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Some of the old-timers who read the blog might remember the Lucy. It was a device that would project an image so that you could trace it onto your paper or canvas or wall. The first ones were invented over 400 years ago and were called a Camera Lucida. When I first learned about them (70s-80s) they were big and clunky. There are a couple new ones on the market that are very compact. I won't be needing one - but if you are young and you like to draw but you don't want to go through the process of doing it *by eye* - you might be interested.
Non-artists think that artists who draw representational subject matter just *draw.* Some people can do that - but ever since lenses were invented, people have been working on devices where you could project your image onto a surface to get the basic outline. If you study art, you learn how to draw using just your eyes - but - it's one of those things that can feel tedious - especially after you find out that there is a *helper.* To me - it was more about liking the feel of paint and brushes. I needed to get the drawing on the canvas - and that wasn't the fun part. I'd already made a drawing on my own - but I just needed it larger on the canvas - so it wasn't cheating.
Some people think it is cheating to take a photo - and project the image from the photo onto your paper or canvas - and then paint it. Whether or not this is cheating is a much longer topic - which we may or may not revisit.
The camera obscura was an earlier device that did not have a lens. It had just a pinhole - but it still projected an image.
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