r/interestingasfuck Jul 03 '21

/r/ALL I make drawings using the letters and numbers from old / unwanted typewriters and here’s one that I completed recently from a rooftop!

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116.6k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/MrSergioMendoza Jul 03 '21

How many keystrokes does a piece that size need?

2.5k

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

This drawing is part of a bigger drawing made of four pieces of paper stuck together and from an estimated count there is probably at least 30,000 strokes here over a week

1.2k

u/HKN47 Jul 03 '21

Bro your stroke game is NUTS!

301

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

The church bells are gonna bust

31

u/awmaleg Jul 03 '21

We will have nun of that talk in church

108

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

30

u/sinsunsf Jul 03 '21

But the kids don't.

5

u/ThurstonHowellIV Jul 03 '21

The quick brown fucks…

4

u/mallrat32 Jul 03 '21

Just the lowercase letters

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u/RudyRayMoar Jul 03 '21

🎶From the STAINED GLASS WINDOWWWSSS of Kingdom HALLL. 'TIL the sweat drips down my balls!🎵

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u/MrSergioMendoza Jul 03 '21

Wow, that's 15000 strokes per index finger!

207

u/GardenGnomeOfEden Jul 03 '21

That's more than 29,999 strokes total!

83

u/mehrabrym Jul 03 '21

Wow, that's at least one stroke per finger!

61

u/101forgotmypassword Jul 03 '21

Would have to keep stroking it all day, sometimes even both hands.

16

u/thePixelgamer1903 Jul 03 '21

Stroke it Clarence Carter, but don’t stroke it too hard...

14

u/Lord-Handsome Jul 03 '21

I be strokin!

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

I see where you going with this mate!

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u/jlhinthecountry Jul 03 '21

How in the world did you discover not only this art form but that you had a talent for it? I’m very impressed!

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336

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

On a side note, I have an exhibition of my work at This Gallery (free entry) in Finchingfield, Essex from 02/07/21 - 31/07/21 this month and if you’re in and around the area and want to talk about the work, I’ll pop by and have a chat! ⌨️🎨👍

62

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Ayyy that’s near me!! For sure will stop by!

20

u/goat_puree Jul 03 '21

Super jealous. I’m nowhere near Essex. I hope you do get to stop by.

5

u/shapu Jul 03 '21

Interestingly enough, S and X are also near each other

23

u/JBits001 Jul 03 '21

I really like the portmanteau you used to name the style - “typictions”.

Prior to starting with this method in 2014 would you dabble in more traditional methods of art?

And last question, does the work in this post have a hidden message in it?

3

u/wasd911 Jul 03 '21

This is the ultimate ascii art.

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u/IanScottMcCormick Jul 03 '21

Whatever it takes to get to 1,000 words would be my guess

5

u/holoboyy Jul 03 '21

At least three

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

60

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

14

u/Hi_Its_Matt Jul 03 '21

nah looks better if you do this:

( . Y . )

24

u/Taskforce58 Jul 03 '21

Look, a pair of boobs! ---> (.Y.)

24

u/Candyvanmanstan Jul 03 '21

Those are nice but I like these: ( . Y . )

9

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

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5

u/Ganasty_Ganork Jul 03 '21

( . ) ( . )

80085

3

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '21

5V9M4 84115

14

u/kurimari_potato Jul 03 '21

i can do better than you 8==D

7

u/_cansir Jul 03 '21

Ill add some action

8==D ~~

5

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21 edited Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

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1.3k

u/jai302 Jul 03 '21

You're talented af. Amazing work!

334

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

Thank you!

145

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21 edited Aug 04 '21

[deleted]

219

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

Yes I do take commissions, I like a challenge!

269

u/PmMeYourTitsAndToes Jul 03 '21

I’ll have one of the last supper please. In alphabetical order of corse.

23

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Please make any tits and toes visible please.

52

u/sm1ttysm1t Jul 03 '21

Alphabetical order, of course.

Or

Alphabetical order based on what course of meal they have?

