In this paper a novel method based on geometrical optics proposed to calculate the optical characteristics of an electric field driven liquid crystal (ELC) lens. For an optimally designed ELC lens, effective refractive index is calculated and then ray tracing is carried out using Huygens′ principle. From the results, the intensity distribution at the optimum viewing distance (OVD) is obtained. To confirm the validity of our work, the result is compared with that calculated by the extended Jones matrix method (EJMM). As a result, it turns out that the novel method provides more simple and rigorous simulation results than the EJMM.