NeoLucida: The 21st Century Camera Lucida Drawing Tool

Admiration can easily lead someone to overemphasizing the good and hiding (What is perceived as) the bad in others. Art historians that admire the ancient masters have done the same thing over the years; many ancient masters would use a prism (Camera lucida) or a projector (Camera obscura) as an aid to draw pictures, which explains how some old pictures and paintings are so photo-realistic that they can sometimes look indistinguishable from a photograph. Knowing that ancient masters used such techniques tarnishes their reputation of being super-human in their ability to draw, or at least this is the fear of art historians that want to minimize or refuse to acknowledge the use of camera lucidas/obscuras. This subject can be quite polarizing. I personally believe that such tools help AUGMENT talent rather than REPLACE it, so it doesn't detract from the wonderful works of art they helped to create.Until now, an affordable and easy to use camera lucida has never been readily available, but the NeoLucida has filled this gap. The NeoLucida is a prism on a snake-like bendable cord (Similar to USB lights you can find elsewhere) and a clamp to keep it stable on a table surface. The device will not give you magical artistic abilities, but it will AUGMENT your artistic abilities and allow you to focus more on your drawing technique. When I first received my NeoLucida, I thought "Everything I do will be wonderful!", but the first couple of attempts did not turn out very good. I realized that thoughtful effort was required to make a good drawing, and from that point on my drawings have been improving.This is the "secret weapon" of the ancient art world, and it's about time that they can be in the hands of anybody that has a few dollars. While the NeoLucida does not promise miracles, it will certainly make drawing much more rewarding. You can literally trace what is directly in front of you.

Does not work in any kind of helpful way. The prism is SO unbelievably small that you can only view about 1 square inch of anything. I tried multiple distances, heights etc. And you definitely cannot see a ghost image on the paper. Either their instructions for how to use this thing are misinforming or you have to keep adjusting every 30 seconds. In no way will this save me any kind of time, it's much faster just to free hand. Big waste of time and money. If you're looking into this, test it out first. I wish I'd never bought the thing.

It does do as advertised, but it is limited in ways that make it awkward to use. You'll have to set up a desk or table with just the right fixtures if you intend to use it a lot. Definitely not something you could use on the fly. You do still need to know how to draw.

If you're a beginning artist and you think this will help you with life like drawings you're on the right track. However, you must still master the basics before getting the full life like effect. This will definitely help you with the outlines and proportions.This does take some getting used to and I'd say the learning curve will vary depending on your skill level. I don't consider myself an artist and I got some stuff out of it the 1st time using it.The device itself is well made. The clamp is sturdy and allows for a 3" mounting surface and the neck is quite adjustable. Once adjusted it stays in place. Mounting and adjusting is simple. Make sure your drawing surface and the surface the Lucida is attached to is stable otherwise your strokes will not line up. I recommend they be one and the same.The box comes with the Lucida, carrying bag a pencil and instructions as well as web links which will direct you to more information on the device's history as well as tips on how to use it properly it.I felt it was a great tool for me to have and I found myself drawing once again. Something I haven't done in a long time.

And it is. That is, it overpromises. If it worked as well as the video shows, it would be worth five stars. It's a nicely constructed little gadget that clamps to a surface and lets you copy the subject matter in front of you. I'm an artist who sketches a lot and figured this device would help me do two things: one, get perfectly accurate proportions for portraits, and two, do cityscapes to keep buildings, cars and people in proportion to one another. I have found it pretty difficult to get the lighting right for the latter, and the subject has to stay completely still for portraiture (most people, not to mention the artists, would go crazy).The most important defect is that the advertising misrepresents the efficacy of the mechanism. The advertising implies that the Lucida transfers the object image to your drawing surface, and the ad makes it look like the subject matter is, in fact, reflected onto the paper. It's not. It's an optical illusion done with mirrors that takes considerable practice to get, where your eye sees the paper and part of the image at the same time. So you can trace the image -- that part's correct. But the effect is less than the advertising shows. You need patience, and maybe aspirin.If you don't have much drawing ability, this device might get you rolling. But if you're already an artist who sketches from life, the Lucida may make you question whether it's worth the trouble. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being "useful," I'd have to give this a 6.An additional observation: I have a friend who can't draw, but is a brilliant professional photographer. Instead of a live subject, he puts one of his photos onto his computer, then uses the Lucida and a pen to transfer the computer image from the computer monitor to paper -- all of which end up as some drawings that look quite convincing, and as legitimate as an artist might do directly with a pen. I do, however, expect my friend to gradually go blind if he keeps doing it. I keep mine hanging in my studio (the kitchen), sort of like a trophy.