Digital Tools
Notan Maker
Reduce any image to pure black and white to study the composition of light and shadow.
Focal Point Heatmap
See where the eye is drawn first. Upload a painting and verify the focal point lands where you intended.
Edge Detection
Reveal the edges and contours of any photo or painting. Study the underlying structure of a composition.
Composition Grids
Overlay classic composition guides on any photo or painting: rule of thirds, golden ratio, golden spiral, diagonal method, and custom grid.
Value Study
Reduce any photo or painting to 2 to 8 tonal bands to study its value structure. Plan your value pattern before you commit to paint.
Temp Map
See the warm and cool temperature distribution in any photo or painting. Warmer-than-neutral areas glow orange; cooler areas glow blue.
Lucida
The full studio assistant app: trace images, correct perspective, study values, custom color palettes, record timelapse videos, and draw with customizable grids, all in your browser.
More tools are on the way. Check back soon.
Recipe Calculators
Oil Painting Medium #1
A fast-drying, mostly-solvent medium for the first stages of a painting.
Oil Painting Medium #2
A balanced medium for the intermediate layers, tuned for drying speed, gloss, and flow.
Oil Painting Medium #3
A slow-drying, flexible medium for the final layers of a painting.
Retouching Varnish
A weak resin-in-solvent varnish that revives sunken-in oil paint between layers without sealing the surface.
Finishing Varnish
A slow-drying, reversible varnish for fully cured paintings, with adjustable gloss and flexibility.
Impasto Medium
An approximate recipe for thicker, more flexible oil paint layers with adjustable body and flow.
Maroger-Style Medium
A lead-free oil and resin medium with adjustable body, gloss, and drying speed.
Classical Gesso
Calculate a traditional animal-glue gesso batch for panels or sized canvas.
These tools are built from the same algorithms that power Lucida, a studio companion app for painters.
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