box of Crayola Crayons (back then the big box had only 64 colors) and a package of paper. Crayons make me happy to this day. The first thing I do after I get myself a new box of crayons (the big big box of 120) is take a big whiff of the waxy smell (love it) and then I organize the colors. Amberly asked me why Crayola didn't just organize the colors for me. Personally, I'm glad they don't. It would take so much of the fun out of a new box.

When FSBMedia contacted me and asked if I would read and review Amazing Crayon Drawings with Lee Hammond, I was thrilled and of course I agreed. I figured that my seven year old daughter would love it. She's our resident artist. And crayons, as we all know, are for kids. Right?

Wrong.

When the book arrived last week I was AMAZED. Hammond's use of crayons is truly amazing (thus the title of the book). Her work is stunning and realistic and it is really hard to believe that her only tools were crayons. I was totally inspired by her creations. I ran to the store and bought a new box of crayons and some good sketch paper and have been "coloring" ever since.

I'm not really an artist but I've been following Hammond's tutorials on shading. I've created A LOT of spheres this week. Before I got the good paper, I copied Hammond's beach sunset. Fun! Fun! Fun! Plus, since my girls are always begging me to color with them, we shared some good quality mother/daughter time too.

While they're not generally considered a serious art medium, one really can create stunning and professional looking art with crayons. Crayons, as far as art supplies go, are fairly inexpensive. And with a crayon sharpener (a good one, not the one that comes with the crayons) even the "throw-away, only good for the kids" crayons can be salvaged. In fact, I haven't even used my new crayons yet. Honestly, they're too pretty in their fresh state. And every color I used in the above sunset picture comes in the small 24 crayon box that kids get at school.

I was coloring this morning with my little girl. I decided to try creating my own picture instead of just copying images from Hammond's book. I started a landscape of the view from my bedroom windows. It's coming along. It in no way compares with the beautiful images by Hammond, but I'm pleased. And it's just so much fun.

I am absolutely delighted with Amazing Crayons Drawing with Lee Hammond. This book will make you look at a box of crayons in a whole new light.

While I received a complimentary copy of this book from FSBMedia, this review is my honest opinion and no additional compensation was received.

Okay, so I had a dream one night that a friend and I had gone to Target and I said "oh wait one minute, I'm doing a portrait, I need some crayons" and I grab a box of Crayola. This really cracked me up and I woke up giggling. Hardly a few days later, I get an email from Amazon about this book and I think of the dream and go "yeah right, like THAT'S happening!" I figured it was about a great way to embrace pricey wax pastels that can make you feel young again cause it might feel like a crayon in your hand. It's okay, Caran D'ache already has a piece of my soul (oil pencils). I even email about what type of wax pastel but don't get a reply. Finally, a preview became available and I searched it for which type of brand to get and on the last page found the Crayola part. Yep, I was shocked too but delighted and immediately got the book and the Crayola crayon telescoping tower that Amazon recommended with the book. My portraits are anywhere from 30-120 hours each and I will still use my Pablos but I am having a LOT of fun with this book and the drawing and I plan to fill endless sketchbooks with these and possibly branch out into my professional work. Just don't tell my clients. ;)

Amazing is an understatement of what this book can teach you. I had serious doubts that anyone could reproduce the art work that this book contains and especially with plain old crayons! The book guides you through color, paper selection and ideas. I think the most important thing I learned from this is that you have to choose the correct paper. Don't skimp when it comes to paper since that made all of the difference in the world.

There is an easy to follow step by step guide to grid your paper to make the drawing easier. Another important step is a sharpener. I never thought that something so simple can turn a simple crayon into a means of actually creating something! I bought my crayons and paper at a discount store so that cost was under $10 and I even found the metal sharpener that made the huge difference. This is the most fun I have had in a long time and my son is even interested in trying it! Bonus!

Amazing Crayon Drawing with Lee Hammond is truly amazing! I was in complete awe studying every illustration in this book. Lee Hammond is extraordinary talented yet humble enough to share her techniques and what works best for her.

In this book best-selling author Lee Hammond demonstrates how to create realistic drawings using wax crayons. Magnificent drawings I might add. With Hammond's easy step-by-step drawing guide, you will learn how to create lifelike landscapes, animals, people, flowers and many more.

