Easy magic

Mar 8, 2018
59
3
Hello everyone is there any way to learn the effects of a book without reading any of them in other worlds can sb be a magician without reading books. for example im a 14 magician and i only learn from youtube can sb do it a job or a second-job without reading any books?
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Is it possible? Yes.

Is it likely? No.

If you're not willing to spend money on resources, and invest time and energy learning your craft that you want to be paid for - you're also not likely to be motivated to learn the business side of things - which is much more boring than the fun part of learning tricks and performing.

If you don't have business skill, you'll struggle as a professional or semi-professional. You're not going to find that on YouTube. You'll find little hints and tips, sure - and lots of people trying to get you to pay for their advice for sure, but you'll never learn even a significant chunk of what it really takes to be a professional performer.

Another thing - if you only learn from YouTube, you'll always be behind. You'll have to wait until someone else decides to expose it (most likely against the will of the creator which is a whole different issue) - which means you'll never be innovating or creating your own material.

Those who follow in the footsteps of other performers will never innovate. Which is another reason why trying to be a professional who doesn't give his craft the respect it deserves is very difficult.
 

Antonio Diavolo

Elite Member
Jan 2, 2016
1,092
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California
Chris is right. You can only get so far off of the stuff you can learn on YouTube. Even then, most of the people on YouTube don't teach you the important subtleties and performance tips of certain tricks. You can continue learn on YouTube if you wish but if you're really serious about magic, I'd pick up some books. Most of the Dover books are cheap and have tons of great tricks in them for the price.
For example, this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Wilsons...preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
It's $15 and magicians of all skill levels and backgrounds swear by it. I highly recommend you check it out as it has hundreds of tricks ranging from cards to DIY stage illusions. It's literally a little bit of everything. If you like cards a lot then I'd also recommend The Royal Road to Card Magic as it's also cheap and has tons of tricks. Ask for them for Christmas if you don't wanna spend the money yourself. You won't regret it.
Either way though, and don't take this personally, I think you have a lot to learn before you should start performing professionally.
 

Tower of Lunatic Meat

Elite Member
Sep 27, 2014
2,435
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Texa$, with a dollar sign
Hello everyone is there any way to learn the effects of a book without reading any of them in other worlds can sb be a magician without reading books. for example im a 14 magician and i only learn from youtube can sb do it a job or a second-job without reading any books?

I'd recommend you stay off of Youtube tutorials if you want to really learn magic, especially if you have the intention of being paid for it. A lot of videos teach wrong methods and its difficult to suss out who is doing it right and who is doing it wrong.
 
Feb 1, 2017
229
235
is there any way to learn the effects of a book without reading any of them

If you are asking if there is a resource that could teach you all of the contents of a magic book through video, then no. Maybe some of the book. You'd have to describe the effect in the book to google and see if any free tutorial comes up; that would be dumb, since you would need to read the book for that.

in other worlds can sb be a magician without reading books.

Yeah you could buy online tutorials here on Theory11, but it would cost you way more money for less information. It may be easier for you to learn through video though, especially if English isn't your primary language and/or you don't know how to read (which would make all of this useless).

for example im a 14 magician

14 year old magician, or level 14 magician? Big difference.

and i only learn from youtube

Ahh. 14 year old magician.

can sb do it a job or a second-job without reading any books?

Depends. How much do you expect to earn? If you're looking at 40k/year USD, then probably not. 20k/year? Still naw. 10k/year? Probably, but only because I believe that a person can sit outside with a cup and do nothing for 8 hours and still make $5/hr.
 

Tower of Lunatic Meat

Elite Member
Sep 27, 2014
2,435
2,030
Texa$, with a dollar sign
Only one person gave a legitimate answer to the original question. Wow.

I'm not sure if you're referring to me as per the like on my post, but let me explain where I'm coming from and why.

I started magic some years ago; sometime in 2013-2014. Memory is a bit hazy. Two of the first people I ever started talking to about it were @RealityOne and @ChristopherT. In todays information culture, Youtube is a super popular go-to to get information. and I started looking there--and I'm not 14. But David and Chris both swooped in and directed me to books and made recommendations.

One thing that was a big factors for me is that both of them have been doing what they do professionally for quite some time. To drive the point home, they both have read and have enough books to give a fire marshall some concern.

You can go in two different directions with this information:

- Listen to the voices of experience and get your head into books.

- Go the other way in absolute defiance because you know better in something you just started in that day than the veterans do.

In the time I have been doing magic, I have never seen or heard of anyone that learns strictly from Youtube and has made any modicum of financial stability for themselves.

Big reason is that ANYONE can make a video of anything. Even borderline computer illiterate me has a Youtube channel. This means that ANYONE, while well intentioned, could go on Youtube and teach something, whether they are qualified or not. And that's a big problem (besides exposure): when you're starting out, you don't know the big names, you don't know the names of any tricks, and most of all you don't know where else to look; you are similar to a rat in a maze.

