Volume II, # 1
January 1987
Steven Schneiderman's Self Portrait
This is a twist on an old gag whereby you tell someone to pose for you while you will try to draw their portrait. You hold your thumb up to aid you in your perspective as you draw. The net result, of course, is that when your artwork is displayed, it is revealed to be a good picture of your thumb.
I've adapted this gag for a card revelation which I think is funny and rather simple to perform. You will need two duplicate cards, say the Seven of Hearts and an extra blank faced card which you may carry separately in your pocket. You will also need a permanent ink black magic marker. On one of the Sevens draw an outline of your thumb and place it on the bottom of the deck.
To perform the effect. simply force the regular Seven of Hearts and tell the spectator to keep it pressed to their chest while you attempt to not only reveal their selection but draw a nice portrait of them to boot!
Turn the deck so the bottom card faces only you. Remove the blank faced card from your pocket and tell them that every great artist requires a clean surface (point to the blank card). Place the blank card over the bottom card and then tell them that the deck will act as your easel. Then start to get your perspective by holding your thumb up every so often as you draw.
This is a neat opportunity for some innocent fun. Have them hold their head "just so." Tell them to hold their breath and pose in peculiar ways. Finally draw an outline of your thumb on the blank card and show it to the audience. This will produce some chuckles. Now as you blush and say it took you several years to learn how to do these portraits, you casually and slowly bottom change the blank card for the duplicate Seven. You can use a glide or a second deal with a necktie, too, if they are more comfortable moves.
Finally ask to borrow their card. As you reach for their card with your right hand, your left hand gets a pinky break beneath the blank card you have been using as a canvas. Place the selected card face down on top of the deck, covering the card you drew on. Now, using their card as a magical paintbrush, you are going to paint their selection onto your drawing.
Using the tip of your right middle finger, slide their card towards yourself to partially show the blank card beneath it. Then, using your right thumb at the rear edge of the card (closest to your body), slide the card forward until you hit the edge of the card above the break. Then continue to slide or push the double forward and completely off the deck in one smooth motion. The result will look like their selected card magically painted itself onto the blank card you had been drawing on.
You may now let them keep this card as a souvenir. You could easily adapt this to a business card handling. and thus allow them to keep your card, too!
Would you like to read more magic effects like this one? Think about purchasing Volume II of Ruminations. Click here for more information.
