[aai] Lee Hammond's How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs
tribal...@earthlink.net
like to have for myself, so after years of just believing that "I can't draw
to save my life," I've decided to get some instruction books and see if I can
learn this wonderful skill.
I've read nothing but great things about Lee Hammond's book, _How to Draw
Lifelike Portraits from Photographs_. While that's great, do you think this
book would teach one the skills necessary to draw lifelike portraits from your
imagination? What about the rest of the body? Surely techniques applied to
the face could also be altered to apply to hands, legs and torsos, yeah?
I would rather spend a lot of time on one drawing and have it come out great
than to try to scribble through a bunch of drawings and have them come out
mediocre, and I do plan to share my drawings and sketches with others. I
sometimes try to start drawing something, but it looks like something drawn by
a kindergartener, so I just flap my lips and give up because I have no idea
what I'm doing.
Being a true beginner who has trouble even drawing a decent square or circle
without a ruler or compass, I'm trying to keep from diving into the deep end
with no floaties on my arms. Then again, perhaps the sink or swim approach is
the best.
All the reviews on this book have the highest rating except one, and that
reviewer seemed more like he was trolling than giving an honest review.
Thanks for any tips and/or recommendations,
Damaeus
Jerry Wahlstrom
nevertheless, I started working on learning how to do pencil portraits about 8
months ago. And I've been pretty happy with the results so far (for an amateur, I
mean).
I got my biggest inspiration and a few tips from Henk Prinsloo's site
http://www.woodenpalette.com/index1.html
It may not be as complete as Hammond's book (I don't have Hammond's book) but I'm
pretty impressed with the realism of Prinsloo's style and I learned a lot from his
site.
I've put up a few of my portraits on my home page at
http://w3.gorge.net/jwahlstrom/
You're welcome to check them out but please keep in mind that I'm an amateur and
I'm still just learning the techniques of this thing. I'm hoping to get much
better as I go along.
PS. I have a book called "drawing the human head and portraits" by J.M. Parramon
and it's a pretty good book for getting the basic facial proportions down.
However, it really didn't help me much for actually getting the graphite on the
paper. I think I'll go back to it again soon, though. After I get a few more
portrait attempts under my belt.
Jerry
tribal...@earthlink.net
wise decision to post this message on Wed, 23 Jan 2002 08:51:04 -0800:
> I got my biggest inspiration and a few tips from Henk Prinsloo's site
> http://www.woodenpalette.com/index1.html
> It may not be as complete as Hammond's book (I don't have Hammond's book) but I'm
> pretty impressed with the realism of Prinsloo's style and I learned a lot from his
> site.
Damn! I had to reply again because I loaded the page after sending my
previous message! I can barely tell the difference between Henk's portraits
and photographs! These are absolutely amazing! Sheesh!!! I think I'm gonna
swoon! I'd love to get that kind of realism and draw characters that don't
exist -- things I make up myself. I hope he tells somewhere on his site how
long it takes him to do portraits like that in actual construction time. :-D
Damaeus
tribal...@earthlink.net
wise decision to post this message on Wed, 23 Jan 2002 08:51:04 -0800:
> I've put up a few of my portraits on my home page at
> http://w3.gorge.net/jwahlstrom/
> You're welcome to check them out but please keep in mind that I'm an amateur and
> I'm still just learning the techniques of this thing. I'm hoping to get much
> better as I go along.
Well, my god... you're certainly a hell of a lot better than I am! Have a
look at my first attempt at a portrait:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tribalzidane/images/portrait01.gif
But if you were able to do that in six months, that's great! I'd be happy
with that kind of progress.
Thanks for the link to the Wooden Palette. I'm checking that out now to see
if I can learn something to get started. Of course, I gotta get some supplies
first. I don't even have any No. 2 pencils, much less graphite. :-)
Damaeus
hawkeshome
<tribal...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:eia05ust3gr1b7qsq...@127.0.0.1...
> In news:alt.art.illustration, Jerry Wahlstrom <jho...@hotmail.com> did
make a
> wise decision to post this message on Wed, 23 Jan 2002 08:51:04 -0800:
>
> > I've put up a few of my portraits on my home page at
Hi Jerry
Me too, amazed, at Henk's drawings, I was quite pleased with my drawing
till I
saw his, www.artist.rapidial.co.uk I will attempt some new techniques and
see what happens
Taid
Excellent work.Thanks for letting us know.I have put him in my Gallery 3
witth all the other good Pencil Artists
Regards
Taid
http://www.davidjwilliams.net
<tribal...@earthlink.net> wrote in message <jho...@hotmail.com> did make
a
> wise decision to post this message on Wed, 23> > I got my biggest
Jerry Wahlstrom
talked to Henk via email and he's very helpful.
His email addy is somewhere on his web site. (And I agree, his portraits are absolutely
amazing!)