You will discover how to create brilliant color and burnishing techniques, along with simple blending and layering skills. Each colorful page is very fascinating to look at and simple to comprehend. Lee obviously took her time to break up each demonstration in an easy to follow format.

Hammond touches base on graphing and how to use a grid to achieve that true-to-life masterwork. The plastic grid in the back of the book is a big plus and very helpful.

Amazing Crayon Drawing with Lee Hammond is an awesome learning tool for those who yearn to create vivid imagery. Regardless of any age I can assure you, you will find this book captivating and very inspirational. It's unbelievable the masterpieces you can create with a simple medium such as a crayon.

Crayons, they're not just for kids anymore.

Remarkable! Two big thumbs up.

Reviewed by Martha Ramirez of Bookpleasures

Amazing Crayon Drawing by Lee Hammond

I received a copy of this book from FSB Media in exchange for a review. I am under no obligation to write a positive review, just an honest one.

Amazing Crayon Drawing is a beautiful guide to artwork created with crayons. I requested the chance to review this book because as a child I vividly remember spending so much time coloring with my Nana (mom's mom), and the idea of this made me nostalgic.

While I may be artistic in some senses (I am a ballerina and I play piano), I have always lacked artistic ability in the drawing arena. I once tried to draw a frog, and everyone thought it was a cow . . . so clearly, my gifts did not include drawing.

That being said, this wonderful book is a great guide to learning to draw better, and what simpler tool is there than a crayon?

The book starts you with the basics and even gives a great guide to color shades, and then teaches you about layering and burnishing.

You learn how to care for crayons, you learn how to draw basic shapes and shade them in, both in black and white and color, you learn about texturing within your drawing. It's really quite amazing! And the best part is the beautiful color graphics included in the book. Not only are they helpful for you to get an idea of what you should be working towards, but they are stunning. I could just flip through and look at the full color drawings.

Once you've mastered the basics you move on to learning about drawing nature, animals and finally people. It is very comprehensive, but very informative and helpful.

I definitely enjoyed getting a better look into the world of drawing. While it still isn't one of my God-given talents, it is something enjoyable that I do not mind giving a try. :)

I'm not sure that personally I will ever be able to draw free hand, but I love that I can use these techniques to help color in pages from coloring books with more shading and texture than I ever did before.

I have to say I will probably be passing this one to my Nana because she still loves to color and it is something that bonds the two of us together.

5 stars for the fun and beauty!

I'm sure we all remember our coloring books and crayons. We used to see who could stay in the lines. See the cover of this book? That is all done with crayons. Absolutely amazing!!

Lee Hammond shows the reader how to create lifelike portraits, pets, landscapes, metal and more. This book is actually really educational. The difference between laying that crayon (using it like a colored pencil) and burnishing is discussed as well as the difference it makes with your art.

The paper you use also makes each piece unique as well as discussing how to draw bricks, sand dollars, panthers, teapots and more. He takes you step by step to get the effect you want. There are over 29 step-by-step demonstrations covered in this book. He teaches you how to use a grid to draw true-to-life pictures and also gives you a few tricks of the trade.

This book would be great for any school, personal use or you just want to color. Trust me - you will look at crayons in a whole new light. I am absolutely amazed with Lee's drawings, but I can't wait to try it for myself. Gotta buy me some crayons!!

This book opens a whole new world for reluctant artists. If you're afraid of spending money for pro art supplies, which can be very pricey, or being put off by instruction books that show off the artist's work, but provide little help in actually producing such a thing, this book is for you.

Hampton shows you how to do everything, step by step, after she has discussed what you need to buy to produce the artwork shown in the book. With crayons and paper you can produce some very nice stuff. So, get over your fears, buy this book and a box of crayons, and go for it. (No you don't have tell anybody you're drawing with crayons until you've got something to show off). This book also helps beginning artists make a transition from crayons to colored pencils. But what the heck, using crayons is so much fun, why bother?

I am amazed at what Lee Hammond can produce with a box of Crayons. Bought it for my grandkids but I am also using it. Lee Hammond is the best.

Christmas is on the list and getting special items are the fun of the seasons of the year. Thankyou much.