[PHOTOS] He draws portraits and memorials… with typewriters!

Only the clicking of keys breaks the silence that reigns in the office of James Cook, who creates drawings with uncanny precision with his typewriter.

From American actor Tom Hanks to the London Eye, the famous Ferris wheel in the British capital, James Cook, 25, composes real works of art using letters and symbols from his device.

The youngster began drawing this way in 2014, after discovering the work of an artist in high school who had used the same process since the 1920s.

Then he decides to try something that seems “impossible” to him.

“I decided to buy my own typewriter just out of curiosity,” he told AFP from his London studio.

“Since then, I’ve learned to draw a little bit,” he said.

At first, the young artist reproduced the buildings, which he believed were easier to draw because of the straight lines and left-to-right movement of the machine.

“I couldn’t draw faces before I started writing with a typewriter,” he said. “Actually, I draw faces better with a typewriter now than with a pencil,” laughs the now architecture student.

Building on his success in social networks with his 20,000 subscribers on Instagram, he continues to draw and give a second life to typewriters given to him by some fans.

“Always a Challenge”

James Cook could draw anywhere in the shadow of the London Eye or on the banks of the Thames next to the British Parliament. Under the big blue sky, he draws that day using the “@” symbol, numbers or the letters “W” and “P”.

For portraits, he uses parentheses to reproduce the shape of the eyes, while for skin, he uses a “large surface covering” mark.

As he types intently on his machine, he quickly catches the attention of onlookers.

“Before Microsoft Word and everything else was invented, this is how we wrote letters,” responded David Asante, a computer engineer at the hospital. “It’s impressive that he can turn it into a masterpiece. »

James Cook could take four to five days to draw small illustrations, but portraits were more tedious, the young man explained, who found it “really satisfying” to work from a “limited” tool.

And “it’s never going to be easy,” he says. “It’s always a challenge. »

The artist will exhibit his works in England this summer and hopes to enter the “Guinness World Record” for the largest typewriter drawing.