RE:
> > http://www.woodenpalette.com/index1.html
tribal...@earthlink.net
a wise decision to post this message on Thu, 24 Jan 2002 19:40:29 -0000:
> Me too, amazed, at Henk's drawings, I was quite pleased with my
> drawing till I saw his, www.artist.rapidial.co.uk I will attempt some
> new techniques and see what happens
My main interest is in creating totally original characters, not drawing those
that already exist. However, I think I would enjoy drawing from photos. It's
like playing the piano. Some people have to learn to play songs others have
written before they can play the stuff they've written themselves. Hopefully
if I can learn how to draw people who already exist, then I can draw people
who don't exist.
Damaeus
Fungusamungus
part of his 'inspiration'.
--
Fungus
Turn up the heat to reply!
"Taid" <ro...@lineone.net> wrote in message
news:a2q7uh$13cek6$1...@ID-126062.news.dfncis.de...
Fungusamungus
book ("How to draw comics the Marvel Way" is old, but still good, and
there's a bunch out nowadays, but I wouldn't get anything later than 88,
because of the way the style changed drastically, newer books might throw
you off a bit. I would also recommend veering away from Hogarth. He's got a
great take on anatomy, but he's still very stylized and speaks his own, hard
to understand, language.)
You can use some of Henk's techniques, but only after you understand figure
drawing, and especially light and shadow in 3 dimensional space. I wish you
luck. It won't be easy, but it'll be worth it!
--
Fungus
Turn up the heat to reply!
<tribal...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:pft05ukch52834sn9...@127.0.0.1...
tribal...@earthlink.net
make a wise decision to post this message on Fri, 25 Jan 2002 06:36:24 GMT:
> Well, you sound like you're *almost* into comic book art :]
Yeah, that's my main interest... comic book erotica to be more precise. But I
want it to be high quality. And if not real comics, heavily illustrated
stories. =)
> Go find a good book ("How to draw comics the Marvel Way" is old, but
> still good, and there's a bunch out nowadays, but I wouldn't get
> anything later than 88, because of the way the style changed
> drastically, newer books might throw you off a bit. I would also
> recommend veering away from Hogarth. He's got a great take on
> anatomy, but he's still very stylized and speaks his own, hard to
> understand, language.)
Yeah, I hate having to run to the internet to look up definitions for obscure
words I've never heard of.
> You can use some of Henk's techniques, but only after you understand
> figure drawing, and especially light and shadow in 3 dimensional
> space. I wish you luck. It won't be easy, but it'll be worth it!
Thanks. :-)
Damaeus
Lar
> I would also recommend veering away from Hogarth. He's got a
> great take on anatomy, but he's still very stylized and speaks his own, hard
> to understand, language.)
Hee hee. Fungus and I have disagreed before on Hogarth. I'm gonna say give his
books a look-see and see if they work for you. They helped me tremendously in
my formative studies on drawing the figure from my imagination. I think
Hogarth's book on Wrinkles and Drapery is a must as well :) Another recent
discovery of mine on drawing is an old book by Jack Hamm! They were printed in
the early 70's and are still in print. There's one on cartoon drawing but it
has a ton of useful overall drawing tips and techniques and a great one on how
to draw animals, with great tips on how to landmark the animal physique beneath
all that fur :)
Your stuff kicks by the way :) Most excellent. I will nitpick though and say
they look like they are worked from photos (I don't mean that in a bad way, but
it is noticeable to me). Why do I say this? Photos do lose some depth of
field, even in great shots, and it is difficult to know where and how to
compensate when copying. You've got to watch out for the areas where the flash
was a little too bright and has flattened a muscle group, or where a shadow is
too dark and won't reveal it's detail. The human eye can spot them, the camera
cannot.
I think before you go out and spend a lot of money on books, turn your talent
towards doing portraits from live models :) Even if you can't get someone to
sit as long as you need to do something as finished as what you have on your
website, I think it'll give you a lot of insight on what I'm saying about
working from photos and help you embellish your future work to take them one
step forward again (a small step to be sure, since you are already displaying a
high level of skill :)
Later!
Lar
**********
The Many Faces of Lar
http://www.sentex.net/~fresco/faces
(updated Jan. 17th/02)
**********
G&L
Lar wrote:
> Fungusamungus wrote:
>
> > I would also recommend veering away from Hogarth. He's got a
> > great take on anatomy, but he's still very stylized and speaks his own, hard
> > to understand, language.)
>
> Hee hee. Fungus and I have disagreed before on Hogarth. I'm gonna say give his
> books a look-see and see if they work for you. They helped me tremendously in
> my formative studies on drawing the figure from my imagination. I think
> Hogarth's book on Wrinkles and Drapery is a must as well :) Another recent
> discovery of mine on drawing is an old book by Jack Hamm! They were printed in
> the early 70's and are still in print.
The Cartoon one was first printed in '67, mine is '81 published by Coles. S'okay. I
use it as a reference for retro cartoon styles. Speaking of Hamm and drapery; there
is one page, I think from his human anatomy book that deals with folds....it's all I
need:-).
My favorite book on comic art is How To Draw And Sell Comic Strips For Newspapers
And Comic Books* by ALan Mackenzie.
Anatomy: Bridgman.
> There's one on cartoon drawing but it
> has a ton of useful overall drawing tips and techniques and a great one on how
> to draw animals, with great tips on how to landmark the animal physique beneath
> all that fur :)
Are you sure that's Hamm and not Kent (Bambi) Hultgren (published by dover)? That's
the best animal book imo.
By the way your advice for life drawing is good. Many can draw from a photo and make
it look like a photo.....even with little foundation. But imo if I want a picture to
look like a photo......I'd take a photo.
As for my relationships with books,. looking back, is that as a younger artist I
didn't appreciate how they confused me. It's not until I gain a practical experience
I would go back to a book, even years later and say."oh that's what they mean" but
as a student I thought I "got it". The more experince I gain, the more I go back to
a book and it's like something new. It wasn't until years after the pursuit like in
my late 20s that theories started to materialise naturally.Anyways that's just me
Gerard
*never done comic art professionally but a great book.
Lar
> My favorite book on comic art is How To Draw And Sell Comic Strips For Newspapers
> And Comic Books* by ALan Mackenzie.
> Anatomy: Bridgman.
Haven't seen the Mackenzie book. I'll keep my eye open for it. Bridgman is one of
those books that gets better as I've gotten better :)
> Are you sure that's Hamm and not Kent (Bambi) Hultgren (published by dover)? That's
> the best animal book imo.
"How to Draw Animals" by Jack Hamm (ISBN: 0399508023). It's got a bright yellow cover.
I haven't seen the Hultgren book. Another one to keep an eye out for. :) Hamm's books
(the two I'm thinking of) have very crowded pages - full of text all around the illos
but worth reading. The text isn't drawn out and dry, just annotations for the thousand
and one things you have to keep in mind when drawing ;) Hopefully after enough
practice, most if not all will become automatic.
One that'll probably come up is "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". I think it's
got a lot in common with Nicolaides "The Natural Way to Draw" and definitely both are
the type of book that make more sense as you become more accomplished. However, if you
can trust the books enough to follow the exercises faithfully, you will see results.
They are both not really anatomy books but are great sources to help you improve your
observational skills. Art is a lot less 'hand-eye' co-ordination than people think and
a lot more 'eye-brain' co-ordination. If you can learn to really see what's in front of
your nose, you can learn to draw it, and draw it well - even from memory :)
Later :)
tribal...@earthlink.net
to post this message on Fri, 25 Jan 2002 21:04:16 -0500:
> One that'll probably come up is "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". I think it's
> got a lot in common with Nicolaides "The Natural Way to Draw" and definitely both are
> the type of book that make more sense as you become more accomplished. However, if you
> can trust the books enough to follow the exercises faithfully, you will see results.
> They are both not really anatomy books but are great sources to help you improve your
> observational skills. Art is a lot less 'hand-eye' co-ordination than people think and
> a lot more 'eye-brain' co-ordination. If you can learn to really see what's in front of
> your nose, you can learn to draw it, and draw it well - even from memory :)
I know that I tried the exercise where you draw a vertical shape with zigs and
zags and curves. Then you move to the right and draw its mirror image. This
is supposed to help stimulate right-brain activity. I can literally say that
it was very difficult for me to do this on the first try. I got to places
where I absolutely couldn't move the pencil because I couldn't figure out
which way I was supposed to go, even though it was right there in front of me.
And by the end of the exercise, I wasn't drawing a mirror image, but an exact
replica.
Now how's that for right-brain dystrophy?
Damaeus
hr
news:0f1t4ugm6o86k899i...@127.0.0.1...
> I've read nothing but great things about Lee Hammond's book, _How to Draw
> Lifelike Portraits from Photographs_. While that's great, do you think
this
> book would teach one the skills necessary to draw lifelike portraits from
your
> imagination? What about the rest of the body? Surely techniques applied
to
> the face could also be altered to apply to hands, legs and torsos, yeah?
>
Hey. I'm no mainstreamer either. I believe that we "draw what we saw"
instead of "draw what we see" anyway so when we do our things, we can't
avoid using our imaginations, even if we have the models right before us --
hence, different renditions of classroom drawings of the same model. Lee's
book is a good one. She explains how to look at things as a sum of their
parts and how to use a grid to one's advantage. I'd say that 3-4 days at
work with the book will get anyone interested if they want to know some
mechanics. Later, H.
P.S She helped fix the problem I was having making eyes look good.