How To Illustrations - Magic and Music

Music and magic are really just to sides of the same coin. Magic offers some amazing opportunities for how to illustrations as an illustration can remove the distractions of the real world and help focus on the action in the illusion.Sadly, yesterday I learned of the passing of the great artist, Jack Bruce. I know I am far from alone in mourning the loss of such a great musician. I especially liked his 1977 album, “How’s Tricks?” For me, it represents the end of the progressive music era, and bids a distinctive adieu to the musical form that “Punk” came to overthrow.Setting the magical mood, most suitable for this week, I am presenting a project I worked on several years ago for Quirk Publishing, a boutique house based in Philadelphia.Amazing Magical Wonder Deck — A Box of Illusions with Trick Cards and Instruction BookMr. MysterioThe catalog provides the following description…“These are the tricks magicians and playing-card impresarios have used for centuries to confound the common man, captivate audiences, and make women swoon. Now you, too, can attain that power. Lift the lid, read the illustrated book, and explore the possibilities of The Amazing Magical Wonder Deck.”Cool, huh? I had the pleasure of illustrating the booklet illustrations, which were a lot of fun. The challenge was to capture the exact gestures necessary to mastering each trick. Here are a few of the many illustrations I contributed to this project.They are in the “how-to” category of illustrated imagery…In the same spirit, I’ll close with an illustration commissioned by the in-house Magician at the Waldorf-Astoria, Steve Cohen. I did the black-and-white illustration and script work. the colorization is by the talented Sarah Jones, of Drury University…