This is The Close-Up Artist.

Hey everyone, my name is Dennis Kim and I am a close-up magician. I picked up the art when I was about 10 or 11 years of age, and throughout all of the years up to today, at 23, I came a long way in learning a myriad of sleights and magic tricks, as well as in performing for many different people, both for casual and professional purposes.

With each and every experience performing, I always reflected on what went well and what could have been done better. I found that there are a lot of lessons that we all learn for ourselves as we continue performing. However, there are not a lot of resources in the online world to offer those lessons and insights; if any, they are muted by the storm of content geared towards simply teaching how to execute a certain sleight, or how to perform a certain magic trick.

From being an active member of the community sharing and learning from others, I found that the resource for tips on actual performance is indeed lacking, and needed. A lot of us know great tricks and routines, and they are all done beautifully when done in front of a camera. However, I seldom see great live performances. Moreover, based on many conversations I've had with fellow magicians, particularly hobbyists, they seek guidance on tips about actual performance, rather than tips on what kind of tricks they should learn.

I intend to start that conversation with the community on not just helping each other improve on the mechanics of the tricks and sleights themselves, but rather on the aspects of patter, presentation, showmanship, and audience management. I, too, am in the learning process (and always will be), and am excited to simply share the knowledge I have from my own experiences so as to encourage many others to follow suit for the betterment of the community.

This community has focused on teaching magicians the hottest magic tricks and routines to astonish people for years, and with more than enough content already out there for us to learn, it is time to spend some time on developing ourselves to apply to those tricks so we can not only improve our repertoire, but also the value of entertain we bring as individuals to our audiences.

You can find my work thus far on Instagram and reach out to me either on there or by e-mail.

• Instagram: @TheCloseUpArtist
• E-mail: thecloseupartist@gmail.com

Thanks so much for your time! I'm super excited to start this venture on Steemit.