Lee Hammond - Amazing Crayon Drawing with Lee Hammond: Create Lifelike Portraits, Pets, Landscapes and More

I WAS ONLY FIVE YEARS OLD, BUT I REMEMBER IT LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY. I was sitting at the kitchen table eating my oatmeal before leaving for kindergarten. My mother was in the kitchen doing the dishes. I vividly remember the sound of water running and dishes clanking in the sink, and my mom's neatly tied apron around her waist.

I always watched Captain Kangaroo, and during the show, Captain Kangaroo always stopped to do a promotion for Crayola Crayons, since he was their spokesperson. On this morning, he held up drawings that were created in crayon. They had obviously been drawn by a professional, and I remember my mouth falling open when I looked at them. The first drawing he showed was of a zebra in just black and white, but the drawing was shaded and realistic. To my youthful eyes it was like looking at magic. The second drawing was of a rainbow trout, and it was awesome. Even though we had only a black-and-white television at the time, you could still see the changing tones that represented the colors. It looked like it was gleaming and was actually wet, and the curve of the fish looked so realistic.

I jumped up from my chair and said, Look, Mommy! I'm going to draw like that someday! She came into the room, wiping her hands on her apron and smiled as she said, Then I believe you will. The rest, as they say, is history!

So, why was I so hyped up to write a book about crayons? Perhaps it was my inner child screaming at the top of her lungs, a desire to reconnect with my authentic, youthful creativity. Whatever it was, I had a blast creating this book, and I cannot recommend crayons enough if you want to have fun with your art.

So grab a brand new box of crayons, and follow along to create some fun drawings. You will be amazed with the results, and you will learn some great new tricks you can pass along from generation to generation.

I hope that this book will change the way people draw with crayons forever. It would be my dream come true for a child to see this book and have the same reaction I did when I saw the segment on Captain Kangaroo half a century ago, and say, Mommy, I want to draw like Lee Hammond!