Drawing Duplications Vol5

Vol#5 Drawing Duplications
Introduction
In this month’s installment we will look at ‘Drawing Duplications’.
When asked to name a favorite type of effect (for example a pin reveal, name
reveal, book test etc.) most mentalists will instantly state that the drawing
duplication is their favorite and it’s not hard to see why drawing duplications are
so popular.
The vast amount of versatility in terms of premise and performance is staggering,
ranging from remote-viewing to simple psychology and then everything in-between.
I don’t think there is a nicer moment visually than a participant and you holding
up a drawing simultaneously and they match – Double whammy! I have always had a
soft spot for drawing duplications and surprisingly they are something that I have
not talked at great lengths about… In all honesty I think they just might be my
next obsession. I have mentioned in the past that I tend to go through phases of
loving one/ two areas of mentalism till I refine them and then move onto another
area. It is a slow process but I love to know as much as possible on a particular
situation as possible.
One of the pioneers of drawing duplications has to undoubtedly be Uri Geller.
Regardless of anyone’s opinion of his ethics he has created and employed some of
the greatest drawing duplications that have ever been created.
My favorite drawing duplication of all time was the drawing duplication he
performed on ‘David Frost’s - Beyond Belief’. Uri had Ulreka Jonsson make a drawing
in Paris and he duplicated it thousands of miles away in America. One of the things
I particularly loved about that drawing duplication was the psychology that Uri
employed during the drawing duplication (whether he knew he was doing it or not
is another thing, but I wager he did as he is a very clever man).
Some of the drawing duplications you will read in this volume are very classical
in structure and method, others are bolder. I have visited a couple of routines I
have touched upon in the past and added my refinements/ subtleties to make them
fresh and there is a whole host of unreleased ideas. The most important thing in
this volume (as always) is not the methods themselves (they are fun too) but the
subtleties and nuances that are presented alongside the effects and the journey
that they enable you to take your participant on. I am currently in Dubai starting
to write this volume, I will continue to write in Paris (my home away from home)
and will finish writing this volume up in Holland/ Germany and then proof read
in Spain! I am going to let the things that I see and experience in these locations
inspire me and hopefully that will come out in this vol.
With that said enough of me rambling on,
Pete x
What is a drawing duplication?
I am finally comfortable with the format of these volumes which makes it easier
to focus on what should go where – This makes the volume more of a pleasurable
experience for you the reader.
What is a drawing duplication? Well to answer that question it is exactly what it
sounds like -duplicating a drawing. Making a copy of a drawing that someone else
has made… but with a twist, the person who makes the drawing never tells you what
drawing they have made and you manage to correctly identify and duplicate it.
It’s easy to see why this area of mentalism is so fascinating; over this volume you
will find several ways in which to duplicate drawings in a variety of different
situations.

Do you have to be artistic to perform a drawing
duplication?
NOT AT ALL!
As you will learn through the course of this volume there are subtle ways to get
around not being able to draw what the participant is thinking of (if this situation
ever arises) and ways to reduce their artistic skill to something completely
manageable – no matter what the level of your artistic ability.
I don’t think there is any more questions that need answering, so let’s get into the
content!

Drawing Duplications
By far the simplest drawing duplication possible is achieved by getting the
participant to make a drawing on a billet and then peeking the billet (in a close
up scenario) or a gimmicked pad clipboard peek in a stage scenario.
I am purposefully (apart from in one section of this volume) going to try and avoid
these methods. The reason I am aiming to avoid these methods/ way of thinking is
that there are so many different cool premises and methods available I really
think it would be a crying-shame to jump straight for the obvious. If you are
interested in ‘Billet work’ see volume four of this series.

Psychological drawings
There are drawings that you can almost guarantee while in performance a large
percentage of people will draw.
I will start by outlining a list of those drawings.
House
Tree
Car
Stickman
Dog
Cat
Sun
Smiley face
Flower
Let’s try a fun experiment - ask the nearest person to “Simply imagine making a
drawing” and tell                               you what it is, see how many times
they choose something that is on the list. This just enables you to see how popular
the above drawings are without you doing too much in terms of guiding the
participant verbally towards a specific drawing.
Obviously this is not 100% but I honestly think you will find the results startling.
Remember you have not really done anything here to guide the participant in any
way. Employing a couple of layers of fines/ verbal subtleties I am about to share,
the percentage rating                                                           will
be much greater.
First things first, let’s take a look at the language I used above, Instead of saying
“Think of a simple drawing” I would say “Simply think of a drawing or doodle” –
That way you are essentially “restricting without seeming restrictive” and it will
have the same effect on the participant psychologically. In terms of boxing them
into picking simple drawings but without ever asking them to think of something
simple. This is an old dodge but certainly serves a massive purpose.
This is the script I use in order to be able to get the participant 8/9 times out of
10 to go for one of the drawings above. In your head tell them which one you want
them to go for – This is very strange thinking but, I feel it helps as somewhere
I feel we often telegraph what we want someone to think of or feel – But that’s
just my opinion.
Another thing that can really up the probability is actually asking someone to
physically draw something, this puts them under pressure and is also another form
of restriction – Unless you pick an artist. Here is the scripting I would use -
Performer: “I want you to take this (the performer hands the billet or pad to the
participant) and simply make a drawing on there for me. Make it something we would
all recognize and for the sake of everyone else’s time keep the drawing to ten to
twenty seconds. Something like a Dog, a Cat or a stickman would be fine… For
obvious reasons don’t go for those”.
Let’s break down the script above and look at the effect it has psychologically.
First you will notice I don’t ask them to think of a drawing and then give them
the pad, this will give them time to change their mind. I give them the pad and
say “SIMPLY MAKE” a drawing this is one action and from a psychological point of
view it pressures the participant to make the first drawing that comes into their
mind.
The word “simply” as mentioned before restricts them to choosing something simple.
Another thing that I mention is “everyone else’s time”, this appeals to the
participant’s better nature. If I mention it is to save me time, the likeliness is
that not knowing the participant he/ she doesn’t care how long I have to wait for.
I essentially restrict the participant to taking ten to twenty seconds to draw their
drawing which again drastically reduces the number of drawings.
Then by mentioning the dog, the cat and the stickman I eliminate those from the
list of the psychologically chosen drawings.
I know what you are thinking, there is still a list of drawings that they could
have drawn –
With a couple of simple questions it is easy to reduce the number of possibilities
down instantly, for example –
Performer: “Can you think of the colour of thing that you have drawn for me?”
This will reduce the list by almost half based on the speed of the affirmation by
the participant. They are not prepared for you to ask this question and therefore
the Sun, Tree, Love heart and Car will be easier to visualize a colour for and the
affirmation will be almost instantaneous if you see any cognitive movement then
House, Smiley face and the boat will be the more likely of choices due to the
participant having to think of the colour.
Note to the reader** Cognitive movement is where the participant’s eyes wandering
off to find information. If you watch for this happening you can essentially see
when a participant is having to think about something they know but haven’t thought
of for a while.
Another example question, you could ask them to think about the main shape in their
drawing, using closed questions find out the shape –
Performer: “Focus on the shape that stands out most predominantly in your drawing
for me. You didn’t go for a circle did you?”
For more information on closed questions the readings volume in this series tips
several different ways to ask closed questions (that are a lot more subtle than
this).
Another thing principle that you can apply here after asking the aforementioned
question is the “Wash principle”.

