Amazing Typewriter Art-Truth!

Amazing Typewriter Art By a Man With Cerebral Palsy-Truth!

Summary of the eRumor:
Paul Smith, a man with cerebral palsy, produced hundreds of the most incredible drawings with a manual typewriter.

The Truth:
Paul Smith overcame his disability, lived a happy productive life and was an inspiration to others producing amazing art with a manual typewriter.

The Paul Smith Foundation had a website that contained Paul's bio and many of his typewriter drawings.

We found a video posted on YouTube with some examples:

posted 08/29/09 updated 03/26/13

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Paul Smith, the man with extraordinary talent was born in Philadelphia on September 21, 1921 with severe cerebral palsy. Not only had Paul beaten the odds of a life with spastic cerebral palsy, a disability that impeded his speech & mobility but also taught himself to become a master artist as well as a terrific chess player even after being devoid of a formal education as a child.

When typing, Paul used his left hand to steady his right one. Since he couldn't press two keys at the same time, he almost always locked the shift key down and made his pictures using the symbols at the top of the number keys. In other words, his pictures were based on these characters .... @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ .

Across seven decades, Paul created hundreds of pictures. He often gave the originals away. Sometimes, but not always, he kept or received a copy for his own records.

As his mastery of the typewriter grew, he developed techniques to create shadings, colors, and textures that made his work resemble pencil or charcoal drawings."

This great man passed away on June 25, 2007, but left behind a collection of his amazing artwork that will be an inspiration for many.