This is by far the coolest and at the same time most approachable edition of the legendary book by S.W. Erdnase. If you have never been able to make sense of the book, this is your chance to study it entirely differently - with a graphic novel approach.
The Expert at the Card Table has been the most studied card manipulation book for almost 120 years. For the first time you can meet the author S.W. Erdnase, the man shrouded in mystery, and session one-on-one with him. Every page is full of rich illustrations, complete with the original illustrations being re-inked and incorporated into this seminal work. Adapted and illustrated by David Trustman (The Rise, GOD Slap, The Memory Arts) The Expert at the Card Table Graphic Novel is a entirely true to the original, but reformatted to be as reader-friendly as possible.
Excerpt from the introduction:
The realization of just how to create a graphic edition of Expert struck like lightning. I love magic lectures. This would be an experience just like that. A large stock of images would be created. The goal would be a "single-camera" experience. Every paragragh would be broken down by sentence, and matched with talking or demonstration shots. Then, the coup de grace, the original figure drawings would be placed inside the new artwork. All I had to do was figure out how.
The figure drawings from Expert always irked me just a bit. The common style of art in magic books is to leave out the lines on the back of the hands. Some say this is "for clarity." Others say it is to follow the example set by M.D. Smith, the illustrator named for Expert. To me, however, I'm not a fan of simple hand illustrations. Whenever someone takes the time to add the tendons on the back of the hand, I'm far abler to grasp the angles required to accomplish the sleights.
Knowing my own preferences, I set out to modernize these original drawings. As a comic book artist, the different jobs related to creating art for publication are quite familiar to me. Drawing with pencils comes first, then inks which make the drawing ready for printing. With this in mind, the idea of updating the original figure drawings by creating new linework on top of the old, otherwise known as Pencilling and Inking, sprung to mind. This edition of Expert was just a slightly more complicated comic book!
Opinions:
"If you ever wanted to learn the material in Erdnase, then this is the book you need. The artwork is fantastic and it makes learning the Erdnase material so much easier, however, you will need to put the work in. Absolutely first class and highly recommend. I wish I had a book like this, I would have learnt the Erdnase material more quickly." - Eddie McColl
"This is hands down the best! Extra clarity added to every image while staying true to the original artwork gives this classic a much-needed upgrade. If you've read expert at the card table 100 times, or just skimmed it, you have to add this amazing version to your collection." - Daryl Williams
"Reading Erdnase's book is now easier and much more entertaining than ever thanks to David Trustman. The illustrations are increíble. Highly recommended." - Fenik
1st edition 2020, PDF 143 pages.
word count: 59271 which is equivalent to 237 standard pages of text