The Wash Principle
The Wash Principle can be used verbally or physically. This principle (when used
wisely) will reduce your miss rating massively. In this instance, we will pretend
we are working with drawings.
Let's start with using the wash principle in a physical scenario.
We will imagine we are fishing for a picture someone is thinking of out of a
series of pictures, we have deduced that the drawing the participant has made is
a house or a car (just as an example).
Address the participant,
Performer: “Can you think of the drawing again for me?
“Imagine drawing this imagine in the air; imagine seeing all the different lines
and the way the drawing is constructed.
Concentrate for me but don't say anything out loud.”
This is where you pick one of the drawings (the house for example) and start to
draw the lines in the air.
Start to draw the house largely in the air (at a nice relaxed slow pace) remember
to draw it from the participant’s perspective so you are in essence drawing it
backwards.
Watch the participant’s face; if they react by starting to smirk, you know it's
that house they are thinking of! If not, wipe the air clean and shake your head
as though you are not seeing it clearly. Secretly we now know it is the opposite
drawing (in this case the car)!
Even if you didn’t hit, you corrected yourself and therefore have NEVER missed.
The theatrics are beautiful here also as it really is just two minds working in
unison.
You can see how this would be useful if you are torn between drawings when you
are psychologically deducing a drawing. You could use this after asking for the
participant to focus on the main shape in the drawing.
The most predominant shapes that stand out in the list are square and circle.
Using the wash principle you will instantly kill one of the shapes or confirm it,
meaning that your list has reduced drastically and you are going to be down to
two/ three drawings.
A principle that can be used here is one I created for “Getting to know two”
(readings volume) – I am going to name this principle (for reference purpose)
‘turning the other cheek’. When you get the participant down to three drawings reach
into your pocket and take out a small stack of billets.
Let’s for hypothetical sake say that you have reduced your participant down to a
car, a house and a tree (I know that using the colour question these three would
never be together, but it’s just for the purpose of explaining the principle).
Ask the participant to focus on their drawing and then write the word house on a
billet. After you have written the word house on a billet, shake your head and
instead of crossing out the word house let your thumb nail touch the surface of
the billet instead of the pen tip and strike it backwards and forwards across the
face of the billet.
It will look to the participant like you are crossing out whatever you have just
wrote, when in essence you have done nothing. Put this billet to the bottom of the
stack and also place two others to the bottom also (after the billet you just
“scribbled out”). So essentially the billet that you just wrote upon is three from
the bottom of the stack.
Re read this a couple of times, it might sound confusing in writing but is very
easy when put into practice.
This is where you will perform a ‘flop switch’, address the participant “See your
drawing at the forefront of your mind” as you say this bring the hand that is
holding the stack of billets up to your head to point to your forehead and bring
your hand back down palm down.
What you have achieved is under the big movement of touching your forehead you
have flipped over the entire stack of billets. So now that billet with the word
house on it is three from the top (the word house will be facedown).
Look at the participant and then write the word house on the top billet, do not
flash this it is essential the participant does not see what you are writing. Place
this face down on the table, on the second billet write the word tree place that
face down on the table also and on the third billet write car. The billet you write
the word car on will have the word house on the reverse side of it if you have
followed these instructions up until this point, keep this billet on the stack so
that the stack hides the word house. Address the participant and tell them not to
react in anyway, explain to them that you are down to three drawings.
Turn over the first billet that you placed on the table revealing the word house,
then the second revealing the word tree and finally deal the card that says car
upon it onto the table ensuring that you keep the word house hidden on the reverse
side.
Ask the participant not to give away any clues by looking towards the card that
has their drawing written upon it. When you have explained this ask them if their
drawing is on one of the cards.
The participant will state it is.
This is where we are going to use a Bill Cushman-esque principle I loved his
‘Terasbos’ from the psychological subtleties series and this is a principle I created
inspired by his.
Address the participant,
Performer: “Now we know that your drawing is here, it is my job to separate your
drawing from the rest”.
Look at the participant and then the billets and back to the participant.
Pick the drawing of the tree up from the table, if you notice that the participant
reacts when you pick up the drawing of the tree you leave it there your job is
complete. If they do not react simply tear the billet and place it face down on the
table.
Performer: “One down”.
Pick up the billet that says car on it and place it on top of the billet that says
house on it, pick up both the cards at the same time. This ensures that you can
flash the backs of the cards very openly without having to worry about the
participant seeing anything that they shouldn’t.
Separate the two billets ensuring that you are hiding the back of the card with
writing on it with your fingers. After a few seconds tear the billet that says
house on the face, leaving the double sided billet in your hand, place the pieces
of the torn billet face down on top of the other torn pieces and ask the participant
to state clearly which drawing they were thinking of.
Whichever drawing they say now, ensure that you place the billet down that way up
(as it is a 2 out billet) this will mean that out of three drawings you can instantly
be 100% correct every single time.
I’m sure you can imagine how useful this technique is, even outside of drawing
duplications for anything that you need three outs for.
Another psychological technique I have used for years and is not widely known is
one I call ‘guiding’ –
Abstract
This is a simple technique to force the image of a house on your participant.
Performer: “I want you to completely clear your mind, in a moment we you going to
build an image piece by piece in your mind. Images are constructed of lines, dots,
swirls and shapes.
 I don’t want you to think about anything just yet, as anything you do choose I
want to be a completely free choice.
I want you to let two shapes come into your mind, if you see a circle for example,
imagine it growing and becoming ten times larger. When you have the two shapes in
your mind build an image using those two shapes. Then after you have the image in
your mind bring the image to life add a few things around it so it is not just an
abstract doodle but now resembles a full drawing.
Tell me when you have a drawing in mind”
This is where I personally would ask them to remember the drawing as you will
come back to it later. The image they will have constructed in their mind should
be an image of a house with a tree next to it (usually to the left), the sun in the
sky and almost always the chimney will have smoke coming out of it.
By placing a ‘time delay’ before getting to the drawing it aids in making the
audience forget the process in which you got to the image.
Try this a few times you will be amazed at how simple this is, I remember my first
paid show (which was in a bar) utilizing this on the entire audience as a macro
effect. In this bar (as with all bars in England) they do a thing called house
spirits. Essentially it’s the cheaper alcohol than the branded alcohol.
I placed up images of houses all over the bar and on the way into the bar with
