Retro HOWTO: Keyboard Art

I have no source!

[via Modern Mechanix (of course!)]

1. [reesocles]

   My grandfather used to be a typist for the army and he did a ton of these back in the 40s. His masterpiece which hangs in the dining room is a full-color reproduction of “The Last Supper.” It’s pretty amazing.

2. [LSK]

   I suspect the owls to be ancestors of our O RLY owl.

3. [Anonymous]

   I used to do these as part of typing class on a typewriter (not ancient long ago, just early 1990s at a rural jr. high). so, um, yeah, there used to be big books of instructions that read like knitting instructions, like, “41 spaces, 12 L’s, enter, 27 spaces, 6 Qs, 1 i, enter” and so on.

4. [dofnup]

   @6: me too! I used to love creating them, and some of the smaller ones I actually memorized. Yes MEMORIZED.

   Once a dork, always a dork. I wish I remembered them now, tho u_u

5. [Anonymous]

   Judging by his feet, I suspect he’s actually the grandfather of the YA RLY responding owl. The exchange used to go like this:
   “Oh, is that so?”
   “Mm.”

6. [TJ S]

   It would stand to reason the author is the same Paul Hadley who designed the Indiana State Flag. Other than that, no idea on the source. I’m on filtered internet at work, my research abilities are limited.

7. [reesocles]

   Update: I created a flickr set for my grandfather’s work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/reesocles/sets/72157611685771884/

8. [TJ S]

   Eureka! October 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics, page 181

9. [clueless in brooklyn]

   I know of a ny artist that does some cool stuff with a typewriter: Will Yackulic http://www.gregorylindgallery.com/artists/yackulic/yackulic2.html