35 years old beginner

[pbernardo]

Hello everyone.
I am completely new here in theory11 and also to card magic and cardistry.

Card magic is something I have always liked, but when younger I used to think I would never be able to do it. Now in my 35 I thought... What the ****? Why not?

I would like to ask two questions to the people in the community:

1- Do you think I am too old now to begin and become more or less good on card magic and cardistry?

2 - I have been told to begin with The royal road to card magic and slowly go step by step with this book. Do you agree? Any more tips you can give to a non young beginner?

Thank you all.

 

[Nurul]

Welcome, you're in for the ride of your life

1. It's never to late to learn.

2. There's a fair few beginner books out there.
https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/complete-beginner-to-magic.46540/ check out this thread to get an idea of what materials are out there.

Best of luck

 

[Dean Magic]

1. Definitely not
2. I know a lot of people start with the royal road to card magic so you can definitely do that. If you need some more suggestions on what to read then you can watch Jason England's video:
https://store.theory11.com/products/what-to-read-jason-england

 

[Gabriel Z.]

1.No.
2.Yes.

 

[DominusDolorum]

1. Absolutely not.
2. In fact, if you complete The Royal Road to Card Magic you will already be better than most amateurs who get the majority of their tricks from YouTube. You get more than just tricks, you get a whole curriculum of card magic. The Card College series is also excellent and provides a similar structure as the RRCM in the sense you are also getting a curriculum.

My tip: Don't mix your magic and cardistry. When people see you performing all of these fancy flourishes they are likely to dismiss your card magic with "well he just has very fast hands". You want your card magic to look like you do nothing at all.

 

[pbernardo]

Welcome, you're in for the ride of your life

1. It's never to late to learn.

2. There's a fair few beginner books out there.
https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/complete-beginner-to-magic.46540/ check out this thread to get an idea of what materials are out there.

Best of luck

Thank you very much. Good thread.

 

[pbernardo]

1. Definitely not
2. I know a lot of people start with the royal road to card magic so you can definitely do that. If you need some more suggestions on what to read then you can watch Jason England's video:
https://store.theory11.com/products/what-to-read-jason-england

Thanks.
Great advices on that video.

 

[pbernardo]

1. Absolutely not.
2. In fact, if you complete The Royal Road to Card Magic you will already be better than most amateurs who get the majority of their tricks from YouTube. You get more than just tricks, you get a whole curriculum of card magic. The Card College series is also excellent and provides a similar structure as the RRCM in the sense you are also getting a curriculum.

My tip: Don't mix your magic and cardistry. When people see you performing all of these fancy flourishes they are likely to dismiss your card magic with "well he just has very fast hands". You want your card magic to look like you do nothing at all.

So I think I will continue with that book. The aproach about the card magic curriculum sounds really great.

It is interesting what you say about cardistry and magic. I have read that before.
What do you think is the correct place / time for cardistry?

 

[DominusDolorum]

So I think I will continue with that book. The aproach about the card magic curriculum sounds really great.

It is interesting what you say about cardistry and magic. I have read that before.
What do you think is the correct place / time for cardistry?

I believe that I actually got that from the Royal Road but I believed it before even having read the book.

I am not a cardist so I don't know if I can answer that appropriately. I do see it as a performance art like juggling so anytime you feel like demonstrating something cool and complex to people is good.

 

[RealityOne]

Welcome to magic. I started in my mid-30s too. You will find that there are a lot of advantages to starting later both in learning and in performing.

Royal Road to Card Magic is a great start. However, the first two books in Card College are a better but more expensive start. I'd say get both -- if you enjoy card magic you are going to get them both anyway.

Also think of getting a book called Scarne on Card Tricks. It has a ton of effects that don't require any difficult sleight of hand. Another good but inexpensive book is Encyclopedia of Card Tricks which has effects that don't require difficult sleight of hand but also effects using a whole host of gimmicks (short cards, double backed cards, double faced cards, etc.). Along similar lines is Roberto Giobbi's Card College Light, Lighter and Lightest books. Start with Card College Light - it has some great effects that don't require significant sleight of hand and it routines the effects in groups of three.

I know this is a lot of recommended books, but I think they are the best way to learn. I'm pretty sure that my library is up to around 175 book and just ordered a bunch more for Christmas.

 

[pbernardo]

Welcome to magic. I started in my mid-30s too. You will find that there are a lot of advantages to starting later both in learning and in performing.

Royal Road to Card Magic is a great start. However, the first two books in Card College are a better but more expensive start. I'd say get both -- if you enjoy card magic you are going to get them both anyway.

Also think of getting a book called Scarne on Card Tricks. It has a ton of effects that don't require any difficult sleight of hand. Another good but inexpensive book is Encyclopedia of Card Tricks which has effects that don't require difficult sleight of hand but also effects using a whole host of gimmicks (short cards, double backed cards, double faced cards, etc.). Along similar lines is Roberto Giobbi's Card College Light, Lighter and Lightest books. Start with Card College Light - it has some great effects that don't require significant sleight of hand and it routines the effects in groups of three.

