Steal Like A Cardist

Editor’s note: My good friend Yang from Vietnam is known for his prowess in making uncut Cardistry videos and doing live Cardistry performances, and today he shares several tips that will help you improve your skills in both real life and in front of the camera. If you haven’t seen him in action yet, do check this video out, as it’s my favorite one-shot routine of his.

Why consistency?

Being able to perform a move consistently benefits you in many ways:

• You save time filming videos.
• You can share the move with other Cardists more conveniently (imagine a friend still waiting for you to nail the move after the 67th attempt!)
• You can also confidently share it with laypeople, which helps spread Cardistry and the joy to others.

I don’t have a standard job, by any means. These days I eke out a living by conceiving of playing cards, printing them, and then creating videos with those cards that serve as commercials that’ll entice people to buy them.

As such, the structure of my days are pretty much up in the air. Those of you who know me or have followed this blog will know that I’m a big reader, and that usually comprises a good chunk of how I choose to spend my hours. But as reading is quite a passive pastime, what is it that I do proactively to make the most of my time?

“It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.”

Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist

A year and a half ago, I found myself giving a presentation in Mexico on the subject of creativity within Cardistry. There was an accompanying slideshow of course (Cardistry is a visual art form, after all), and one of the slides read:

“You already have everything that you need.”

A year and a half later, I now find myself at the receiving end of that very same advice.

Today marks the 36th year since the world gifted us with the legendary Buck Twins, two outstanding twin brothers whose legacy would both form and change the world of playing card flourishes forever.

“An entertainer wants to give you exactly what you want… And an artist wants to give you what you don’t know you want.”

– David Cronenberg

This week, I’d like to tell you about my favorite commercial of all time.

It was sometime around Anaconda: The World’s Longest Dribble that I began to lose interest in Cardistry.

I didn’t fully quit; after all, I was still with The Virts at the time, and rigorous practice was still part of my daily regimen to ensure that I’d always have my chops ready whenever we were set to record our next videos.

But whereas I used to look forward to checking out new videos and staying up-to-date on what went on in the forums that were available, I found myself tuning out from those resources for a couple of reasons.