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Paint People in Acrylic with Lee Hammond
Finally, a portrait drawing book that's "head-and-shoulders" above the rest! Paint People in Acrylic With Lee Hammond You are this close to buying the perfect book for first-time people painters! This fantastic book combines the easy-to-use medium of acrylic paints with beginner-friendly instruction designed to help you achieve realistic likenesses. With Lee Hammond's simple, step-by-step approach, you'll learn how to start with a basic foundation of color, then add layer after layer, gradually building towards a likeness. (Sound easy? It is!) A whopping 50 step-by-step demonstrations teach you basic techniques, how to paint individual facial features and, ultimately, how to accurately portray subjects of every age, complexion and ethnicity. Ten start-to-finish portrait demos bring it all together. Along the way, Lee shares her best tips from her 20 years of teaching what colors to mix to get "skin," an easy trick for adding a hint of color to cheeks, what makes a good background, and expert advice
- GenresArtNonfiction
128 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2006
About the author
Lee Hammond
52 books33 followersLee Hammond is known as “The Queen of Art”, by her publisher, North Light Books! She is a prolific writer and artist, in a variety of themes. With more than 40 years’ experience, she is the true pro when it comes to art instruction, illustration, and forensic art.
POLLY “LEE” HAMMOND
Lee Hammond is an author, illustrator and art instructor from the Kansas City area, who now resides in Naples, Florida. Her career spans more than 35 years. She is now the Artist in Residence for the Rookery Bay Research Reserve in Naples, Florida, where she teaches art in a variety of mediums and subject matter. She is also the official artist for the Friends of the Florida Panther organization, and the Naples Zoo.
Lee Hammond’s passion is teaching, and has owned and operated private teaching studios her entire career. Within her studios she has taught fine art to literally thousands of aspiring artists.
Lee is also a prolific writer who has had more than 35 books on art instruction published by North Light Books in Cincinnati. She has been their best selling author for more than 20 years and releases new books for them on a regular basis Her books feature step-by-step instructions for drawing and painting, utilizing her own proven, self taught techniques.
Lee is also a forensic illustrator and sketch artist for the Police. She started a career in law enforcement in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1978, where she was trained as a forensic artist, and certified with Smith and Wesson. She continues to aid various law enforcement agencies by drawing composites of suspects, as well as reconstruction drawings for identifying John Doe cases. She is also an expert age progression artist. Her drawings have been integral in solving many cases.
She moved to Kansas City in 1981 to work for the Kansas City metro Police Departments and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. She then married. Raising a family forced her into a self imposed retirement from law enforcement in 1983, finding it too difficult to be on call with small children. She then concentrated on teaching and writing, creating a very successful career with a strong following of loyal students and readers. She wrote books on illustration, specifically portraiture, and continued to hone her skills and expertise in facial anatomy.
The murder of a young woman in Leawood, Kansas in 2002 prompted her return to law enforcement, and she volunteered her services to help with the case. When the case was not immediately solved, the TV show “America’s Most Wanted” was also called in to gather national attention. They created a show based on the unsolved murder, and asked for leads. Because of the professionalism of her work, the producers of “America’s Most Wanted” hired her to work on their show, to help them with future cases. The case that brought them to Kansas was ultimately solved due to her drawing.
She worked for “America’s Most Wanted” on many cases, and is also on other true crime shows. She continues to offer her services to Police Departments in SW Florida.
Other career highlights for Lee include working as an illustrator for NASCAR®, creating drawings and paintings of the race car drivers. Those prints were sold all over the country, and on QVC.
Her prints are not limited to the sports market however. Lee also creates beautiful drawings and paintings of many different subjects, including animals, scenery, and floral. Fine art prints of these pieces of artwork are sold nationwide.
Lee’s newest endeavor is branching out into other genres in the publishing world. She is releasing a motivational book titled REACH!, in 2016, through Balboa Press, a division of Hay House Publishing. She will be offering motivational speeches and lectures upon its release, as well as REACH related artwork, illustrations and note cards.
Lee is also working on a novel titled “Remembering Anthony”, which addresses teenage suicide and bullying. Based on a childhood friend who took his own life more than 40
POLLY “LEE” HAMMOND
Lee Hammond is an author, illustrator and art instructor from the Kansas City area, who now resides in Naples, Florida. Her career spans more than 35 years. She is now the Artist in Residence for the Rookery Bay Research Reserve in Naples, Florida, where she teaches art in a variety of mediums and subject matter. She is also the official artist for the Friends of the Florida Panther organization, and the Naples Zoo.
Lee Hammond’s passion is teaching, and has owned and operated private teaching studios her entire career. Within her studios she has taught fine art to literally thousands of aspiring artists.
Lee is also a prolific writer who has had more than 35 books on art instruction published by North Light Books in Cincinnati. She has been their best selling author for more than 20 years and releases new books for them on a regular basis Her books feature step-by-step instructions for drawing and painting, utilizing her own proven, self taught techniques.
