WANT TO LEARN MAGIC TRICKS LIKE DAVID BLAINE?

You need a place to start. Ellusionist has taught over 1million regular people, with no prior experience, to perform miracles, just like David Blaine. Card tricks, coins tricks, mind-reading... If you've ever wanted to become a magician before, we've got you covered.

Below are a series of effects that are either similar to Blaine's magic style, or performed by Blaine himself on TV specials.

Watch the New David Blaine Special on ABC Wednesday April 1st 10/9c - Amazing!

BEST PLACE TO START - OUR BEGINNER TO WINNER MAGIC KITS

These are not cheap magic kits that you'd find in a toy-store and give as a gift to a 10 year old. These magic kits are the real deal.

How to be a Magician was originally presented on Kickstarter and funded in just 24 hours. It's since become one of the all-time best sellers of Ellusionist, propelling want-to-be magicians into full-fledged close up magic miracle workers.

How to Read Minds was the follow-up sequel which funded on Kickstarter in a mere 90 minutes and went on to out-sell How to be a Magician and break all records. You can’t find a more effective kit for the beginner to learn magic than this one. We suggest purchasing the special deal on BOTH, then hand-picking tricks that you are drawn to.

The material you'll find here is taught and used by real, professional magicians & mind-readers.

In the last 2 decades we've trained over 1million magicians, many of whom are on TV now. WE KNOW MAGIC... and these kits are without doubt, the industry's #1 place to start if you want to learn magic tricks.

We've hand-picked some of the easiest magic on earth to give even the newest beginner the true start that they need.

How to be a Magician - Powerful Magic anyone can do

HOW TO BE A MAGICIAN KIT

How To Be A Magician is an ALL NEW visual training package that allows ANYONE to perform MIRACLES, build confidence and OWN any party they walk into.

By purchasing this kit, you'll get a box of special props that you carry with you at all times. Props that look completely normal, but will allow you to perform incredible magic at any moment.

You'll learn how to...

• Bite a coin in HALF, then blow it back together

• Make ink disappear and move around

• Pull a silk from a “hole” in the middle of your hand

• Vanish a cigarette - visibly

• Make objects move without touching them

• Teleport items into someone's hand

• + 41 OTHER INCREDIBLE TRICKS

How to be Read Minds - No Secret is safe

HOW TO READ MINDS KIT

We've hand-picked some of the most effective and easiest mentalism (mind reading) to give ANY beginner the skills they need. No prior knowledge required.

The kit contains over 20 powerful techniques for mind-reading and 14 special items that sit in plain sight. These secret props will help you perform incredible demonstrations of mind-reading with little to no effort.

You'll learn how to:

• Know the unlock code to anyone's phone

• Reveal any word they think of

• See inside their mind & pull out a thought

• Know their 4-digit credit card PIN

• Draw the exact object they secretly drew

• Guess a serial number on a borrowed bill

• & MUCH MUCH MORE .... (Over 20 techniques and 30 tricks taught)

BEGINNER MAGIC TRICKS - SIMPLE TRICKS ANYONE CAN LEARN

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MAGIC TO DOWNLOAD & LEARN INSTANTLY

THE WORLD'S FINEST PLAYING CARDS

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NEW SPECIAL DAVID BLAINE: THE MAGIC WAY

David Blaine Official Web Site

David Blaine's official web site, www.davidblaine.com, once provided fabulous clips of the magician performing street magic. The clips are not there at this time but the site has recently undergone a dramatic face lift, displaying pictures of the artist as well as some merchandise and general information.

David Blaine DVD's and Videos and Books

David Blaine currently has three DVD’s out on the international market and a best selling book. In the UK, Telstar produced Mystifier DVD and Showman DVD for Blaine — a compilation of his first three national television specials titled Street Magic; Magic Man; Frozen in Time. In the US, Blaine featured all three specials on a single DVD entitled Fearless.

There are currently two different versions of his best selling book, Mysterious Stranger, which leads the path to a buried treasure in the USA through codes and hidden symbols on the DVD. This contest is no longer active.

