NeoLucida XL: a See-Through Camera Lucida

Bought a NeoLucida XL for me and one for my 12 year old nephew. I used mine to sketch a pencil with a radical skull head he had given me as a gift and presented him with the cool tool and sketch over takeout Chinese on our back porch. He disappeared after eating. I came in to find him using his NeoLucida XL, sketching the same radical skull head. His mom proclaimed me is godgeek--similar to a godparent but with more cred.

I am a lifelong artist and I enjoy all aspects of drawing. I make models to help making drawing beyond my ability to invent in my mind, but the art part happens before rendering an image, and how it is finished off. So, a lot of drawing isn't creating art, but explains what one is seeing. I have used grids to enlarge pictures. I have an art projector. I use a pencil at arms length to layout a page and get proportions of a landscape like a photo - my eyes are an imperfect camera (but sometimes the distortions are part of the art). I have wanted a Lucida since I first heard about them, so I am proud that you guys figured out how to build a useful Lucida at an affordable price. Many times I have tried to draw a soccer ball, or even a dodecahedron, and the angle shapes are (were) impossible for me to draw - so, with my geodesic dome model, and my Neolucida, I can now draw better some buildings. Plus, the technology is fascinating. Thank you.

Got this in the mail very quickly and got it to work. The illustrated instructions are clear and easy to understand. This will help me a lot.

Nice to be able to see the whole room then again the perspective is tricky. It’s tricky with perspective yet perspective is just plain tricky. It was hard to see the pencil point and where it connects with the paper. I put that down to my bad lighting and/or maybe the shade. It gave the drawing a blind contour look to it. Could be a good thing. I like the ability to place objects in the frame, it helps with composition. Without the shade it helped with seeing the pencil point, but I need to do more experiments and practice.

I can't really write a review for this product. I am an artist and have been practicing my craft for many years. I have been using a light box to copy the image with a soft lead pencil 8B. I then take
that tracing and, flip it over and burnish the imgae onto the paper I was using to create an very minimal image (the result created a very crude image.). I thought I was cheating. I was amazed by the fact that the old masters used this same technique with your product. This is my result. When I have the funds, I will purchase your Neolucida XL. Thank you for providing this unique tool.