This Drawing Device Lets You Sketch Like Da Vinci
Jordan Kushins
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It would be cool to have the ability to eyeball something sitting in front of you then draw it with some semblance of accuracy, but I'll be damned if that kind of hand-eye coordination isn't tough to achieve. NeoLucida is here to help those whose artistic enthusiasm outweighs their talent.
The nifty device attaches to the side of a table, then superimposes your subject onto a sheet of paper; all you have to do is sketch what you see.
Creators Pablo Garcia and Golan Levin were inspired by the camera lucida, a pre-photography optical tool that used prisms to manage the reflection trick. Last year they ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to put the pieces into production, and they recently announced a pro-order for the second run (which will start shipping in September).
Rather than just plain old tracing, though, there's a nice opportunity here to play around with your personal techniques; futzing with the lines turn each work into something other than just a straight-up image translation.
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We have a few on hand to experiment with at Gizmodo's (super-mega-exciting) Home of the Future happening this week (!), and they are really, really fun. Team Giz has been doing some beautiful portraits of each other; as you can see, even with the reflection we've still got our own, er, "unique" style.
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Come visit us from May 17th to 21st, and you too can fine-tune your still-life and portraiture skills, then take home something special to display proudly on your fridge.
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But will it let you paint like Vermeer?
Scott Jamieson
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Ashley Feinberg
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I will start the bidding for my art at $200.
mark etapartme
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I would like to know if this helps or hinders one's sketching skills...
Good question...I've never been able to draw something to scale, always something out of proportion, but I can decently shade a shape that's been drawn...
Salgood Sam
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As an artist and art teacher i'd say it would be a help, both in the short term by letting you accomplish things you would find harder during normal drawing from live study - leading to less discouragement and encouraging persistence.
Giving up prematurely is the biggest obstacle to learning to draw.
And in the long run even if you have mastered drawing without one, it would still be fun. I'm ordering one and I hardly need it. Just looks like a great tool.
In the end what will improve your sketching, is sketching, and studying well. If this makes doing that fun, then it will help.
What becomes an obstacle is mostly not sketching, and not knowing the difference between doing and studying.
Giving up prematurely is the biggest obstacle to learning to draw.
And in the long run even if you have mastered drawing without one, it would still be fun. I'm ordering one and I hardly need it. Just looks like a great tool.
In the end what will improve your sketching, is sketching, and studying well. If this makes doing that fun, then it will help.
What becomes an obstacle is mostly not sketching, and not knowing the difference between doing and studying.
mark etapartme
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That means I'll probably get one. Stopped sketching thirty years ago, want something skilly to occupy my down time.
First suggestion with sketching art is probably the same suggestion potential photographers get and will likely apply to a lot of things you do: you can't be afraid to experiment, and you have to do it a lot, eventually you will improve.
The cost of this can be very high, as you well know. Materials, time, and effort... it adds up to a lot of work for something that's just going to drain your wallet and frustrate you to no end. However, the digital era helps a lot.
First, if you have a decent computer/laptop you have a start. What you then want is a sketching program that can use tablet technology. Wacom is the best. I'd recommend getting their Intuos Pro line, a small or a medium pen tablet. Especially for a starter, this is a fun and usually rewarding idea - because coming from a traditional background is not really a help here. The pen is just as awkward for a first-time artist using it as it is for a first time non-artist. (it can also be argued that the wacom tablet can be useful for other things, like doing notations on digital documents, signing digital documents, and simple sketches for presentations.) So the disconnect between what your hand is doing with the pen on the tablet will be the first thing you get used to... and at least you won't have the frustration of having to deal with that disconnect between you and the tablet getting in the way of visualizing a work. And really, this is what the electronic tools allow you to do best once you are used to them - to experiment with different ways of bringing your imagination to life without wasting tons of materials in the process. Whenever you have some free time, you can pop open an app that allows the pen use and doodle. Its what all kids do, and its what helps to connect the images in your head to the techniques necessary to put those images to paper or screen. If you have a surface pro... well, you already have a wacom pen - you can use some of the apps there to get started with some art. I'm thinking cintiq companion - sometime in the next couple years.
First reaction of most people: I can't draw. Ok. You can't draw. Yet, how do you know you can't draw? What looks bad about your drawing? Did you try drawing with a pencil? Sketch lightly? Experiment with different lines? Heck, did you practice drawing lines of specific lengths and straightness? A lot of artists spend the equivalent of years perfecting their strokes - they don't just sit down and create finished works, an artist has dozens upon dozens upon dozens of sketches and doodles that fill up just about any kind of paper that can be drawn on.
You think an Artist instinctively knows how to translate what they see to something visually pleasing on canvas? Please... Even daVinci's works can be 10 layers deep with canvas reused because he considered what was there to be "not good enough". Even in the same work, lines are constantly reworked. There are no mistakes in art, there are simply corrective measures or added features. :) Odd paint smears become mighty oaks. A slash of dark blue across a pond becomes a half-sunken log. A knuckle smear becomes a peach on a tree... Those kinds of things are common, even if the artist would prefer you didn't know about them.
As for visualization? If you know what looks good to you, then you're half-way there. If you can imagine how to make a subject look better, then you have most of the mentality of an artist. Take someone and drop them in a future cityscape. You probably have tons of reference photos of both - I know I have lots of them - and I use them. See a shape you don't like? Don't use it. Have a mistake? Incorporate it into the work. Think something would work better a little taller? Do it. That's art - what it has been and what it will always be. And not everyone is going to like it. That's art too.
I will warn you, stay away from ink. If you want to start with physical media - don't use pen - use pencil - work on shading, light and (eventually) color. You won't have the line/stroke skills to use a pen at first, that will come with using a pencil properly. (All pen work I do is either stipple style shading or cross hatching with short lines and a few general lines to indicate shape. Pen is difficult, in my opinion - its harder to work with mistakes.) Pencil can be blended, so if you make a mistake, just blend it in or incorporate it... erase it if you must, but I usually don't when I'm just playing around. Draw simple spheres and learn how light plays off of objects and items. Boxes are good too. Stack them, draw more. Don't be afraid to make a little still life or look up a picture on the web for inspiration. That's art.
Caylin John Naidoo
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I wish this was cheaper
50$ isn't bad...I'm sure you could make one though. after all it's a prism and a stick...
Jordan Kushins
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After playing around with one this weekend, I think I'm gonna spring for it. I just feel like it would be fun to have around, and you could always find something new to use as muse. We were having a blast doing portraits.
Actually - They tell you how to build one. I know what I'm doing when I go home.
http://neolucida.com/diy/design-spe...
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