It was believed that some artists of the olden times used camera lucida to help them to draw. Camera lucida is an optical device that projects an optical superimposition of the subject that is in front of you onto the surface upon which you draw. It is essentially tracing.
Back in 2013, two art professors, Pablo Garcia, and Golan Levin, banded together to recreate this instrument for art nerds to explore this ancient art of drawing, calling it NeoLucida. It was met with positive success on Kickstarter.
Then in 2017, Garcia returned to Kickstarter with a larger version that was more beginner-friendly. It was a success too. Fast forward to 2023, Garcia again returned to Kickstarter with a new and improved version of the original NeoLucida, simply called NeoLucida Plus.
While the original NeoLucida is almost a one-to-one replica of the old optical device, the NeoLucida Plus boasts several improvements over the first version and introduced the ability to control the light.
The new NeoLucida Plus is now more beginner-friendly without the bulk like the XL. It features a completely redesigned prism that remains compact but produces a bright ghost image. It further features an integrated shader – much like sunglasses – that allows you to control the amount of light on your subject.
Moreover, it also rocks “precision aperture control paddles” that lets you change the eyepiece opening so you can dim light and create more precise image alignments of the ghost image and drawing.
The campaign for the NeoLucida Plus has ended on Kickstarter but you still can pre-order it on Big Idea Design website for US$89, with estimated delivery in December 2023. You may learn more about this cool gadget on Kickstarter as well as on bigidesign.com.
Images: NeoLucida.