I know this is a lot of recommended books, but I think they are the best way to learn. I'm pretty sure that my library is up to around 175 book and just ordered a bunch more for Christmas.

Wow! A lot of recomendations, thank you very much.
Happy to know another person who started in his mid thirties.

 

[CWhite]

I'm 40 and still consider myself a beginner. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Tower of Lunatic Meat]

Well. First of all, welcome to the forums. I got into magic when I was 10. But dropped it in about a year and managed to start up again at 30.

1- Do you think I am too old now to begin and become more or less good on card magic and cardistry?

No. not too old. I've been dabbling with both cardistry and magic for the last 2 years. I use cardistry therapeutically for anxiety.
But of all the members in the forums here, I would say that I am the 'okayest' in both magic and cardistry.

But you asked about cardistry and application in magic. This is something I have looked into and the problem is about 99% of all cardistry moves have little to no conventional utility within a card trick. There are some moves that you can use to stylishly reveal a bottom card, launch a card from one hand into the other, etc (OH! For funsies! Look up Joel Paschall 'Ace Cut'. It's a fun one-handed 'Cutting the Aces' routine).

But even if you get good at the flourishing, you run into the problem of the audience burning your hands. As stated earlier, magicians want to look NATURAL with their moves. Cardists want the exact opposite.

2 - I have been told to begin with The royal road to card magic and slowly go step by step with this book. Do you agree? Any more tips you can give to a non young beginner?

Royal Road (as long as you read the very beginning and follow it like it says), Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic, Scarne on Card Tricks.

 

[Josh Mickelson]

This has already been said, but I too would recommend the Encyclopedia of Card Tricks - it's by the same author as Royal Road, and is full of a lot more magic, including tricks with gimmicked decks, double backers, etc.

 

[DominusDolorum]

Just get all the Hugard/Braue books xD they will serve you well.

 

[pbernardo]

I use cardistry therapeutically for anxiety.
But of all the members in the forums here, I would say that I am the 'okayest' in both magic and cardistry.

This sound interesting. Could you explain more on this?

 

[Tower of Lunatic Meat]

This sound interesting. Could you explain more on this?

Story time!

I got into magic around late July of 2014. 9 months prior, I came back from Afghanistan a complete wreck. Upon finding magic, I also happened upon cardistry and set down both paths.
I noticed after I started to get marginally okay at Charier and Revolution cuts that my anxiety was a bit lessened, especially in public (where I would do this). The missus and I figured out that because I had to be pretty focused into what I was doing with he card and the constant repetition, that I would gradually calm down enough to compose myself again. However it didn't take a whole lot to get the anxiety going again. So, the cards came out again.

I stuck with one-handed moves for a couple reasons:

1) they draw more attention to themselves. I was doing flourishes to try and drown out the outside world. If I go and do something like Cylinder, strangers would be more invlined to approach me and ask what I was doing. The exact opposite of what I want.

2) my left hand was just in bad shape. At the time I have osteopenia (which can evolve into osteoporosis if it battles enough Pokémon). And I would later find out that my left wrist was broken 3 times in the span of a year and a half (I never knew). All I knew was that my left hand was painful and I couldn't use my thumb in a way to accommodate most flourishes. So I just learned everything for the right hand.

When I went in-patient springbof this year, they had a deck of cards (a super dingy and super bendy Cartamundi deck) that I was flourishing like crazy when no one was using them (even though, due to the condition of the cards, I could only do about 5 flourishes).

There you have it. Great distractive tool, and keeps me focused on something that doesn't trigger the anxiety and fuel it further.


I hope this helps.

 

[Maverick85]

You're never too old, if you're determined to do it. If it's only a casual interest, maybe you won't, but there is no expiration date on learning this stuff. There are quite a few magicians going who are deep into their 70s, so dexterity isn't going to be something that goes away for a few more years. Figure out what kind of magic you really want to do long-term and focus on it. If you're doing card tricks now, focus on one "move" like the pass, and drill on it until it looks clean. Set up a couple of mirrors so you can see what a viewer would see and practice as much as you can.

Royal Road is a classic. I may draw a lot of heat for this, but I found it hard to keep up with what was being taught in text, so it might be wise to supplement the learning by using (bought and paid for) videos to help fill in the gaps. There are study guides for RR and I think one of those might come in so handy to help make it seem less daunting.

 

[DominusDolorum]

I found it hard to keep up with what was being taught in text

That is a good point. The text is a bit dated but still not too complicated to understand. Supplementing with the video series by Paul Wilson is a good idea though. An excellent beginner book is The Magic Book by Harry Lorayne. He has an excellent style of writing that really feels like Mr. Lorayne is talking directly to you. You'll get more than you paid for with this book.

 

[Tower of Lunatic Meat]

In all fairness. Royal Road is a bit of a dry read.