The Old Masters' Secret Tool | The LUCY Drawing Tool
The Old Masters’ secret tool.
The optical secret associated with Vermeer and the Old Masters — reinvented, and sitting on your desk. The LUCY is a modern camera lucida: you look through it, see your subject on the paper, and draw what’s really there.
You weren’t the first to suspect there was a trick to it.
For centuries, the uncanny accuracy of certain masterworks raised a quiet question: were the great realists working from the eye alone — or with help from optics? The historical record points to a family of tools that bend and reflect light so an artist can trace exactly what’s in front of them.
The camera obscura
A darkened room or box projects the scene outside through a small aperture — the oldest optical drawing aid. Studied by Alhazen, da Vinci, and countless artists since.
The camera lucida
A prism (and later, a mirror) lays a ghost image of your subject right onto the paper. You see the scene and your pencil at once — and trace. The LUCY is a modern take on this exact instrument.
The artist David Hockney’s Secret Knowledge argued that optical aids were in use far earlier and more widely than art history had admitted. The documentary Tim’s Vermeer followed one inventor as he reconstructed how a mirror-based setup could produce a Vermeer-like image.
Hockney, “Secret Knowledge” (2001) · “Tim’s Vermeer” (2013) — cited as cultural touchstones for the debate.This is a genuinely debated subject, so we put it straight: optical aids have been associated with the Old Masters — Vermeer, Rembrandt, Ingres, and others — and the theory suggests their precision may have leaned on them. Scholars still disagree on who used what. What isn’t in doubt is that the camera lucida is a real, documented instrument with a 200-plus-year pedigree — and the LUCY is its modern descendant.
“Isn’t that cheating?”
It’s the fair, honest hesitation — and the answer is worth thinking through, because it changes how you’ll feel every time you sit down with it.
“A tool means it doesn’t really count.”
The fear is that the device does the art for you — that you haven’t earned the result, and you won’t actually learn anything.
It’s a learning aid — you still draw every stroke.
It helps you see. You still draw every single stroke yourself — every line, every shadow, every choice. It trains the one skill self-taught artists fight hardest: seeing proportion accurately.
The masters didn’t apologize for their tools — neither should you.
Brushes, grids, lenses, mirrors, the rules of perspective — every era’s artists used the best instruments available to get the truth of a subject onto a surface. The camera lucida was one of them. Using a recognized optical aid doesn’t place you outside that tradition; it places you squarely inside it.
- You compose, you draw, you shade — the artistry is entirely yours.
- Many artists use it as a feedback loop — draw, compare, learn — and lean on it less as their eye sharpens.
- It trains your eye for proportion and perspective — results vary with practice.
“I practise by drawing a portrait from a photo and then I use Lucy and draw over my painting to see where I have gone wrong… it tells me how to look at a photo and how to improve.”
Behzad · LUCY customerThe part of you that asks “is this legitimate?” deserves a straight answer.
Here’s exactly what the LUCY is, and why it isn’t a novelty: it’s real optics, built to last, with a track record you can check.
Real half-silvered-mirror optics
Not a screen, not a projector. A semi-transparent mirror overlays a ghost reflection of your subject onto the paper — the same optical principle behind the historical camera lucida.
As Seen on Shark Tank
This is the same tool that was on Shark Tank — a real product that made it onto the show, not a passing gadget.
USA-made, 1-year warranty
Fiberglass-infused polycarbonate, shatterproof optics, an aluminum clamp and a steel flex arm. Built in America and backed for a full year.
4.2 stars across 437 reviews
The flagship LUCY flex carries a 4.2-star rating from 437 verified reviews on drawlucy.com — including the honest middling ones, kept on the page.
Look. See. Draw.
The same three moves an artist made with a camera lucida two hundred years ago — just easier.
Clamp it and look
Fix the LUCY to your desk or easel and look down through the optic at your paper. Setup takes under a minute.
See your subject on the page
A ghost image of whatever you point it at — a portrait sitter, a still life, a photo — appears right on the paper, correctly placed.
Draw what you see
Trace the proportions you see, then lift your eyes and finish freehand. The accuracy is locked in; the artistry is all yours.
There’s a brief learning curve — about 30 minutes to position the optic, find your eye line, and dial in the brightness before it “clicks.” Because it shows a reflection rather than a projected beam, lighting matters: light your subject well and keep the paper a touch dimmer. The flex and pro include multiple brightness levels for this.
Watch the LUCY work.
A quick look at how artists set up the LUCY and draw what they see.
Three LUCY models. Start with the flex.
They differ mainly in image size and sturdiness. The flex is the versatile pick most artists choose.
or 4 interest-free payments with Affirm — subject to eligibility.
- Image up to 12×18″
- 2+ brightness levels
- The low-risk first LUCY
or 4 interest-free payments with Affirm — subject to eligibility.
- Bigger image — up to 19×27″
- 4+ brightness levels
- Carries the 4.2★ / 437 reviews
or 4 interest-free payments with Affirm — subject to eligibility.
- Largest image — up to 20×37″
- Sturdiest, most stable build
- For serious & pro artists
30-Day Money-Back*
Draw with it. If it’s not for you within 30 days, send it back.
1-Year Warranty
Shatterproof optics, aluminum clamp, steel flex arm.
Built in the USA
Made in America by the team that reinvented the camera lucida.
*30-day money-back guarantee: item must be returned in resalable condition. See our refund policy for full details.
from 437 reviews on drawlucy.com
“It is a method. It is a time saver in a busy world… And you can learn from all of them.”
Comoco · LUCY customer“I have gone blind in my left eye over the last 2 years and this helps me so much to be able to transfer to my work surface, thank you for creating the Lucy tool!”
Kathy Murray · LUCY customerAs Seen on Shark Tank
The same tool that was on Shark Tank is the one that sits on your desk — a real product that made it onto the show.
As Seen On
The questions a careful buyer asks
Is it really the same tool the Old Masters used?
Is using it cheating?
Will it work in normal room light?
I wear glasses — is that a problem?
What’s the return policy?
Take your place in a 400-year-old tradition.
The optical secret associated with the Old Masters, reinvented and built in the USA — on your desk, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.* Start with the flex, our most popular model.
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