Hello everyone, how's it going? This is my first forum post on Theory11, and I have been into magic for nine months so far, and into cardistry for about 4 months now. For the last two to three months I have been constantly pondering to myself, what am I really after, or what am I trying to achieve? I was just posting this thread with the hopes of someone to give me any advice upon finding your place(genre) in the art. For example, each day I will wake up and be into something different. Such as, I will be into rings one day, then rubber bands, then cards, then coins, then cardistry and so on and so forth. My only worry is that I will never become truly masterful with any one of those genres because I am always taking upon different and new genres. My major worry is that I will only be considered intermediate when it comes to one of those many genres included in magic/cardistry. Although, I do not want to be known or considered intermediate, but rather know as masterful. I want to be known as masterful as in a sense of that when someone sees me with that object in hand(cards, coins, rings etc.) they will look and think, " Oh, there's his weapon." Such as Jason England with cards(cheating), Andrei Jikh with cards(cardistry) Eric Jones with coins(sleight of hand), Marcus Eddie with rubber bands(sleight of hand), and Garrett Thomas with rings(sleight of hand). Again, my question to you is to simply provide any information that can help with this question that I have. One last thing that might help also is that I have experienced and played around with all of these genres, but the one genre that I've always preferred towards the others are cards, but I do enjoy all of them and would greatly appreciate any advice that you may have. Thank you all, and have a great day!
Finding your place in the art of magic/cardistry.
- Thread starter ToConjure
- Start date
It sounds like you're starting with a good foundation, and I wouldn't say that's an oversized workload. If you learn best by switching it up day to day, then do that. As someone who's pretty much entirely self-taught through books and video teaching, I'm a big proponent of doing whatever works for you.
Also, rather than approaching it from a genre standpoint, approach it from the view of creating your character and you'll naturally fall into or in between genres, but it'll be for reasons; audiences like reasons. So, what kind of character do you want to play? It'll work best if it's somehow an expression or extension of who you are as a person, but you can reinvent yourself any way you choose to figure out what works. I kind of stumbled across the whole Wizard thing through serendipity, but it doesn't hurt to sit down and write out details and back story about your character. I started off as a LARP character, so my persona and back story kind of built itself through roleplay, but there are other character development methods out there. I can't speak to what works for other people, and my process was kind of organic and unique.
Also, rather than approaching it from a genre standpoint, approach it from the view of creating your character and you'll naturally fall into or in between genres, but it'll be for reasons; audiences like reasons. So, what kind of character do you want to play? It'll work best if it's somehow an expression or extension of who you are as a person, but you can reinvent yourself any way you choose to figure out what works. I kind of stumbled across the whole Wizard thing through serendipity, but it doesn't hurt to sit down and write out details and back story about your character. I started off as a LARP character, so my persona and back story kind of built itself through roleplay, but there are other character development methods out there. I can't speak to what works for other people, and my process was kind of organic and unique.
First off, thank you so much for replying to my thread. It is greatly appreciated. Now, from what you suggested in relating towards the character standpoint, that is quite unique and I would have never looked at it within that way. And this might sound kind of spontaneous and spur of the moment, but now that I am looking at my question within the character aspect I think that I might have found the answer. I have always loved Joshua Jays style of magic, his presentation, and his personality. This includes bringing humor into your routines and stating that the "magic" is consisted completely of "practice, misdirection, and sleight of hand". Now with my question and looking at it terms of character I have found that I enjoy simply performing modern miracles with everyday objects, such as cards, coins, rings, rubber bands, etc. Wow! To you, RedbeardThepink, thank you very much! I never would have looked at the character standpoint of my magic, so thank you very much and for giving such great advice towards my question! Again, thank you and have an awesome day! Also to anyone who might be reading this feel free to continue posting anymore advice that can prove helpful to my thread. Thanks!(And if anyone is interested in Joshua Jay and his work, check out this video link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjANd-TkQmM).
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Interesting question. I'd say finding where you belong in the community/art is largely a personal journey. I'm a card flourisher these days, but I started out as a magician.
I never could have predicted where my focuses and passions would stray. I would have loved to become a magician, but I'm a fairly introverted person. My typically anxious nature always proved to hinder my attempts to entertain people in a live setting. Card flourishing would soon prove to be a lovely alternative and I've been very happy with my choice ever since. The change of heart came from trial and error, and some time to think.
As I said earlier, finding your "place" is a very personal journey. I wouldn't focus so much on the "genres" so to speak, I would simply give things time. The more time you spend in the community, the better you'll be able to anticipate where you're going.
A few things to remember when getting started:
1) Always consider who you were, who you are, and who you want to be.
2) Note the differences between imitation and plagiarism.
3) Any skill can come in time.
4) Genuine originality is inherently weird.
5) The real goal is legacy.
I never could have predicted where my focuses and passions would stray. I would have loved to become a magician, but I'm a fairly introverted person. My typically anxious nature always proved to hinder my attempts to entertain people in a live setting. Card flourishing would soon prove to be a lovely alternative and I've been very happy with my choice ever since. The change of heart came from trial and error, and some time to think.
As I said earlier, finding your "place" is a very personal journey. I wouldn't focus so much on the "genres" so to speak, I would simply give things time. The more time you spend in the community, the better you'll be able to anticipate where you're going.
A few things to remember when getting started:
1) Always consider who you were, who you are, and who you want to be.
2) Note the differences between imitation and plagiarism.
3) Any skill can come in time.
4) Genuine originality is inherently weird.
5) The real goal is legacy.
Hey Patrick! Thanks a whole lot for replying to my thread, it really means a lot. Now from what you have suggested, I honestly believe that taking time in the community and finding my place is the most practical and useful method that I could use. So, thank you for offering that suggestion. It is really awesome knowing that you are a cardist/flourisher because I am having a little bit of trouble when it comes to that topic. What I mean is that I love to too fiddle and play with cards all day and perform awesome, crazy, and quite dexterous cuts, shuffles, aerials, etc. And I love incorporating them into my magic. For example, performing the hotshot cut to find the spectators card, or performing card twirls when a spectator selects a card, and even performing an under pressure in order to show the spectator all of the cards. And this list can go on and on. Although the only thing I feel the need to ask to you, Patrick ,is if performing cardistry/flourishing and magic is, a) to much to take on at once, or, b) not able to be combined as far as magic bringing something to cardistry/flourishing or cardistry/flourishing not being able to bring something to magic. If you could help give any thoughts or advice upon this question please feel free and a big thanks goes out to you in advance! Thanks again, Patrick! (Anyone who might be reading this please feel free to post anymore responses upon this thread about my question. Thank you and have a great day!)