Blowing Smoke and Mirrors Up Their...

So, you've created something that you like but you don't love it. What to do? Well, for one thing you can correct what you don't like. But, what if that would take forever to do and you just don't have the time?

Do what a magician would do.

Okay, so I'm about to break a long standing magician's rule and tell a secret, in a public forum too.
In the art of illusion there are flaws in any performance. Yes, it happens to me too. Maybe I need people to not notice something I HAD to do in order for a trick to work. How can I "cover up" a flaw that's inherent in my show? Easy. I use "misdirection". Misdirection is simply distracting people so they don't notice what I did. It's cover up time! Maybe I drop something or cough or point at something else. Whatever. It's decoration for the performance.

Now, if misdirection is good enough for magicians then it's good enough for us designers/artists too!

The next time you hit a "creative" brick wall, don't fret. It MISDIRECTION to the rescue! (Cover up Time!) Just put something, anything (decoration), near or on the thing that you don't like and like magic people won't notice your flaw as easily as before.

Try it! You'll be absolutely amazed at how well (and how easily) this really works!

Mark :)

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Originally Posted by Mark321

So, you've created something that you like but you don't love it. What to do? Well, for one thing you can correct what you don't like. But, what if that would take forever to do and you just don't have the time?

Do what a magician would do.

Okay, so I'm about to break a long standing magician's rule and tell a secret, in a public forum too.
In the art of illusion there are flaws in any performance. Yes, it happens to me too. Maybe I need people to not notice something I HAD to do in order for a trick to work. How can I "cover up" a flaw that's inherent in my show? Easy. I use "misdirection". Misdirection is simply distracting people so they don't notice what I did. It's cover up time! Maybe I drop something or cough or point at something else. Whatever. It's decoration for the performance.

Now, if misdirection is good enough for magicians then it's good enough for us designers/artists too!

Just put something, anything (decoration), near or on the thing that you don't like and like magic people won't notice your flaw as easily as before.

Try it! You'll be absolutely amazed at how well (and how easily) this really works!

Mark :)

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Thanks Mark, I am familiar with the misdirection concept in magic.
EDIT: I'll have to try your idea here

Mark, the real magic must be the blowing of the mirrors in the indicated direction!

Acorn

there is a fine line between misdirection and drawing attention to

what works in realtime does not necessarily work with a static image

real magic in drawing is representing, say a bird, with two squiggles and a dot.. seen from the right distance of course...

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Originally Posted by handrawn

there is a fine line between misdirection and drawing attention to...

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handrawn, you are quite right. That's why many magicians use DIRECTION as MIS-DIRECTION. They actually make sure that what they use as misdirection is deliberate and obvious (makes sense) so that the audience never SUSPECTS let alone DETECTS how the magician is doing his magic. So, make sure that what you use as your misdirection seems logical and coherent to the image that you have created. The reason this works so well is because the brain cannot focus on two different things at the same time (it just pivots back and forth between the two figures), never getting a good look at any one thing because the mind is divided between two things and can't pay very close attention to any one item as well as it can with just one thing to look at.

That's why magicians KNOW better than the Highway Patrol that distracted driving is DANGEROUS. If you listen to the radio AND try to drive a car, you can't pay as close attention to the road as you could if you were driving without the radio. With misdirection, I get away with a LOT while on stage and the audience cannot figure out HOW on earth I could do what I do. I couldn't do what I do without my good friend, Ms. Direction. It's as much science of applied psychology as it is art and craft.

Mark:)

P.S...There's a new TV series coming on soon called "Deception". It's about a magician who gets hired by the FBI to help stop crime. It looks like a lot of fun!

P.S.S...As a magician, I've been studying misdirection for 48 years now (I started in magic when I was 5 years old and first learned of misdirection then).

One of my favorite misdirection techniques that I use is I use "Preset Filters" in Lightroom. Believe it or not, these presets have the ability to make your work look even more professional by giving your work a "treatment or style" and at the same time creating that misdirection as well, without being obviously misdirection. Pretty cool, eh? :cool: