A camera lucida in your phone
The camera lucida, the artist's drawing aid from 1806, rebuilt in your phone: see your subject over your paper and trace it. Free, in your browser, no install.
Cat
Or trace a free sketch
2 · Trace it
Prop your phone 20–30 cm above the paper (a glass or a stack of books works), then trace what you see on the screen.
How to draw with a phone camera lucida
- 01Photograph your subject (a still life, a pet, a person), or pick a picture you already have.
- 02Press Start tracing and point the camera at your paper.
- 03Set the phone 20–30 cm above the page. At that distance the picture stays sharp and your hand fits underneath.
- 04Adjust the see-through slider until you can see both the picture and your pencil, then lock it.
- 05Trace the main shapes, then put the phone away and finish the drawing freehand.
What a camera lucida is
A camera lucida is an optical drawing tool patented by William Hyde Wollaston in 1806. A prism lets you see your subject and your paper at the same time, as if the image were drawn on the page, so you can trace it by hand.
Modern versions such as the NeoLucida still use a prism. A phone does the same job with its camera and screen: the picture is laid over a live view of your paper, and you follow it with your pencil.
Optical or phone?
- An optical camera lucida shows a real scene (a person, a still life) and needs no power, but it's hard to keep your eye in the sweet spot.
- A phone works from any photo or drawing, can make it bigger, smaller, lighter or just an outline, and you look at a steady screen.
- Both teach the same thing: getting shapes and proportions onto paper accurately.
Questions
Can I draw a real object, not a photo?
Take a photo of it first, then trace the photo. That's often easier than an optical camera lucida, because the picture doesn't move when your head does.
Who used the camera lucida?
Artists, travellers and scientists in the 19th century used it for portraits, landscapes and drawings seen through microscopes. The painter David Hockney argued in his 2001 book Secret Knowledge that optical aids were used much earlier; that idea is still debated.
Is the phone version as accurate?
For tracing a picture, yes: what you see on screen is exactly what you trace, with no eye position to hold. Keep the phone still and locked, and check your lines with the see-through slider.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in Safari or Chrome on your phone or tablet. Nothing to install, no account.