Telstar introduced Blaine to a UK audience and is responsible for creating a huge amount of recognition for Blaine (through ads created by BananaSplit's Steve Kemsley) that deliberately introduced David Blain to Britain more as a rock star idol than as a magician. Popular opinion of Blaine is divided as of late, due to a stunt Blaine pulled when he lasted 44 days on no food while suspended in a persplex box over London. It seems UK folk didn't like Blaine taking so much attention away from their daily lives as the media blitz hummed on and caused traffic jams and hogged attention on the tube. In one of the funniest stunts played on Blaine during this time, a radio controlled helicopter dangled a fat cheeseburger inches away from Blaine's glass box while Blaine looked on.

How did Blaine get started in street magic ?

Taking a small digital video camera out into the seedy world of Times Square New York, Blaine and a friend shot footage of Blaine performing street magic for passersby with just a pack of cards and a few coins. Contrary to overwhelming belief, Blaine had never performed street magic before this time.

The results for such a simple idea were phenomenal. David Blaine’s camera caught reactions of people screaming in the street, laughing in shock, and crying in hysteria. This raw early footage would be something to look back on now in light of the fame Blaine has achieved.

Blaine took the crude footage to ABC television in New York, managed to get an appointment, and after completely wowing executives with his bland yet powerful brand of close up magic - got a $1,000,000 contract and paycheck to perform in the first ever Street Magic television special. This was in 1997... David Blaine Street Magic still airs to this day (on TLC The Learning Channel). For TV updates of all Blaine airings as well as other magic specials, go to this TV magic guide page and bookmark it. You can now purchase (and perform) one of Blaine's favorite card tricks from the Ellusionist web site, just perform a search for Strange Travelers in the top search bar (available as of May 8, 2006).

Learning How to Perform David Blaine Magic

When searching through the vast internet looking for magic sites to learn from, you'll come across a plethora of sites with cheap .gif backgrounds with stars flashing in the background on black pages and overblown text telling you they have the secret to life and a few of Blaine's secrets too. For nothing more than a click of your mouse, you get a couple of secrets that you may or may not understand and poorly written instruction on how to actually perform the given trick.

Save yourself the time. If you're not careful you'll get sucked into an black hole of mis-knowledge and a de-basing of the magic art at Blaine's expense.

If you want to learn and perform street magic (not necessarily confined to the street) you'll have to plunk down at least a few dollars to pick up a book, or some magic props, or, by far the best and fastest learning tool: a DVD that teaches the art and caters directly to your experience level.

The site that teaches the most people worldwide, hands down and no questions asked - is ellusionist.com Street Magic. According to sources the site is often recommended by David Blaine himself (and his managers) to those who want to learn the art of street magic. If you have never done magic before, it's recommended to start with an ellusionist video called How to Do Street Magic.. what follows is a brief review of the tape from pro reviewer RT Showmann...

Review: How To Do Street Magic Video and DVD

About three years ago, a man named Brad Christian, accompanied by his unknown Ellusionist Team, made a controversial debut throughout the underground magic community. By using an amazing Flash web site to promote a different kind of instructional product now known as the Street Magic Package, Ellusionist has quenched a thirst for aspiring ‘street performers’ around the world. The video, How To Do Street Magic, consisting of twelve, high-impact close-up illusions, took the amateur basics of magic and made them truly astonishing again. By combining this video with several bonus effects for the younger performer, the people behind Ellusionist have succeeded in producing a quality source of instruction for highly interested amateurs. Despite the minor flaws Ellusionist’s early days, their Street Magic Package proves to be an obvious must-have to this day.

Broadcast Quality Footage

Ellusionist has transcended the boundaries of visual magic instruction, surpassing the majority of today’s top magic videos. The average teaching aid in the magic community is unfortunately done with a single hand-held camcorder, taping unclear footage of a performer, struggling to explain each move and subtlety of an effect. Brad Christian, however, has taken the time and money to actually hire a professional camera crew to film his performances and precise explanations of classic magic routines. The footage is so clear, it appears to be an actual television program, filled with entertaining plots and forgotten images of close-up performing. Brad performs each effect for an audience of his close friends and family, catching sudden reactions of shock and disbelief, illustrating how easy it will be to fool the viewer’s own peers. Each effect is then clearly explained with the camera at all the right angles, with Brad giving precise directions to accomplish the easy-to-do miracles. The cinematography and overall ‘feel’ for the video is unlike any other magic product currently on the market. It’s superbly well-done.

