Welcome!

Trois Crayons was founded in 2023 by Alesa Boyle, Tom Nevile and Sebastien Paraskevas with the aim of increasing the awareness, accessibility, and visibility of drawings in all their forms.

Trois Crayons offers a centralising space for all drawing-related activity worldwide, to facilitate and encourage engagement with the historic “father” of the arts. Gathering events into a calendar, hosting interviews with professionals and enthusiasts and reviewing ongoing exhibitions. We are working to demystify preconceived barriers to entry, compile useful resources, all of which and more will be disseminated via the Trois Crayons newsletter and podcast.

The name, Trois Crayons, derives from the French term meaning “three crayons”, a drawing technique using black, white and red chalks which rose to prominence in mid-18th century France and has a particular aesthetic appeal when used in combination.

The art of drawing has a rich and fascinating history which is ever relevant to the present moment. In the words of Vincent van Gogh, “drawing is the root of everything”. To Giorgio Vasari, the 16th century biographer, artist and art historian, drawing (disegno) was both an intellectual and practical process, it was the father to the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture and fundamental to all creative processes.

Trois Crayons champions this primacy of drawing and simplifies access for the digital generation to all the disparate elements that make up today’s world of drawing.