Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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Rising Card in Drawing

Martin Lewis's “Cardographic” is certainly the widest known and most sophisticated version of the effect of drawing a picture of a deck of cards and making it magically animate by having a drawing of a chosen card rise from the drawn deck. Lewis first published his method in M-U-M, Vol. 73 No. 2, July 1983, p. 26; and later in his book Martin's Miracles by Eric C. Lewis, 1985, p. 67.

The effect of creating an animated drawing of the Rising Card trick was first described by Harlan Tarbell in Fun with Chalk Talk, 1931; later included in The Tarbell Course in Magic, Vol. 8, 1993, p. 211. Jack Lamont adapted the idea to a miniature version drawn on business cards, in which the card that rises is a genuine miniature card rather than a drawing; see “A Business Card Trick” in The Wizard, Vol. 6 No. 70, Nov. 1953, p. 244. The Tarbell and Lamont tricks were more novelties or sight gags, without the mystery value of Lewis's “Cardographic”, which is concluded by giving away the sheet of paper, with the risen card truly drawn on it.