Customer Reviews

Draw Real People! (Discover Drawing)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Draw Real People" is one of the best art instruction books out there. Many art instruction books that teach you how to draw are too boring and difficult to follow, and the drawings aren't really all that interesting either. In Hammond's book she breaks down everything into simple steps. Hammond's techniques, gridding and shading, are so obvious that I wondered why I'd never thought of them before.

Throughout the book you'll find step-by-step instructions, exercises, examples of Hammond's own work and before and after drawings of her students. After implementing Hammond's technique, my drawing skills improved greatly. Instead of looking cartoonish and sketchy, they looked realistic and smooth. I was so thrilled with my progress that I went and got the rest of the "Discover Drawing" Series. I was bit disappointed, however, when I saw that half of each book was devoted to gridding and shading. They were the same exact things Hammond taught in "Draw Real People."

I recommend to beginners to only get two of Hammond's books: Draw Real People (good for portraits) and Draw Fashion Models (good for people, clothing, hair, etc.). Once you get a hang of gridding and shading you can basically draw anything, so there is no need, in my opinion, to get the rest of the "Discover Drawing" Series. All you'll need to do after that is practice.

Hi. I'm thirteen years old, and drawing has always been kind of an enjoyable hobby for me. My sister owns this book, and I was impressed with it so I started going through it Step-by-step. I did EVERYTHING the book told me to do, and I was AMAZED at the results!! Lee's blended pencil technique is easy to learn, and like she says repeatedly in the book, your drawings will only get better and better. Soon realistic drawings begin to become second nature to you.

Try it out for yourself! Do EVERYTHING the book tells you to do or you'll miss out on great things!! It's fun, and rewarding, so go ahead, "Draw Real People!!!"

I am just getting back into my artwork after many years. Although I have always drawn many things I never thought I possessed the talent or ability to draw a realistic portrait. Whenever I would attempt it, the portrait would be a beautiful picture of someone, but NOT the person I was attempting to draw. I just could not seem to make it look life the person. When I followed Lee Hammond's method using the grid, my portrait came out not only realistic, but it looked exactly like my daughter. My friends and family were amazed by the exact likeness of the portrait. This was on my very first attempt. I would highly reccomend her book. I plan on getting seriously into portraits now. I cannot believe what I was able to accomplish through her instruction. I am definitely going to be purchasing more of her books.

This book is the BEST drawing book I own. By following Lee's advice, which included her shading tecnique - it's easy, and makes your drawings look really good, and using circle stencils for the eyes so they look natural, I was able with some practice to draw some realistic looking faces and be told I am a good artist (and truly - I needed help!) Lee goes step by step with each part of the face, then teaches you how to draw an entire face with important facts to remember (like there is one eye width between the eyes). She included some drawings done by her students, and a couple of fun exersizes with scrambled bar graphs where you have to draw in each square how you see it in the right spot to see what the mystery picture is. If you are curious about drawing faces or wish you could draw better, get this book!

The Draw Real series by Lee Hammond are, by far, the best drawing books I've EVER owned. My art teacher even agrees and she has over 20 years of experience! When I first got the Draw Real books, I was an "ok" artist. My shapes were distorted a bit and the shading wasn't the cream of the crop. But after getting and studying the books for a while I did some of the best work I've ever done! I highly recomend the books for all artists, even the rookies. NOTICE: I don't recomend replacing hands-on help with the books. You'll get the best results with both a good art teacher and the Draw Real books. My teacher also contributed to my drawing success.

After many attempts using other methods or instructions my drawing were never anything I was satisfied with nor would show someone else. Ms. Hammond's technique is not only effective, but also easily learned. People who have seen my work respond, " I did not know you had that talent". Almost makes me want to keep the method a secret, but it is more fun to share!

Based on the recommendations I decided to give this book a shot.
I am a dabbler in most everything, and have recently picked up drawing again...

this book, has nice pictures of faces and up-close and personal body parts (like ears, and noses) it's not for the raw artists. There's a surprising lack of step-by step on how-to-, where to draw each part of the body and so forth. They have only a few samples with the steps drawn in; I'd love to have more pointers!!
And, it should be titled, "How to draw the head profile" instead of "How to draw real people", since the author did not include how to draw human figure, hands, arms, etc.

however, it's still a helpful guide in giving the basic knowledge of how to draw the human face.

I am 13, and drawing has always been a major avocation for me. Normally, I don't like drawing books, because most of them only give you a limited amount of objects to draw, in one pose. The most useful part of the book was always the first one or two pages, which normally include an introduction to drawing and the basics of shading. "Blocking out the subject in simple shapes" has never worked for me, for whatever reason, and neither has the technique for drawing portraits where you put in lines where the eyes should go, exc... I found my drawings to be of much better quality if I simply looked at the picture and tried to draw it, as opposed to following the step by step instructions. Using this straightforward style, I started drawing people's faces, until I was recommended this book. I bought it, and it was a worthwhile investment.
I'd never heard of this particular drawing style before, and I wish I had; it would have saved me much trouble. I wish I could post a before and after picture for you to see how much my drawing improved when I started using this style. Shading is explained thoroughly throughout the book, as is highlighting and many other important techniques. I recently painted an 8x8 mural of our school logo, a Native American, and this book provided priceless help. Though it might help to go through some trial and error first, I highly recommend this book to all classes of artists, beginners to professionals.

I resently purchaced this book and at first thought it was going to be one of those tecnical - slow process books. I'm only 15 and I know it's got to be one of the most easy-to-understand books I've ever read!!!

My eleven-year-old daughter wanted a how-to-draw-people book that was more advanced than cartoons. This is the one I chose, and she loves it. At her age, she just tries to copy the pictures, but when she is older I am sure that she will read it, and learn even more about technique.