the words, “house doubles, add 1 pound” which is the offer that the bar had on at
the time. Then when it came to asking the entire audience to create an image in
their mind. When I told the entire audience what drawing I was transmitting to
them and got a huge reaction, I simply pointed out the images that were littered
all around and explained that those images had influenced their decisions.
Obviously this was a pseudo explanation but it gave the audience a process to focus
on and made people believe they could be influenced.
That’s just a small story from long ago but it was the instant memory that I
recalled whilst sharing this image force.
Abstract association
Another thing that is really cool with this type of routine is when you are using
multiple participants. Let’s say you are performing close up for a small group at
the table.
The first participant at the table quickly makes a drawing (it should be the house),
you ask for the billet with the drawing on to be handed to the second participant
who will be asked to draw things around that drawing to make it into a picture.
You might give an example of what you want them to do with a script that is along
these lines.
Performer: “I want you to look at the drawing for me, let’s for example say that
XXX (insert participant’s name) has drawn a chicken, if I asked you to draw things
around that drawing to turn it into a picture you might draw a barn or more
animals to create the picture of a farm yard. This would stay congruent and
consistent to the drawing that the first participant made. I am sure you can imagine
the amount of vast possibilities there in terms of pictures that could be created
and it is dependent on XXX”.
They will naturally now draw the tree on the left hand side, the sun at the top
right, a smoke with a chimney and sometimes a picket fence.
This process is normally over in less than a minute. Reading this it might seem
that it is drawn out - this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Ask the second participant to pass the billet to the third.
Performer: “Obviously now that picture you created as a team will consist of several
different drawings, all of which none of us could have pre-empted. I want you to
focus on one of the drawings. Tell me when you have one in mind”.
The participant claims that they have done as requested.
Performer: “The only question I am going to ask is which portion of the drawing
are you focusing on, the left, right, top or bottom”.
They will naturally tell you now which portion they are focusing on and you are
free to reveal what the drawing it is that they are thinking of (dependent on the
portion of the picture that they selected). If you wanted to take it away from the
picture that was drawn you could always have the third participant focus on a
particular portion of the drawing and then think of something that they would
associate with that drawing”.
Here is a script that will guide them,
Performer: “I want you to take a look at the drawing you are thinking of, we are
going to play a game of image association. If the image you are thinking of has
an exact opposite then go with the opposite of the image you are thinking of for
example, for a dog you would think of a cat and if you can’t do that then go with
an image that you instantly associate with the image you are thinking of.
Now you are thinking of an image that no one else in the room could possibly know
apart from you. Tear the drawing up we no longer need it as the image you are
thinking of exists solely inside your head”.
The sun would obviously be a moon, a tree would be a flower or grass/ leaf this
will force them pretty much to choose these two images.
Don’t worry too much about this, as you always know what the full drawing was and
you have several reveals you can incorporate into the routine at any one time. This
is where feel I would like to go off on a little tangent.
If you are ever in a situation in this type of routine where you are panicking
because you feel you have taken your participant too far and you feel lost yourself
NEVER show you are worried, in-fact never worry.
It is really simple, as your participants never knows where the routine is headed
and they don’t know enough about how you read minds to tell you how you are
reading them, you can practically tell them what you want and they only have your
word to go on and as long as you hit in the end it confirms what you are saying
as true anyway.
The best artists are the ones that never worry when something seems to be going
wrong, they make it part of the journey and make that part of the journey feel
like it was meant to happen.
Here is an example of a script that you can use if you find yourself in a situation
like this, for the purpose of demonstration we will stick with the routine we have
just talked about (Abstract association).
Performer: “You are now thinking of a drawing that you just created in your mind.
This drawing doesn’t exist in a tangible form and therefore there is no way that
anyone could know what drawing you are thinking of”.
We will pretend that we (The performer) has lost track of what is going on just
for the purpose of this example and how we would get out of this situation cleanly.
Performer: “It’s my job to look at you and try work this drawing out, then work
backwards to figure everyone else’s drawings. Essentially what we are employing is
reverse mind reading, I am going to read you, work backwards to work out what I
think you would associate with the drawing that you are thinking of and then think
of several drawings that I would associate with that drawing and then pick out the
one that I feel is most prominent out of all them drawings to work out your drawing
(the performer points to participant one). Look at me, in your head tell me the
image, say nothing out scream it to me in your mind.
Ok, keep sending it I think I have this… What would I associate with this image
(the performer focuses his attention on participant 2) tell me without saying a word
what drawings you made. Scream it in your mind now (the performer takes participant
2’s hands) I think I have this… Ok this is the image that stands out the largest
out of the entire group (the performer makes a drawing on a billet and then places
it face down onto the table) and by default I think what I have just drawn is the
image that you are thinking of (the performer points to participant 1).
If I have managed to do this, if I have really managed to work from the end
mentally visualized your image, then visualized all of yours I should now know
yours. What is the image that you drew?”
Participant: “A house”
This is where you would turn the billet over and sit back, if you act excited at
this point it will really sell the fact that you have mentally worked yourself and
you yourself are excited that you have somehow have managed to backtrack all of
the images. When in reality, you lost your way completely and then just created a
process/ journey in which it seemed you are doing something even when you are not
and when you hit the first image you indefinitely knew you are confirming to
everyone that you must have in-fact guessed everyone else’s drawings.
Whenever I am writing I always try to be very in-depth with the explaining things,
in this instance the last thing I have just tipped - when you realise you can use
this as a stand-alone principle to accompany any drawing duplication you will see
the true value in how we just applied the ‘Confirmation principle’. I wish I could
do the little winky icon that everyone uses on social media as I really feel it
fits here.
You can see how in performance how I would get out of a situation like this, if I
am not employing this principle just for the sake of it. I never worry about
anything in performance as there is always an out it is just about training your
brain to find it. In all honesty in a close up situation where I can afford to be
more lenient I purposefully put myself into a situation where I have to get out of
it. This is thrilling for me and completely keeps things fun. I love that bold
moment of completely letting go of the control and just free falling.
I then have to think on my feet in order to get things back into orderly fashion.