David Blaine Levitation: How Does Blaine Levitate?

Above anything else Blaine does, his levitation is the most sought after triumph of illusion. Ironically, Blaine used a combination of techniques to rivet and amaze onlookers in his street specials. One is a crude technique called the Balducci levitation. It's easy to discover the secret to the Balducci - just search the internet and you can find the simple secret on hundreds of two-bit, cheap exposure sites put up by 12 year old kids and older "businessmen" looking to make a buck on advertising. Even the Amazing Randi now has a link to an exposure site, sadly buckling under the pressure from his readers to tell them how Blaine's levitation is performed - ugh.

But to learn the beautiful and crude Balducci, to really learn it... you must follow some competent instruction which will help turn the illusion from a bland secret into the flawless presentation of an extraordinary effect. The illusion is taught in the Street Magic Video named above.

The second levitation David Blaine performed on the Street Magic Special was one where he was seen to float two feet off the ground briefly. No one will be doing this unless they have several thousand dollars - forget it. The levitations that come closest to it are probably the "Elevator" and the "King Rising" Levitation. The Elevator is difficult to master and is about $100. King Rising Levitation takes practice but only runs about 20 bucks. An advantage of King Rising is that it involves no gimmicks or secret props... the levitation is entirely impromptu and can be done at a moment's notice. Grandmothers have been known to lose their dentures while watching this. The effect is startling and can be viewed at the link provided above.

David Blaine Card Tricks: where Blaine truly excels.

Blaine is as at home with a pack of cards as Dale Carnegie is at 'winning friends and influencing people'. To watch Blaine work with a deck is a thing of beauty. The first thing you instantly know is that he's had a deck in his hands practically since childbirth. His magic is simple and he uses simple sleights widely known by most close up artists. BUT, his choice of simple material that hits hard and his lack of focus on his own sleights are what bring his tricks to a height that make most people ask if it really IS magic - and some are completely convinced that it is.

Criticism of Blaine among his own peers has reached quite a height, both among tight lipped amateurs who think they know it all and professional magicians who should know FAR better than to criticize something that has worked so well with the general public. Instead, professionals should be holding Blaine up to the sky for infusing magic with a sadly lacking "juice"... magic dropped rank in the eyes of the public in the last couple of decades due to lack of artistic intent and a plethora of bunnies, top hats, and grinning gentlemen performing the Dove Pan and the Chinese Sticks at kid's parties. There have been few magicians that had enough guts and charisma to change the face of magic and David Blaine is one of them. David Copperfield is not, although he helped provide interest in the art. As good as he is, Ricky Jay did not either. Dai Vernon? He changed the art for magicians - not the public. Doug Henning? Absolutely, he's one of the very few. Before him was Roubert Houdin of France.

Congratulations David Blaine, we salute you and thank you for the tremendous contribution to the art. Anyone who has enough vision to see what you've done will thank you also.

Does David Blaine have competition?

Criss Angel would like to think so, and has dubbed himself the heir to the street throne, madly proclaiming that he can beat Blaine at any game Blaine wants to offer in various press releases issued by Angel's company, Angel Productions.

Criss puts on a fine show, but we once compared the sheer volume of internet searches on Angel as compared to Blaine, moments after each one had completed a Street Magic Special on television. Searches on Angel plodded through the Internet at the pace of a snail. Blaine searches on the other hand simply exploded through the reach of the Internet as new fans rushed Google to dig up raw information about this magic phenomenon. The television Special Angel had performed in was brand new and heavily hyped, the Special Blaine performed on was an eight year old repeat of his first Street Special on a cable channel.

The star power of Blaine is something Angel may never reach.

LEARN 'DAVID BLAINE' MAGIC TRICKS