Product Description

This volume provides start-to-finish instructions for drawing birds that help readers to break down complex images into an assembly of easily rendered shapes. Advice is also provided on fine details such as anatomy, colour, markings, beaks, feet and feathers, and about the five elements of shading.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186137 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

From Library Journal
Hammond, who runs a successful school of illustration in Kansas, has been a prolific writer for North Light books since 1994. This brief volume wisely confines itself to work only in colored pencil. The author breaks down the subtle shapes of different bird species into an assembly of easily rendered forms and explores five elements of shading for creating depth and realism. The details of beaks, feathers, and so forth are demonstrated before the student attempts portrayals of kestrels, parrots, ducks, and finches. Hammond ably packs the teaching of a much larger volume into a mere 80 pages. This is an excellent companion to Bart Rulon's exhaustive Artist's Photo Reference: Birds (LJ 3/15/99).
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Lee Hammond is the author of seven Discover Drawing series titles, three Drawing in Color series titles, How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs and How to Draw Portraits in Colored Pencil from Photographs. She lives in Overland Park, Kansas.

Customer Reviews

Great book for beginners
I'm a loyal fan of Lee Hammond b/c her graphite drawing series helped me out a lot when I was 11 and 12, made me learn how to draw and also the importance of good supplies. (There's a big difference between sketch pads and artist's paper when you're doing fine art!).
Her Drawing in Color books are also good, but I can't recommend them as highly as her graphite books. I would recommend these for beginners, though. One downside to this series and the graphite one is, if you buy one, you've botten them all, technique wise. The only difference is subject matter. Lee Hammond's preferred medium is graphite, and though her colored pencil book is good, her master of the medium is not as good as graphite.
I would recommend in addition to any of this series, Ann Kullberg's books (wonderful!) and Colored Pencil Solutions. Also if you want to jazz up colored pencil, I recommend the following: Colored Pencil Explorations, Create Radiant Realism in Watercolor, Ink, and Colored Pencil, and Gary's Greene's books for using solvents.

Excellent drawings
The drawings and the use of colored pencils is awesome. However, She does not explain how to draw the bird, or how to apply the colors. There are some examples shown, but not for the blue bird, or cardinal. You have to figure it out on your own how to apply the colors for these.

Love Lee's artwork
Another fabulous book by Lee Hammond. I like her style, not only does she instruct, but she shows you how the work looks completed using different types of colored pencils which is great. Great job. I also have some of her other colored pencils books and love them all.