I am so thankful that I have trained myself like this, it has really helped me
when I need to perform something new as I can instantly script something now
without having to think. I promise you if you start doing this now, you will
completely thank me for this piece of advice later.
One principle that is little talked about that can also be utilized to create a super
clean drawing duplication is ‘pencil reading’.
Pencil reading
This is essentially what it sounds like, the idea of watching the way that the
participant’s pen moves while they make a drawing in order to be able to define
what they have drawn upon a pad or billet (without having to utilize a billet peek).
This is something that I have made a purposeful effort to work on over the last
couple of years and has served me well in many different scenarios as the main
method within an effect or the out.
There are several tips and techniques I have developed over the years to ensure
that the percentage rating is much higher than just hitting and hoping.
There are a few things that you need to take into account when ‘pencil reading’ the
first is that the pencil is the last of your priorities.
Here is an outline of the priorities that occur before you would ever focus on the
pencil (if you focus on the pencil at all). After outlining the priorities I will
break down each of the priorities and then piece them back together one by one and
at the end detail each priority in full.
The distance between you and your participant
The thing that the participant is going to write on
What the participant is going to use to write with
How the participant is holding the thing they are writing on (in terms of height
etc.)
The instructions that you give your participant
The speed the participant is drawing
The movement of the participant’s elbow
Finally the movement of the pen/ pencil (if needed)
As you can see there is a varied amount of things to focus on before watching the
movement of the pen/ pencil.
The distance between you and your participant
The ideal distance for pencil reading is anywhere from 3 – 6 feet, at 3 feet it
can be very disarming as the participant never suspects that you would be looking
especially if we employ the gypsy peek (which we will outline later) I have found
that the closer you are to the participant the more fooled they are as this is
something they will never suspect.
6 feet away is unnatural if the person is seated, 3 feet away is unnatural if the
participant is standing.
I find when seated that if you drink your drink while they are drawing and watch
the participant out of your peripheral vision if you time this perfectly then there
will never be any suspicion that you are looking (I know that I have not outlined
what to look for yet but please stick with me).
If the person is standing, you could always address a second participant and talk
about the amount of variables that exist when it comes to making a drawing. As you
refer and talk about drawings point towards the participant and just watch the
first participant draw!!
Think about it this way, if you are talking to the second participant and asking
those questions that participant is going to be focused on answering and not
watching your every action. The first participant will hear you talking to the
second and therefore will never suspect for a moment that you can see what they
have drawn (in any context).
When you have refined the technique over this distance, you can then stand the
participant further away and practice at that distance. I once pencil read Marcus
Lewis (head hacking) from one side of Covent Garden square to the other (width wise
not length).
I still remember the drawing that he drew – A Christmas tree.
Now you know about the ideal distance that the participant needs to stand let’s talk
about what they are going to write on
Ideal writing materials
The smaller the thing that participant is writing on the better. The reason this is
the case is that the pencil will extend well outside of the area of the card and
therefore it makes it very easy to see the movement of the pencil and when making
a drawing on the card, because their wrist is confined to a smaller area their
elbow will telegraph like crazy and will make this the area I would recommend
focusing on.
If you gave the participant a business card to draw on that would be ideal. I would
recommend this or a journalists note pad (the small pad) I would have them turn the
pad onto its side (landscape) when they make their drawing on here again the top
of the pen/ pencil will be visible outside the edges off of the card.
If all you have to hand is a normal sized pad, the speed of the drawing is the
deciding factor in how the participant will telegraph with their elbow the drawing.
The faster and larger the drawing the participant makes (on a large pad) the more
visible the movement of the elbow. I will outline exactly what to look for later.
What the participant should use to write
The longer the pen/ pencil the better, when I first practiced this ‘Steadler’ pencils
became my go to because the pencil was black and yellow – Like a bee or a wasp and
stood out no matter what environment but even more that that it had a red ball on
the top of it. This made it very easy to focus on that specific part of the pencil.
As long as the pen is of a good size (in terms of length) it should be perfect for
pencil reading. The duller the pencil tip, the better – The participant will have
to dig into whatever they are writing on making the movements much slower and
making it much easier to follow the pencil as the participant will have to re
If it is a pen, if you rub it across an eraser, spray the tip with hairspray or run
the pen till it is almost dry the participant will be forced to repeat each line
over and over, giving you more than enough opportunity to sight the drawing!
These are just little tips that all aid in helping to ‘up’ the probability in practice
of picking up on the drawing. Once you are well versed in this technique these
little subtleties you can drop out.
How the participant is holding what they are holding
This is very simple and by far the shortest step of all, the participant wants to
be holding the pad or billet landscape at chest to chin height. This is where you
will have to experiment which is best for you. I am a fairly tall guy, so chin
height for me is great because the participants elbows will be stuck out to the side
meaning their hands will be hovering and they have to make an over exenterated
movement to be able to draw the drawing and by watching the participants elbow it
will give you all you need in order to know the drawing.
As I mentioned previously this is the simplest step, just ensure they are not
obscuring the tip of the pen and that they are drawing landscape at chest to chin
height.
The instructions you give your participant
This is by far the most important step to getting a good ‘read’. Your instructions
have to be clear and concise in order to get your participant to follow what you
are asking of them
Performer: “I want you to take this and I want you to hold it like this (demonstrate
holding the card you are about to hand them landscape), hold it just like this so
that there is no way I can see over the top of the card in any way shape or form.
In a moment I want you to simply make a drawing, I want you to use the entire
area of the card. Make the drawing as large as possible go for something we would
recognize like a dog, cat or a stickman. I want you to clearly be able to show that
to everyone and them be able to see what you have drawn.
Before you make your drawing, write your name at the bottom of the piece of card”.
[This is so that you can gauge the positioning of the pen, if you notice that you
cannot see the pen over the top or they are leaning to far back not moving their
elbows then this is will give you an indication early to get a gauge on how the
participant writes and you can plan whether you are going to follow through with
pencil/ pen reading or employ a different technique. This is your fail safe as you
have prepared yourself should you need to move into a peek routine instead of
pencil/ pen reading.]
This is where you would remind your participant to draw the drawing largely and
you are ready to start.

