i can't do a shadow. ne one got tips that could help me do it?



Related Thread...
- Shadow Reverse

It's helpful to use your thumb in a shadow. Try using a #2 pencil, it slows down the shadow spin. The pen solely spins on top of your hand after the initial force. You have to make a gap between your fingers to catch the pen.

On the other hand, I could not do a single Shadow until I stopped trying to use my Thumb for the force.

I totally agree on using a #2 pencil, unsharpened, for learning this trick. It was a huge help for me.

Hmm. I'm same with sketching. I learnt the shadow with a no. 2 and didn't use my thumb.

I didn't use my thumb either, when you use your thumb to build up pressure you get less control over the trick. Just do a few charges in 12 and then release. This trick took me a while to get too.

practicing shadow still right now too...

i think it sorta like a sonic (thats what i think), but you need to use very controlled amount of power so it wont fly like 5 feet away.
i suggest you do it in a place where no one around you, or any fragile object o.0

*almost hit a vase off just by spinning too hard....*


a few question from myself too:

how many rotations are there?
where does the pen spin, on knuckles, fingers, or whatever?
how do you catch it?

Yeah, you do more of a Sonic push, but hold onto the pen longer. You have to direct the motion up onto the back of the hand.

The basic Shadow has 1.5 rotations total.

If the pen is flying away from your hand, you are letting go of the pen too early.

In the case of a Shadow Still 12, you catch it by lifting your Index finger and letting the pen go underneath it.

You do kind of a charge and then release it to get the initial push, that's how I do it. Try it with a light pen first, it's easier to learn that way, also if you can do shadow 12-23, the normal one, you should be able to learn the shadow still pretty easily.

Or better yet...
- 0.5 for the push
- 0.5 on the back of the fingers
- 0.5 for the catch

what about initial position? where should the cop be?

you should hold th pen just under the COP, atleast i think, i do it that way

lol sry for all of the ?s but is there any hand movment during the trick? also is there any way to fix the tilt of the pen? or just practice?

there is a little wristish motion to it

Is there really some wrist motion involved? I can do it by using the fingers only. Most of the force comes from the Charge like motion that comes first. If there's any other movement, it would be the arm moving to catch the pen if it moves too far down the hand.


Got a question: when you guys were first learning the Shadow Still 12, did you happen to get a lot of Shadow 12-34? Happened to me a lot at first then I slowly got the hang of controlling it to stay in one place. Took a while for me to figure it out.

Once I'm completely comfortable with the Shadow Still, I will post up how I learned it step by step. Though it would be great if I had pics. <_<

I think that it is pretty common that, once you get the hang of tossing the pen up onto the back of the fingers, you tend to over-do it.

what way does the rotation go, clockwise or counter-clockwise? and does anybody have a vid for it.

ccw, if you're right handed

PenSpin Palace tricks page. Go down to Shadow Still. Those two videos helped me learn the trick.

try this one, this is where i learedn the shadow

http://penspinning.is.dreaming.org/

I was just wondering: Whats the difference between Shadow and ShadowStill?

http://turtlespin.rbhscsf.org/modules/arti...ticle.php?id=35 shadow 12-23 as you can see in the vid u do a shadow and it lands in between your middle and ring fingers (2 + 3)

http://turtlespin.rbhscsf.org/modules/arti...ticle.php?id=14 this is the shadow still and you start with 1-2 and it ends in the same fingers. hence the name because it stays still is doesnt travel

To add onto what has been said and to clarify a post...

A Shadow cannot go from 34 to 12, that would be called a Sonic 1.5 34-12.

Edit: October 16, 2006
--------------------------------
Shadows Normal and Reverse now go up the hand, down the hand or stays in the same place.
Sonic 1.5 is an out-dated name. See Sonic/Shadow Definitions.

How many rotations is Shadow supposed to have? I've been doing it with 1 rotation. Is it supposed to be 1 or 1.5 rotations?

1.5

u get the force by charging face down. then u should bent ur fingers in 90 deegres and let it go 12-23 12-34 w/e u want. open up middle if u want 2-3 open up pinky or ring if uwant to go 34

I'm currently learning shadows, and I've noticed that when I do a shadow, the motion i'm doing is like the extended spin on an extended infinity, only when it's on the top of my finger I let it go and it spins.
Ofcourse I'm not holding the pen on it's end as I would do while doing an infinity, but I hold it more to the middle.

Anyway I just wanted to know if it's normal to do a shadow like that (it's working,,)
or is it better to do it more like a sonic, using a finger to give the push.

thanks in advence ;)

use both

start with the giner push, and if it doesnt get down, or doesnt spin well or smoothly enough, wave your palm against the momentum

well i use both too :lol: but at mine it's mostly fingerpush, i use the handmotion cuz else the pen doesn't go all way around but that can differ at other people. If i try too use only a fingerpush i automaticly do a handmotion and my handmotion goes like kinda a swipe too the direction of my thumb.. yea :HMMM: hehe hope that helps a bit

Here is a gif I made maybe it will help

I like Sonic 23 better than 12. Sonic 12 is odd, with the placement of the Thumb. Since this is a topic on Shadows, Shadows starting in 12 are easier for me than 23 and much easier than from 34. Shadows from 23 are getting easier for me with more practice.

all i do is hold the pen in whatever you're starting in (my guess is 12), kind of flick your wrist to the left (if you're right handed...to the right if you're left), bring 1 down a little so the pen has access to spin on top of your hand, let it spin on top .5, lift up whatever finger you want to catch (2 for 12, 3 for 23, 4 for 34), and go in for the catch...i don't know if that's going to help or if that's really how you're supposed to do it...it works for me so eh...

good luck and keep practicing :) you'll get it

I Learned It Here:
HanTricks
Although The Pictures Dont Work, I Managed.

And I Just Noticed:
PSC Has A Tutorial, Well, Its Official PSC Is My Favorite Place For Tutorials!

Try using a #2 pencil it helped me a lot

Ok, to start off don't to the pressure method where you use the thumb and bend the index down 90 degrees. Trying to do it that way messed me up for so long.

I took this pic before when someone was asking about shadows. It shows the direction of the spin and when you are supposed to release the pen.


Notice that the second finger is higher than the first. If you do this the pen will release on it's own once it spins past a certain point.

I would also suggest starting the spin with a position something like this.

(Printer broke, can't print my insert :( )
Flick your hand sideways, move your index down and your middle finger up in a charge like motion to swing the tip of the pen CCW. This brings you to the position in the first picture and other than that it's just a matter of balance and getting the catch.

I learned shadow by doing palm down sonics (starting at 23) but keeping my index finger at the same level as my middle finger (sorry if im unclear) so that the pen kept spinning on the back of the hand.

Is Charge 12 necessary to learn Shadow Still without the pressure building method? I can get it most of the time with it but it's almost impossible to add it to combos like this.

Im guessing it does, I couldn't do Shadow using the pressure method, so I used the charge method.

any tips on how to release the pen after the charge?

when u've got ur middle finger above the pen and ur index below u release.

You use your thumb to do shadows? I'm pretty sure that's not right. You don't really even need carge 12 but you still have to make a similar motion.

Here is my image showing how the release is done.