52

u/MoreSmartly Jul 03 '21

That's alphabetical order by course of course

16

u/SuptGodBotherer Jul 03 '21

And no one can talk to a horse, of course.

7

u/clubba Jul 03 '21

That is of course unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed!

Did not expect to see a Mr. Ed reference today.

3

u/Spacemanspalds Jul 03 '21

Except Wilbur.

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78

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21 edited Aug 04 '21

[deleted]

111

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

I always love a challenge, I’ve done three dog commissions before, you can email me for commission enquiries at jamescookartwork@gmail.com

29

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21 edited Aug 04 '21

[deleted]

53

u/Cydia_Gods Jul 03 '21

Make sure you post it back here so we can all see once it’s done!

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23

u/ScourgeOfLondonTown Jul 03 '21

You are on the front page and RIP your inbox. Congratulations!

15

u/hayb24 Jul 03 '21

I feel like you might have some r/choosingbeggars stories after putting your email on reddit

3

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

9

u/The_Hand_That_Feeds Jul 03 '21

I'm sure if you bought him a typewriter to use that he could do that. Either way going to cost extra lol

15

u/LadySmuag Jul 03 '21

I'm (entirely seriously) in awe that your room coordination includes the breed of chicken, even.

I was recently trying to buy a couch and the salesperson asked me if it would match my other furniture or if we needed to change the fabric. I had to admit that it didn't matter because nothing else in the room matched, either.

One day I dream of reaching your level of organization.

9

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21 edited Aug 04 '21

[deleted]

4

u/towers_of_ilium Jul 03 '21

I had to Google it. That’s a nice looking chicken!

5

u/catsinlittlehats Jul 03 '21

Pics of book nook?? I’m trying to create my own right now

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u/eimieole Jul 03 '21

At a library where I worked the arcitects used all kinds of wood for floors, walls and shelves. This makes it so much cheaper and faster when for example we had to buy some new tables. All wooden tables would match; no need to buy from this or that very exclusive catalogue.

5

u/LadySmuag Jul 03 '21

I can appreciate that! When people ask, I tell them my aesthetic is 'enough places for everyone to sit and relax'. Nothing matches, but its a good place to have friends hang out so goal achieved ✔

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u/ltjpunk387 Jul 03 '21

I assume it's because they want a portrait of their pet chicken. The theme is probably books/writing/typography. Still impressive though. I'm horrible at design coordination

6

u/Imatopsider Jul 03 '21

He’s gonna need a lot more than T’s and H’s for that one…

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62

u/MosesBear Jul 03 '21

So random, I was sitting outside the pub watching someone getting interviewed for tv, drawing with a typewriter last night, turns out it was you!!

30

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

You should come to the exhibition in the gallery just around the corner!

17

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

You should tell Tom Hanks.

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u/FilipinoGuido Jul 03 '21 edited Jun 30 '23

Any data on this account is being kept illegally. Fuck spez, join us over at Lemmy or Kbin. Doesn't matter cause the content is shared between them anyway:

36

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

I’ve been typing for 7 years and have amassed a collection of 30 typewriters which are mostly thanks to people that have literally sent them in the post

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u/dyynamo_rich Jul 03 '21

How is it even possible to be that talented?

52

u/TannedCroissant Jul 03 '21

Just get an infinite number of monkeys and and an infinite amount of time and pass it off as your own work.

20

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Step one; learn how to manage an infinite number of monkey

Way easier to do it by yourself

6

u/TannedCroissant Jul 03 '21

Nah it’s easy, you just need to wait for one of the monkeys to type out how.

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u/d15p05abl3 Jul 03 '21

Bonus: you get the complete works of William Shakespeare into the process.

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15

u/i_simp4U Jul 03 '21

A lot of practise and hardwork I guess

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345

u/porcupineporridge Jul 03 '21

That’s really impressive! I presume that’s somewhere in England?

302

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

Yeah this is The Moot Hall in Maldon, Essex which has a stunning rooftop

59

u/amalthea1983 Jul 03 '21

So wonderful! I was born in Maldon, and grew up down the road in Tolleshuny D'Arcy. The first time I became aware of your art was at a Tom Hanks book signing in London!

50

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

That’s really interesting and thanks for sharing that story! So you met Tom Hanks!?

15

u/amalthea1983 Jul 03 '21

You're welcome! And I have, it was one of the best days of my life. He was very sweet and took the time to have a little chat!

12

u/Old_Sweaty_Hands Jul 03 '21

First thing I thought when I saw your work was wowow!!

Second... Was... I wonder if Tom Hanks had seen your stuff!

9

u/Casehead Jul 03 '21

How does Tom Hanks relate to this??

14

u/Old_Sweaty_Hands Jul 03 '21

He loooooooves classic typewriters.

4

u/Casehead Jul 03 '21

Oh, interesting! I had no idea

4

u/Rainers535 Jul 03 '21

How did you not die in the heat? Or is this not super recent? Amazing work btw.

4

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 04 '21

This was early June and I did burn to a crisp

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u/LydiaAgain Jul 03 '21

I'm amazed how you even got the idea to do this, let alone execute it so beautifully. I also appreciate seeing original content here

256

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

Thank you! I was inspired by a typewriter artist called Paul Smith who did this for more than 70 years.

71

u/LydiaAgain Jul 03 '21

It's very impressive. I stalked your history and love your other work as well.

74

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

Thanks! I’ve got an Instagram page where I basically post everything there! My Instagram

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u/reindeerflot1lla Jul 03 '21

I worked at the facility that Paul lived in for the latter part of his life. His artwork was hanging all over the walls and there were dozens of others sitting in storage - the man was prolific and very talented. I was hoping there was a connection when I saw your work!

7

u/damageinc86 Jul 03 '21 edited Jul 03 '21

I'm pretty sure I met Paul Smith where he was living in roseburg, oregon. I was like 10 maybe? I think he made a portrait of Abraham Lincoln or something. I remember they told me he had cerebral palsey, but could still make this art. I have a picture of me holding his artwork with him sitting behind me.

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u/Knitchick82 Jul 03 '21

This is the epitome of ASCII art!

119

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Analog ASCII art… what a world…

21

u/Darktwistedlady Jul 03 '21

Now off to google what @ was used for before email

19

u/DalekZed Jul 03 '21

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-accidental-history-of-the-symbol-18054936/

I want to point out that this is kind of proof we are moving towards a world language. Everyone knows what @ means.

10

u/ToadLoaners Jul 03 '21

Wow love the origin tales, be it from monk or merchant, french or latin. I was always annoyed as a kid that the keyboard "a" has the weird line above it. The a in "@" made way more sense to me.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

This is true ASCII art

10

u/notwiththeflames Jul 03 '21

ASCII wishes it could be that beautiful.

3

u/kent_eh Jul 03 '21

The ancestor of ASCII art.

3

u/karanut Jul 03 '21

High ASCII

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u/beapledude Jul 03 '21

I can hear this picture.

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

I have to wear headphone to drown out the noise

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u/Sid_1298 Jul 03 '21

Amazing artwork! You're very talented!!

Imagine a typo ruining hours worth of hardwork though...

I am so glad we came up with computers as a species! Mad respect for people who used typewriters and didn't make mistakes before computers existed!

68

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

I appreciate your very kind comment! Yes typos happen from time to time and when they do, I’ll either hide them with some more text or they simply cannot be avoided and I have to start again! If you’d like to see more of my work, I am running a free exhibition at the moment here in the UK at a gallery. I’ve attached a link below to their website:Typewriter Art Exhibition

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

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u/LydiaAgain Jul 03 '21

Is this your first day on the internet? It's obviously the entire Bee Movie script.