The speed the participant draws at
If you notice that your participant wrote their name excessively quickly, then you
might need to condition your participant to draw a little slower in order to give
you more of a chance to pick up on what they are drawing. This is as simple as
saying to them, “When you make your drawing make it clear and concise, each of the
lines carefully constructed to fully portray to everyone should they look, exactly
what you have drawn”.
The participant is going to completely follow what you have asked to the letter
and this should ensure that you get a good read on them.

Watching the participants elbow
This is where you need to focus, when the participant is writing their name it
should give you a good focal on whether you are focusing on the participant’s elbow
or the pen. If you notice little amounts of telegraphing in the participants elbow
then you would dismiss this and focus on the pencil/ pen. Most people telegraph
massively and will give you everything you need without having to resort to
looking at the tip of the pen.
Look at the tip of the participants elbow and imagine that there is a pen attached
to it. Imagine that with each movement of the elbow the pen attached to the elbow
is making a drawing construct the drawing.

Watching the movement of the pen
If you notice that the participants elbow is not giving you what you need in order
to start to construct the drawing then focus on the tip of the pencil/ pen. The tip
of the pencil/ pen at this point is going to be the deciding factor in giving you
what you need to know about the participants drawing.
I would suggest to practice this don’t aim to do a drawing duplication, just ask a
friend or a partner to make simple drawings and see if you can guess them. Remember
I have already provided a list of drawings that are the most popular so the
likeliness is that it will be one of them drawings.
You could always give your partner/ friend the list and have them make a drawing
and start by getting accustomed to learning these drawings as they really are the
most popular. I think you will be surprised at the results that you will get after
a small amount of practice.