Lee is also a forensic illustrator and sketch artist for the Police. She started a career in law enforcement in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1978, where she was trained as a forensic artist, and certified with Smith and Wesson. She continues to aid various law enforcement agencies by drawing composites of suspects, as well as reconstruction drawings for identifying John Doe cases. She is also an expert age progression artist. Her drawings have been integral in solving many cases.
She moved to Kansas City in 1981 to work for the Kansas City metro Police Departments and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. She then married. Raising a family forced her into a self imposed retirement from law enforcement in 1983, finding it too difficult to be on call with small children. She then concentrated on teaching and writing, creating a very successful career with a strong following of loyal students and readers. She wrote books on illustration, specifically portraiture, and continued to hone her skills and expertise in facial anatomy.
The murder of a young woman in Leawood, Kansas in 2002 prompted her return to law enforcement, and she volunteered her services to help with the case. When the case was not immediately solved, the TV show “America’s Most Wanted” was also called in to gather national attention. They created a show based on the unsolved murder, and asked for leads. Because of the professionalism of her work, the producers of “America’s Most Wanted” hired her to work on their show, to help them with future cases. The case that brought them to Kansas was ultimately solved due to her drawing.
She worked for “America’s Most Wanted” on many cases, and is also on other true crime shows. She continues to offer her services to Police Departments in SW Florida.
Other career highlights for Lee include working as an illustrator for NASCAR®, creating drawings and paintings of the race car drivers. Those prints were sold all over the country, and on QVC.
Her prints are not limited to the sports market however. Lee also creates beautiful drawings and paintings of many different subjects, including animals, scenery, and floral. Fine art prints of these pieces of artwork are sold nationwide.
Lee’s newest endeavor is branching out into other genres in the publishing world. She is releasing a motivational book titled REACH!, in 2016, through Balboa Press, a division of Hay House Publishing. She will be offering motivational speeches and lectures upon its release, as well as REACH related artwork, illustrations and note cards.
Lee is also working on a novel titled “Remembering Anthony”, which addresses teenage suicide and bullying. Based on a childhood friend who took his own life more than 40
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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September 23, 2013I won't rate this book because whether or not you like it will depend entirely on what it is you're looking for.
I didn't like the style of portraits on the front of the book but because this is the only book I've managed to find that covers portrait painting specifically in acrylics, I decided to give it a go.
This book is fine if you are a beginner to portrait painting, or to art in general. It is simply laid out, with explanations about colour mixing, materials, grid method, light and shade etc. It reminded me a bit of craft books I read as a kid with simple instructions and step by step pictures. If you are looking for a paint-by-numbers approach, then this is the book for you. The author takes you through the portrait process with specific instructions about which colours to use etc. I think this would be a great book for older kids/complete beginners who want to try their first portraits as they will probably get a reasonably pleasing result.
BUT...if you are any more advanced than a beginner, then there is one major problem IMO. And that is that the portraits shown are UGLY. All the examples shown are massively overblended, making the subjects look like they are moulded out of plasticine. Lee Hammond explains about 'The Awkward Stage' in acrylic paintings, but some of the finished portraits don't look like they have passed this stage!
I would recommend anyone thinking of buying this book to go with your gut reaction to the portraits on the front cover - if you like the style, and you have no previous artistic knowledge then you will probably find this book very useful. If you are looking for something any more advanced than very basic, don't waste your money.
I didn't like the style of portraits on the front of the book but because this is the only book I've managed to find that covers portrait painting specifically in acrylics, I decided to give it a go.
This book is fine if you are a beginner to portrait painting, or to art in general. It is simply laid out, with explanations about colour mixing, materials, grid method, light and shade etc. It reminded me a bit of craft books I read as a kid with simple instructions and step by step pictures. If you are looking for a paint-by-numbers approach, then this is the book for you. The author takes you through the portrait process with specific instructions about which colours to use etc. I think this would be a great book for older kids/complete beginners who want to try their first portraits as they will probably get a reasonably pleasing result.
BUT...if you are any more advanced than a beginner, then there is one major problem IMO. And that is that the portraits shown are UGLY. All the examples shown are massively overblended, making the subjects look like they are moulded out of plasticine. Lee Hammond explains about 'The Awkward Stage' in acrylic paintings, but some of the finished portraits don't look like they have passed this stage!
I would recommend anyone thinking of buying this book to go with your gut reaction to the portraits on the front cover - if you like the style, and you have no previous artistic knowledge then you will probably find this book very useful. If you are looking for something any more advanced than very basic, don't waste your money.
October 1, 2017
The best portrait acrylic painting book I've read so far! She explain things in a very easy and complete way. I really recommend this book!
December 5, 2016
Before I learned to paint I read this book. My first painting turned out great, due to Lee Hammond, and my first filbert.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews