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Effect: You display five business cards each with a simple picture drawn on the back. The cards are mixed up to be as random as possible. A card is freely selected and the spectator thinks of the picture. The magician is able to draw the exact picture the spectator had been thinking of.
Method: This is quite simple in the fact that you are using marked cards. I wanted to stay away from any peeks and forces so this seems to do just fine. The pictures I use are: Car, Flower, House, Stick Figure and a Tree. As you see they are all simple objects.
I created the marked cards by trimming the corner of each in the appropriate place. With the cards all facing one way I started at the top left corner. Car is the first picture and its first letter (C) is closest to the beginning of the alphabet. Your first card should have a car drawn on it and the top left corner should be rounded. Use sharp scissors and trim just a minute piece off.
The second card is the Flower as its letter is 2nd best to the beginning of the alphabet. Round the upper right corner of this card.
The third card is the House. Round this corner at the bottom left. The fourth card is the Stick Figure. Round the lower right corner for this one. Finally draw a Tree on the last card. Leave this card normal and it’s corners squared.
Notice in the picture above the highlighted circles. They display where you should trim the corners for each card. The last card stays normal as it is contains the tree drawing.
Performance: Make sure the cards are all going the same direction to make it easier to spot which card has been selected. You need to remember how you setup the cards otherwise you will get confused and blow the routine.
Display the five simple pictures and mix the cards up. I even turn away when I mix them up so they know I have no idea where any one picture may be. You may also wish to let them mix the cards up. Have a card slid out and spread the other four on the table keeping all the pictures face down.
Explain that in a minute you want them to look at the picture on the card they just touched and remember it. As they do this you remove an extra business card to draw on. Simply look at the selected card and see which corner is rounded.
Remember the code we made up earlier starting from the top left to top right to bottom left to bottom right. Also note that the letters of each picture go in order of the alphabet, beginning to end. C for car, F for flower, H for house, S for stick figure, T for tree.
Above is the code for the marking systems. Each letter corresponds with the first letter in the name of each drawing. Remember the tree stays normal as every other card will have a particular corner rounded.
Build up your presentation and begin to duplicate the picture they are now thinking of. Ask them what picture they have in their mind and show your duplication. Have them keep your card as a souvenir of a pretty fun and entertaining miracle.
So there you have it, a very basic drawing type duplication effect. This is a nice little effect to do as an opener while with friends sitting over dinner or drinks.