Additional idea
You could use this in conjunction with a one ahead, let’s assume that you miss the
first drawing or are unsure. You could ask the person to make a second drawing and
try to watch for this one. This will give you a second chance to guess the drawing
should you miss the first time.
You could employ one of the psychological forces outlined earlier for the second
drawing that way all you have to do is confirm that the psi force has hit via
following the first few lines.
I also do a very cheeky thing when pencil reading, once I feel that I know what
the drawing is I look away casually I don’t make an overt effort to look away. If
this is a house I can look away after I see the square being drawn and the start
of the roof.
Here is a simple script that you can employ during employing psychological drawing
duplications - this will drastically up the probability of the drawing being part
of the list that I outlined earlier.
Performer: “One thing I find particularly fascinating is the imagination of a
child. When we become adults our minds become polluted because of all of the
platforms of media we are subjected to. I would like to show you what I mean. In a
moment when I snap my fingers I want you to close your eyes.
The performer snaps his fingers and continues – I want you to go back to being 6/
7 years of age, imagine being in your bedroom as a child surrounded by things that
you have likely forgotten about now. I have done this myself and it is strangely
comforting to remember the toys and little things we had as children that we then
took for granted. You are completely free of any responsibility, you have no stress
and no one depends on you for anything.
I want you to imagine that there are a bunch of crayons on the floor, you pick the
black Crayola crayon up and simply make a drawing in this vision you have created
in your mind. It could be anything, a dog, cat, stickman I want you to open your
eyes and then make THAT drawing you made in your head on here”.
This is where you would obviously hand them the billet to draw on. I have found
this really helps in them simplifying the image as they are thinking through the
eyes of a child. BUT look at the way that you have set the script up.
You said that the imagination of a child is vaster than an adults as their mind is
not polluted. If you come back to this point after they have made the drawing on
the piece of card and committed to it makes the drawing they have drawn seem more
impossible.
Especially if you give them a few examples of a few of the things that you would
have drawn as a child, in my case it would have been a rocket ship with an astronaut
peering out of the window and an alien riding the rocket ship.
This is naturally going to be more of a difficult and in-depth image than the one
that they have drawn. This gives the participant and audience an example of the
sort of thing that they COULD have drawn. This can be used with the regular psi
force or the pencil reading.
[You can use this script with the next duplication that is outlined in the indexing
section - The only difference is that instead of telling the participant to pick up
the black Crayola ask them what colour they are picking up. This will make no
sense right now but when you read the next section bear this in mind.

Indexing
Indexing is another thing that really fascinates me, first I will start with a
very simple idea that I created a long time ago (which I am going to class as a
form of indexing but it is technically not – it is more multiple out) and then talk
about how to create a simple index and utilize that index in performance to create
a ridiculously clean prediction effect.
This effect utilizes a principle I call ‘Restricting without seeming restrictive’,
this idea was born after being dissatisfied with simple psi forces, I hated asking
someone to think of a colour and then revealing what it is, for me it just didn’t
sit right.
It felt underwhelming to perform and because of that I cannot even begin to imagine
the experience from the participant’s perspective. If I don’t feel happy with a
routine or premise then I cannot expect my participant’s to not feel that when I
am performing it.
I started using ‘thought linkage’ to psi forces that were likely to hit.
If I asked you the reader at home to imagine a colour…. You got one?
Now imagine taking a pen (that is that colour) and drawing something that is that
colour….
The drawing you have just made is a completely free choice right?
At first I thought you had gone for an apple/ heart but you changed your mind to
the sea??
   -   Again this is just a guess.
If it hit great, if not don’t worry – You might have gone for the sun, a flower or
a tree?
If you didn’t go for one of these it means you are weird… Just kidding,
In all seriousness though, this totally restricts your participants to making a
drawing that is usually one of the drawings I just mentioned.
Take a billet draw the sun with a smiley face upon it (just in case they draw a
smiley face this is still going to be a hit), take a second billet draw a tree with
grass and a flower below it, a third billet draw waves and a boat on top (draw an
arrow towards the sea and write the word sea – you will understand why later) and
finally a fourth billet with an apple on one side and a heart on the other.
This is going to be important later.
I position these billets into an order I could remember in different pockets.
I place the red one in left trouser pocket, blue one in my right trouser pocket,
yellow back left and green in back right. Ensure you know the orientation of the
three cards that are in your pocket (so you can bring them out appearing apparently
blank).
During a performance I would sit with the participant and explain to them that
subconscious imagery can be used as a means to knowing things about a person
without them having to say a word. Ask the participant to name the first colour
that pops into their head as soon as they say the colour if they say red, ask them
to imagine taking that colour and making a drawing.
Then you would give a reading for that drawing, and then pull out the card to
display that you have indeed predicted in advance that the person would go for.
This is by far the weakest out, my preferred out is one of the other cards and this
is the reason why.
As soon as the participant names the colour say, “In-fact before we go any further,
I want you to imagine taking a pen that is that colour and in your mind make a
drawing”. The card will be out on the table at this point (blank side up), “I want
you to make the drawing you are thinking of on there. It doesn’t matter if I see
it”.
This will prevent the participant from picking up the card from the table and
revealing the other side should it not hit. When the participant has made the
drawing, you will know if it has hit or not, this is where you will give them a
reading about the drawing that they have made. During the reading I would be
tempted to guess the persons star sign and other pieces of information using the
drawing as a guide.
[I am not going to go into the reading here as it doesn’t contextually fit, for more
information on readings see the readings section of this volume.]
If the drawing hits, simply finish with,
Performer: “I told you this was about getting to know you, I am a big believer in
fate to such a degree that I believe I was supposed to meet you today. Right now I
do not know the reason, but if fate decides we are supposed to know the reason it
will shine favorably upon us and let us know. There is only one way I can really
prove I was supposed to meet you today…
Turn the piece of card over”.
They will turn it over and the drawing will match. If it does not, they never know
that a drawing is on the other side and the reading will be great and the
participant will think you know more than you know – remember you never stated
that you were going to duplicate the drawing or predict it in advance. This type
of routine can be used as a test to ‘get to know how your participant thinks’ and
then you can move onto something you consider more sure fire.
These type of routines are very simple, light to carry around and at the same time
fail safe IF you are comfortable as a performer.
An extension of this routine is a routine that I call ‘Wish you were here’ – This
is a routine that I outlined on my first penguin lecture and I always find this
routine a pleasure to perform whether it is to a full audience in a stage show as
a macro effect or in a close up scenario.

Wish you were here
This routine is a routine based off of the ‘restricting without seeming restrictive’
principle it is an extension on the routines that you have read above. I love this
routine and when I first created it I was obsessed with opening any close up
performance with this. It is essentially a way of forcing the image of ‘a beach’ on
your participant – There are two ways you can achieve this, here is the script for
the first.
Performer: “I want you to imagine we are sat on top of a rainbow overlooking a
blank canvas, I want you to imagine the colours of the rainbow are paints so you
would have red, yellow, pink, green, orange, purple and blue.
Imagine taking one of these colours and using that paint as the main colour in
your pallet and then using that colour to paint a landscape. If for example if you
choose Pink, you might imagine painting a field full of flowers, green might be a
field or a park. For obvious reasons don’t go for those as I mentioned them, think
of either red, yellow, pink, green, orange, purple or blue and paint the landscape
now”.
The participant confirms that they have.
Performer: “Peoples creations are often reflections based upon their own
characteristics and preferences. I am going to base my drawing on what I see when
I look at you”.
Pick up your pad and draw a Beach; label the Sea and label Sand. I usually draw a
little Boat and a couple of Seagulls - This is if I am feeling bold – I then say
Performer: “This is going to be important later, don’t worry about that just yet”.
Place the pad on the table face down.
Performer: “Back to your drawing, what I see when I look at you is a kind, caring
person that is warm hearted.
I think you are the sort of person that has had some sort of despair and as a
result of that keep people at arms-reach. When you let someone in to your private
circle you really treasure them and are very loyal character.
I think the place you are thinking of will be a reflection of a recent mood you
have had, maybe wanting to escape from something a particular scenario.
Based on that the place you chose will be relaxing, in your mind there will be no
people in this image...Although the landscape you have designed would usually be
seen as quite a public place.
What landscape did you design in your mind?”
Participant: “A Beach”.
This is where you are free to reveal the drawing if it hits – if it does not all
you have to do is tie the landscape they have drawn to the reading you gave a
moment ago.
As an example if they chose a field, well a field is empty and away from people.
It might be somewhere you would go in order to get away from the stresses of the
busy city life. This is something I cannot help you with really as it depends on
the drawing that the participant draws and your ability to tie your little reading
to that drawing.
You can also use the dodge where you have the beach drawn on the reverse side of
the card without mentioning it – and pull it out of your pocket and let them draw
and reveal the drawing if it hits.
If the participant happens to go for something else give them a reading based on
their drawing (As outlined in the readings pdf). This is a very simple idea, simple
and effective. You could use this as a macro effect with the entire audience at the
start of a show. This is a very effective way to show the audience just how easily
they are influenced – It also means that really is no pressure on you missing.

Additional idea
If you are wondering what to do with the pad (should the drawing not hit) and you
said to the participant that you would come back to the pad later simply never get
around to it – I rarely get asked about it. If the participant asks here what you
can do with the pad, on the page where you have drawing the beach tear of the
corner of the pad (before you have moved into performance) and then dog ear (fold
up) the corner of the page below.
This means if you lightly hold your thumb over the top page whilst holding the
pad in your dominant hand and pull the page dog eared corner the second page of
the pad will pull out with ease. From the back of the pad it will look like you
are pulling out the front page.
You can have an out on this second page, or the set up to another effect (like a
magic square) or something that is bound to hit. You can have a short reading based
on curiosity written on the second page or you can keep it ultra-simple.
Have on that page the words – Independent, loyal, relaxed, bottles things up, small
circle of friends, stress? Have these words staggered around the page.
Leave the top page blank – when you perform this effect draw little aspects of the
beach bit by bit as you look at the participant. When you give them the reading
that I outlined earlier (before getting to the reading) and the drawing misses if
the participant asks what was written on the pad. Pick the pad up and tear this
page out simply saying “I was making notes about what I felt about you”.
Sign the piece of paper and give it to the participant as a souvenir.
I prefer to have the second effect set up and then bring the pad back into play
purposefully as it is me that has reintroduced it and there is no dead time. If the
drawing hits I revel the drawing and then I already have my second effect set up
underneath the drawing and I can move straight into that.
Another idea is to use the simple psi force of the colour blue.
Performer: “Think of the first colour that pops into your mind and”…. This is where
you would use the original scripting about them painting a landscape. This will
essentially force them to think of red or blue (as these are the psychological
choices). Then you know the landscape will be a field of roses or a beach. This is
not as guaranteed as the outlined performance of this – I feel the outlined
performance also offers a lot more in terms of presentation but it is always nice
to think of alternative methods also and it can’t hurt to try this.
One thing I really love about this routine is the imagery it conjures up in the
participant’s mind. This last additional thoughthas a more remote travel type of
feel to it and I don’t know where this lies in terms of being magic or mentalism
as the line is very, very thin I feel in this additional thought.
Take a thumb tip and load it with sand and have it prepared in a pocket.
When you start to probe for the drawing that they have drawn and you feel you
are comfortable with the fact that they are thinking of a beach this is where you
apply this script. Ask them to close their eyes this is where you take their hand
-
Performer: “I want you to imagine climbing into this landscape with me imagine
reaching down and scooping something up, something from around your feet for
example if it was a field of flowers then you might bend down and pick up a flower
or grass. Hand whatever you have in your hand to me in this image. On the count
of three we will come back to reality 1…2…3.
Can you tell the audience what you handed me?”
At this point you would ask them to hold their hand out and pour the sand from
the thumb tip into their hand. I performed this at a wedding I was booked for once
to test this out and the reactions were insane. I think I have shared this idea with
a couple of people but not really taken it much further than that.
I hope you don’t overlook how strong this type of thing plays out.

