Retro HOWTO: Keyboard Art

I have no source!

[via Modern Mechanix (of course!)]

[#1 posted by LSK , December 17, 2008 2:13 PM]

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

[#2 posted by Anonymous , December 17, 2008 2:38 PM]

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."

[#3 posted by TJ S , December 17, 2008 2:48 PM]

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.

[#4 posted by TJ S , December 17, 2008 2:54 PM]

Eureka! October 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics, page 181

[#5 posted by reesocles , December 17, 2008 4:26 PM]

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.

[#6 posted by Anonymous , December 17, 2008 6:19 PM]

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.

[#7 posted by clueless in brooklyn , December 17, 2008 7:38 PM]

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

[#8 posted by dofnup , December 18, 2008 12:38 PM]

@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

[#9 posted by reesocles , December 27, 2008 5:41 PM]

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