Paul Osborne: Lord of Illusions
Up until that pivotal day I came across my first Paul Osborne illusion plan in the pages of Genii (or was it Tannen’s Magic Manuscript?), the idea that a mere mortal like myself could perform the big tricks - the kind that levitated young women, made motorcycles vanish or conjure people out of thin air - seemed about as remote as my developing spider-powers in my adolescence.
Paul changed that for me and thousands of others. Through his blueprints, his Illusion Systems series and other works, he deconstructed the mysteries of illusion building like The Royal Road to Card Magic did for card sleights.
Paul’s plans have changed the lives of thousands of aspiring illusionists. As a teenager I built several Osborne illusions with my father. Besides giving my dad and I an excuse to hang out, they helped me build my own illusion show at a fraction of what it would have cost me to buy them outright. Thanks to Paul I was able to able to turn a summer gig “before college” into a career.
In my mind, Paul’s style of illustration is as distinct as Disney animation or a KIrby comic book. It was so influential that for the longest time the only way I could even conceive an illusion on paper was by crudely imitating his style. And I mean crudely.
The moment where I felt like I really was an illusion designer was when Paul published one of my ideas in his book Illusion. That was like having Jimmy Page cover one of your songs on stage.
If Paul’s name is unfamiliar to you, you need to remedy that ASAP. He’s got a difficult to find website here where you can find all is stuff: http://hamiltonholtinc.stores.yahoo.net/
Sunday, August 27, 2006