Back to Indexing
Here is how to create a simple index and then how to set it up – This should take
you no more than a couple of minutes to create and you will be able to start using
it instantly. This is just a quick portable index that is strong and reliable and
you don’t have to start adding ridiculous boxes or metal structures in your pocket.
It’s a wonder this hasn’t been thought of before -
If you call into Primark in England, or Penny’s in America (any cheap clothing
store) you can pick up a wallet for a couple of pounds/ dollars. This is what we
are going to use as our index.
Flip the wallet over and score the back with a scalpel like this.
Take a stack of billets and draw the aforementioned psychological drawings, this
doesn’t just have to be drawings it can be landscapes or anything else you would
like to index.
Fold the billets into quarters and then start to insert them into the slots in an
order you can remember.
The order that I use is – From bottom left up to the top and then bottom right up
to the top.
Stick man – Bottom (left)
Car – 2nd from bottom (left)
Smiley face – 3rd from the bottom (left)
Dog – Top (left)
Cat – Bottom (right)
Tree – 2nd from the bottom (right)
House – 3rd from the bottom (right)
Sun – Top (right)
The way that I remember this order is simple –
“George drove with a smile on his face because his dog and cat were in his tree
house to get out of the sun”.
I usually stack 8 drawings – you can of course stack more you can at a squeeze fit
up to 16 drawings on the back of a wallet. The wallet will go into your back pocket
with the billet facing out from your body. It’s as simple as when the participant
names the drawing reaching into the pocket run your finger up the back of the
wallet and then pull out the relevant drawing!
This is what the wallet looks like from the front and open.
As you can see from the front of the wallet and when the wallet is open it looks
just like a standard wallet!
Another thing I love is that it is incredibly simple to make the billet look like
it has come out of the wallet also
-
First loosen the billet in your back pocket so it is the only free billet from the
stack (after the participant has made a drawing). Bring out the wallet ensuring it
is kept face down (so the billets are hidden) retaining the loose billet on the back
by the middle finger. Open the note section of the wallet and place your thumb
inside the note section. Essentially your middle finger is holding the billet on
the back side of the wallet and your thumb on the same hand is on the inside of
the note section. Pull your thumb and finger upwards sliding the billet up – this
will look to the participant like the billet has just come out of the note section
of the wallet.
Another idea is to pretend to read the participant real time and draw on a blank
billet. Fold the billet and then place the billet in front of you on the table…All
the heat will be on this billet. Ask them their drawing and when they mention
their drawing retrieve it from the index.
It is as simple as swapping the billet on the table with the one from the index.
I have never seen anyone adapt an index in a wallet like this but it seems so
logical when you think about it, imagine having 16 different outs in your pocket
accessible in a couple of seconds. This means other than the few cards you are not
carrying anything extra in your pocket as it can still be used as a regular wallet
also and the billets stay in place solidly.
Indexing is something that I might come back to in the future as it is an area that
I have not overly played with.

A glimpse back at history
Sometimes while reading through old works of mentalism I come across ideas that
totally spark my interest and make my head spin.
This next routine is one of those routines, I tested this for the first time last
weekend and it totally works! The routine is dated and there is some controversy
surrounding who first invented it (no one seems to agree), the two places I have
seen this effect are in outlined in two classic texts (everyone who is reading this
should have read those).
The first one is ‘Practical Mental Effects’ – ‘Thought Rays’ – Dr.L.E.Duncanson and
the second is ‘The new encyclopedic dictionary of mentalism’ Compiled by Berling
Hull – ‘Dr.Q’s Slate test’.
There are so many great effects that are hidden in older texts, a lot of my thinking
is totally inspired by the classics. There are so many hidden gems hidden in those
books, from the principles to the subtleties they are gold and it is a crying shame
that a lot of those books aren’t looked at as frequently as they should be.

Effect
The performer hands the participant a slate and directs the participant to make a
drawing. The drawing can be any drawing, the participant shows the audience the
drawing and then wipes the slate clean. For good measure the participant is given
a cloth and a bowl of water as there is still a faint line where the drawing was.
The participant completely cleans the slate and ensures that there is no trace of
the drawing.
The performer after reading the participant (never fishing or asking any question)
then takes the slate and duplicates the participant’s drawing!

Breakdown
Think about this effect for a few seconds, how would you achieve it?
When I read the original description of the effect I had nowhere to turn in terms
of method – I thought at first maybe somehow the performer got a peek at the board,
maybe one of the audience members were a shill and coded the information to the
performer.
Whenever I read an effect description I play a little game in my head, I try to
work out how I would do the described effect. I do this for two reasons, the first
reason is that I genuinely enjoy the mental challenge - the process of not knowing
and trying to find out is for me exciting as I never know where my thoughts are
going to take me and secondly – I might be way off base in terms of figuring out
the workings but I then know how I would do it, if I was performing the same
effect and then have my own routine to add to my collection.
This I think plays a big part in the way I create and approach effects, I think
this is why every book I read I always feel inspired. It could be a sentence or a
phrase that I love or a premise/plot and sometimes it is the method (if it is novel
and interesting). If you buy a book for just the secrets you are totally missing
out on all of the real gold hidden within the pages. Read, then re-read everything
- the devil is in the detail. Now that you have had a little time to think about
the effect let’s talk about the method.
You will need to make a few preparations.
The secret to this effect lies in the chalk, purchase some 3 in 1 oil and soak a
piece of chalk in it overnight and you are ready to perform.
This is essentially what will happen, if a participant draws on the slate and uses
water to wipe the slate clean, the oil will cause the water (as the slates drying)
to form bubbles wherever the chalk has made contact with the slate.
Think about this for a few seconds!
After the slate has been entirely wiped clean after 5-10 seconds the drawing comes
back.
In the original write up of this routine in Practical mental effects there was
nothing tipped in terms of premise, scripting, justifications or audience management.
What I am about to share is how I would construct the routine in terms of
choreography – being honest this is a routine I have never performed, I have tried
and tested the slate and the me