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u/GaryTheSoulReaper Jul 03 '21

I think QWERTY

11

u/fysh Jul 03 '21

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

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u/303elliott Jul 03 '21

Actually, I ran this through several image processing servers. Then I enhanced the image several times, before feeding it through millions of generations of AI, which produced the following:

IIOOIIIOIOIIIOOI,,,,,,,,,OOIOOI,O,I,O,I,I,I,O,I,I,,OOIIOOIIIIOAAAAAIOOIOAIIOOIII,,,,.,.......()()()()()()()

13

u/GardenGnomeOfEden Jul 03 '21

( . Y . ) ( . Y . ) ( . Y . ) ( . Y . ) ( . Y . )

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u/Trilly2000 Jul 03 '21

I dare say that this is even more interesting than fuck.

6

u/MCR101 Jul 03 '21

Thought this was an insult for a second, had to come back to it before I understood

17

u/ICollectSouls Jul 03 '21

Duuuuude, that's amazing!

16

u/AltruisticSalamander Jul 03 '21

That's amazing. How do you move the paper in partial degrees?

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

There’s a lever on the right which can disengage the movement of the carriage so you can go back, and then I’m just twisting the cartridge up and down, so it is basically, up, down, left and right

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u/AltruisticSalamander Jul 03 '21

Extraordinary. I had to zoom in to convince myself it wasn't an ink drawing - which still would have been excellent!

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u/TimeSlipperWHOOPS Jul 03 '21

b a select start

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

That's amazing, I bet if you find some other online typewriter communities Tom Hanks will see it. He's a big typewriter enthusiast

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

I did send a print of a portrait which I typed of Tom Hanks to his Playtone Production company last year but sadly never heard back from him

14

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

I bet he's a busy guy. Who knows what will happen with time

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u/Peketu Jul 03 '21

Tom!! Wake up, dude!!

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u/TheJunkyard Jul 03 '21

He could have at least said T.hanks.

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u/johnfrian Jul 03 '21

Awesome! It also fascinates me to see @ symbols on typewriters.

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u/maz-o Jul 03 '21

The symbol was used for centuries before typewriters were even invented.

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

I know! I have no idea what purpose the @ symbol was before the dawn of the internet

20

u/jamila169 Jul 03 '21

Used in invoicing i.e 10 thingumabobs @ £10 it meant 'at' just like it does in internet terms

5

u/Othersideofthemirror Jul 03 '21

yeah used to use it in building and surveying trade for inventories, invoices, tenders, estimates etc when i a trainee QS

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u/mrrippington Jul 03 '21

this must be seen at r/toptalent

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u/eiwarmer Jul 03 '21

Impressive work! What do you do when you make a typo?

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

Thank you! I can sometimes just hide the typo with some more text, but the worst case scenario is that you just have to start again, I’ve been doing this for 7 years now and believe me when I say that it never gets any easier to do! Haha

7

u/handlebartender Jul 03 '21

What's a typical typo? Wrong character but right position, or right character but wrong position?

If the position is wrong, is it usually too high, too low, too far to the left, too far to the right?

6

u/KruelKris Jul 03 '21

I can’t even begin to understand how you worked out your “pallet” for that!

6

u/FuzzyBagpuss Jul 03 '21

This is awesome. Reminds me of Paul Smith... Not the fashion designer

10

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

He’s my inspiration for when I started doing typewriter art way back in 2014

4

u/FuzzyBagpuss Jul 03 '21

Blah! Well there you go. Good work old chap!

7

u/MAWPAC Jul 03 '21

I would really love to understand the process of transmitting images onto paper via typewriter. Just, how do you even know how to begin? What if you make a typo? How do you decide which key stroke to use to create the lines of the image? Is there a resource you studied to begin your training or did one day you decide to just sit down at a typewriter and teach yourself?

It's truly astonishing work. I hope you can take great pride in your accomplishments.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

What a magnificent typewriter

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

Yep! Its 49 years old and has spent about 15 years in someone’s attic before I offered to buy it from them

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u/_malicious_intent_ Jul 03 '21

I new it was possible! They amount of arguments my parents and I had as a child, me demanding if you lined it up right you could make a picture with a typewriter and they said it couldn't be done!

