Although I bought this for one of our daughters in conjunction with some other sketching supplies for her birthday, the rest of our daughters and I have enjoyed going through this book. Each of our 3 children are naturally artistic, but this book is filled with some very good instructions and suggestions on sketching portraits.
The illustrations are very well-done, and the author, Lee Hammond, appears to not only be a natural artist, but also a natural teacher/instructor. I have been sketching as a hobby for many years, but I have gleaned some very good information from this book as well. Noses, in particular, have always been the bane of any portrait I've done, but I believe I will approach my next portrait with a bit less dread when it comes to the nose after the very helpful information provided in Draw Real People!
In my opinion, this is an excellent reference book for anyone who is interested in portrait drawing, from those who have never sketched a portrait to those who have, but who are open to suggestions and further instruction. I would feel comfortable giving this book to ages as young as 6 or 7 years old, depending on the child's attention span and his/her interest level.
In my experience as a mother, I have found one of the most important things to do with a young person interested in art techniques -(or any other particular skill)- is to provide them with as much information/materials as possible while they have that passion and let them absorb and practice as much of it as they wish. It can be suprising how much a child will actually learn if it is something they have a strong interest in. This is what I have done with our children, who each expressed an interest in art at very young ages, each of whom have won awards/honors in art competitions, (please forgive me for bragging a bit on them, I'm just so proud of their hard work, dedication and accomplishments ;-)
I highly recommend this book and will be looking for other drawing/sketch books by Lee Hammond.
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