Books are the recommendation because it's been professionals who have penned books. Books are A LOT harder to write due to the medium (if you're a garbage writer, you don't get a book deal. If your content isn't up to snuff, no deal. Etc.) and they take A LOT longer and a lot more effort to do than Johnny Newshoes doing a tutorial of a French Drop on Youtube and flashing the entire time, inadvertantly showing you exactly how NOT to do it and simultaneously teaching bad habits.

As for me, I'm barely a step above armchair magician. I've learned quite a bit from books and asking questions and doing research, but I haven't been able to utilize much as I'd like to, especially in the arena of performing for others. I love magic as a hobby, but I don't think I'll ever perform and make revenue. The business end of magic is whole 'nother animal.

I'm just reiterating the information I have received in the past and it either legitimately works and makes enough sense that I can explain it.

But looking at the entire thread, every answer has something to learn from in here. It's that I have talked with David and Chris the longest which is why I'm mentioning them specifically.


Ahh. 14 year old magician.

Easy there, I was 30 and asking about Youtube when I first started out. It's hard when you don't know what you don't know. It's our job to put @lolaras7 on the right path
 
Sep 29, 2018
94
48
In life, nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
Except going to the washroom maybe...


But other the purposes of fooling around like a jerk from my end...what you said is so true. In fact, I often judge the ''worthwhileness'' of something based on how difficult it is. If it's too easy, I know that the satisfaction I'll get after achieving will be kinda negligible.
 
Sep 29, 2018
94
48
Hello everyone is there any way to learn the effects of a book without reading any of them in other worlds can sb be a magician without reading books. for example im a 14 magician and i only learn from youtube can sb do it a job or a second-job without reading any books?
You Tube does do the job...if your aim is to learn a few tricks to put down the arrogant magician in your class or to impress that particular girl on whom you have a crush on. That's it. Full stop.

Books are...they just are the way to go man. Magic books are not exactly the best reads and most fun, but they are the treasure chests of all knowledge. Chris Ramsay, 52 Kards, Xavior Spade, Sankey and Pandrea can only get you so far. The rest is your research and your hardwork. If you wish to treat magic as something insignificant and throwaway, magic will treat you the same.

Also, I turned 15 two weeks ago mate...and if I can stumble through a few sentences of Annemann without wanting to kill English Grammar for changing so much, so can you.

Also, if you want to be a good magician by watching only You Tube...

Ask yourself a simple question...

More than a million people watch all these magic tutorials on You Tube. Why don't all of them become huge magicians later on? What makes the difference?
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
To drive the point home, they both have read and have enough books to give a fire marshall some concern.

I don't know what you're talking about. I have a perfectly reasonable amount of books on a shelf right where they belong.

No, don't look at the other side of the office ...

Magic books are not exactly the best reads and most fun,

Depends on the book, really. I really enjoyed Our Magic. I'm finding The Books of Wonder delightful. Several of the magic books I own are among my favorite reads.

But the ones that are nothing but methods and tricks - those can be slogs. Books on theory, philosophy, or with anecdotes from the performer's experience are often great reads.
 
Oct 19, 2015
317
220
You can teach a monkey to do a magic trick! And youtube, may be all you need to use to do that!

But if you want to be a Magician that can put on a show to entertain people and eventually actually get paid to do the show, you will have to do much more than watch 'youtube'!

Magic at level that 'entertains' is truly an art form. Like learning to paint or play a musical interment you have to seriously study and use multiple sources to learn. Included in this learning is such things as Techniques; usually more than one way to do any trick, Scripting; you cannot entertain without a good script, Stage Craft; lighting, body position, costume, music, etc. etc.

Acquiring a 'trick' and learning to do the trick in many cases is not a big deal, such as self working tricks. But all the other necessary elements of being a working Magician can only come from hours of study and practice, much of which can only come from books and mentors. I have heard many an Artist say it takes 10,000 hours to become a professional. You do the math, and watching 'youtube' really does not count as it only teaches 1 (usually weak) method!

Ask a family member or good friend to give you a gift of a beginners magic book or find a copy on eBay or Amazon, or maybe you can check it out at your local library! Get a used copy of Mark Wilsons, Complete Course in Magic! It has tons of tricks and Techniques of all kinds, i.e. Sponge Balls, Cups and Balls, Rope Magic, Card Magic, Silk Magic, etc. etc. Many of the tricks can easily be made at home for little or no cost. Many pictures that illustrate "how to". You do not have to read the whole book to get a great beginning in Magic, but if you are like me, you will not be able to put it down! It was many of us on this website first book on magic.
 
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