Know what P3 is? It’s ?Paper, Person, Perception. The holy trinity of drawing. It’s because drawing is never one sided and it’s something people tend to forget all too easily.  Y’see, the process of drawing actually comprises a trinity. We usually assume there is just one entity involved, ‘I’.

‘Knowing’ Something

This view is what gets in the way of most people who are new to drawing. Assuming that you control everything takes the focus away from the drawing and into the region of your knowledge of it. Quite simply because your knowledge of the world is pretty much always limited (Yet feels complete, otherwise the system would break down. This is why the ‘mind’ fills in even large gaps of non-knowing with a sense of completion. A sense that we know what the thing is.

Take for instance the vedic metaphor of the rope in darkness which is mistaken for a snake. The reason we assume that the rope is a snake is because the question ‘what is it’ cannot go unresolved. The system has to close the loop or suffer breakdown. So, the mind at any time ‘feels’ like it completely knows the subject, even though it probably knows very little. This is a natural function of the brain. Very important. (This human function is why arguments and debates exist.) Another thing! The older a person gets, the stronger this belief in knowing a particular subject, until the subject itself becomes a firm nugget, a symbol of the thing. After this point, any time someone brings up the subject, this symbol replaces it, and we stop learning. Knowing gets in the way.

Emptying the Cup

Drawing is an effective way to re-open the loop and introduce new information into the system. The first mistake most beginners commit is to draw what they know. You can instantly see that eyes are like fish, and heads are circle. Trees are sticks with a puff of leaves. Everything we see has turned into symbols. To decode it it is important to learn about the Trinity.

The Trinity.

The trinity involves the Medium (Paper, Pencils etc.) the Subject (What you’re drawing) and You. Try this. First take some very rough handmade paper, and a ball point pen. Draw a landscape for about 15 minutes. Now switch to a smooth paper and see how long it takes you to regulate pressure and movement to the new surface. What has happened is that the previous paper has primed you to respond to it. Now try a brush and see how long it takes to adapt to it. Quite simply it’s give and take. The material affects you just as much as you effect it.

Next up is the subject. Stop seeing it as a thing. (Try renaming it. I’m drawing a Mwaashgorg!) It’s not a tree. It’s a wondrous structure with a unique form. Study it’s contour and surface as though you were seeing it for the first time. Stitch together bits of it’s surface as though it were dissection in reverse. I promise you that you will see the subject with new eyes. For example,  this morning I learnt how to tie a cow! I was sketching this cow and as I drew the ropes, I noticed that one strand runs through it’s nose, around the snout, under the chin, over the head and around the neck. See what I mean? So the subject affects you just as much as you observe it.

Next up is you. This is the hard bit. You need to disappear. A friend once told me that as he draws it becomes difficult to breathe. This rapid breathing comes from extreme concentration. A sniper feels this too. So does a martial artist. This is the first step towards the disappearing trick. In plain science, the concentration on the subject requires your consciousness to completely merge with what it is studying. Typical symptoms are losing track of time and when you pull out of it, it’s like you were in a trance. As though you wake up from a refreshing sleep. If you’ve felt this while drawing, you know what I’m talking about.

So there it is folks. The holy trinity of drawing.

I found the Humming Bird image on this site. Kudos to the original artist, wherever you are. The cover image is a triptych by Francis Bacon. Thanks to my favorite Wiki. The cup is stock and the zen image is from MOS. Thanks much.

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