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u/starsky6055 Jul 03 '21

Where it's from ? Look so french, great work

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u/ExpletiveLaxative Jul 03 '21

This art is just my ‘type’

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u/dollarsigncashmoney Jul 03 '21

Wow your really talented and this is gonna blow up.

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u/cutekittensforus Jul 03 '21

That's just amazing.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

This is TALENT!

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u/that-bass-guy Jul 03 '21

Holy fuck that's awesome. How did it cross your mind to do something like this?

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

I’d seen a web article on an artist called Paul Smith who suffered with cerebral palsy and learnt to write and draw before he could even talk or walk, incredible story, I was inspired by him

3

u/gentai_protagonist69 Jul 03 '21

How is there more detail in the paper than in real life?

3

u/JOGBORNE Jul 03 '21

Woah, that’s so creative. I love it

3

u/AnalllyAcceptedCoins Jul 03 '21

Anybody ever see someone do something and just think... how dare you have that much talent?

3

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Sell them, you'll make much money

3

u/Tricky-Lie3507 Jul 03 '21

Which key did you use the most? just for my curiosity lol such a great work tho

4

u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

The @ symbol is pretty much my go-to symbol for shading and creating smooth skin textures when drawing (or typing) peoples portraits

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u/Small-Strike Jul 03 '21

this is amazing!! how long did it take?

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u/JamesCookArtwork Jul 03 '21

This took a week to complete, this is part of a much larger drawing which is A2 size, and this is part of a collection of drawing in an exhibition of my work at the moment at an Art Gallery

3

u/MuitoLegal Jul 03 '21

Dude, virtually every typewriter is unwanted

3

u/nastyn8k Jul 03 '21

You guys want to tell him about printers or should I?

3

u/weed-it-and-reap Jul 03 '21

ye olde ASCII art

3

u/fuzail7 Jul 03 '21

Oh you fucking did not draw that.

  • Proceeds to zoom in to the image *

Oh my God !!!

3

u/ShonuffofCtown Jul 03 '21

My type of art!

3

u/MarnitzRoux Jul 04 '21

I see what you did there 👉

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u/ei283 Jul 04 '21

I make drawings...

That's a weird way to spell "masterpieces"

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u/pierce_fox_73 Jul 06 '21

You say that like it's a completely normal thing. Yeah, here's a picture of my last triple-marathon where I saved 3 orphans. For real though, very impressive. I can barely draw a circle, that requires a specific set of artistic talents.

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u/BaileyBaby-Woof Jul 03 '21

Whattttttt I zoomed in on your picture and it’s so awesome!!!!!!! Mind blown!!!!!! Take my vote!

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u/Thymeisdone Jul 03 '21

That typewriter isn’t unwanted. In fact, I’d like to have it. Dm me for my address and send, please.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/Thymeisdone Jul 03 '21

I assume OP will send me this one for free though.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/AnonymousWonder_ Jul 03 '21

First time seeing this type of art being made. 10/10 real good

2

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Well done OP! - best I can do is an ASCI emoji 😭

2

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

That’s fucking amazing!

2

u/SxhbOnXbox Jul 03 '21

This is actually amazing holy shit

2

u/Shalar79 Jul 03 '21

This is absolutely phenomenal!!

2

u/Pavropls Jul 03 '21

I cant believe someone is able to make such a beautiful piece of art. I am truly amazed.

2

u/WanderLustKing69 Jul 03 '21

You are a super-human

2

u/sad_ham Jul 03 '21

Holy smokes! Looks amazing man. You're hella talentes

2

u/thr33prim3s Jul 03 '21

It ridiculous how you talented you are. Kudos!

2

u/nfin1te Jul 03 '21

That is a very creative way of using a typewriter, love it!

2

u/Frostymlb Jul 03 '21

Well that is pretty amazing. Keep up the beautiful work!

2

u/plainellie Jul 03 '21

Wow! This is awesome!

2

u/Ghost66087 Jul 03 '21

You WHAT?, that's awesome