Art work with Camera Lucida by Les Bruder

Here is some art work done with the help of one of our Camera Lucidas, thoughts and a testimonial by Les Bruder. He is working on a website in which artists share their ideas, techniques etc, so that traditions can develop and veer off in creative directions. We will post a link when his site gets up and running.

“The Camera Lucida is suited to reducing panoramas and natural scenes to the size of a large drawing pad, and its portability makes it ideal for such image capture. You don't have to rely upon electricity as with projection systems, and the filters help one deal with all manner of natural lighting.

In my portraits and the movie screen shot [Below] I managed to use small photographs placed very near the aperture and mirror, together with a light near enough the image to allow me to view clearly the faces and figures on the paper. The enlargement of the image was about double.

You really learn a lot about light and seeing when you begin to play around with such an instrument. You feel like part of the camera, in fact you are a part of the camera; the mirror reflects the image onto a surface, the artist plays the part of the developing chemicals which fix the image on the paper. Another and perhaps greater instruction one gets from using the Lucida is practice in seeing and manipulating proportion, which, as Leonardo Di Vinci said, is divine. “ –Les Bruder

Art Work by Lynne Hurd Bryant using her Camera Lucida

Lynne has a BFA in art, and has no problem with light, color and shading but had trouble drawing anything to her satisfaction. She found our eBay store (AncientOptics.com) after watching a National Geographic documentary, and ordered a Camera Lucida immediately. Here is her reaction to her Camera Lucida:

“I LOVE THIS THING! I am so pleased and so excited and it is like MAGIC. My grammas were artists and I am sure they would roll in their graves to know I use one, but they would love it if they were here. This will add to my art degree training and expand what I can do.

I got an opaque projector to work from photos and I am less than impressed. Part of the problem is that they are photographs. The lucida will not have this problem. If anything, it seems to increase the depth of things.

I researched online about lucidas. Yes, you can sit in front of a computer screen with a digital image and use the lucida to draw it. I tried looking at some digital images through the lucida and view is 100% better than with an opaque projector.

Also, I drew a pot outside with the right oval shape and appropriate shadow. It was effortless. Perfection!

I found the instructions useful, as far as distance and adjustments were concerned. I didn't feel lost at all and I love the results. VERY HAPPY HERE.

The girl is my daughter and it is VERY like her, an very good likeness. Keep in mind, while I have a BFA in art, I never would do a portrait in school. This of her is about 8th or 9th portrait I ever done, period.”

-Lynne Hurd Bryant

We will undated you with more of her art work as she continues to use her Camera Lucida.