Social media is a part of the way most of us live. It's a way to keep in touch, it's a way to stay informed, and it's a way to spread your message.

For some people, though, social media is more than that – it's a way to gain immortality.

It's not just people who were well-known in their lifetime, either.

The artist Paul Smith sadly passed away recently, but the art he left was impressive enough to create a legacy all its own. A series of viral email and social media campaigns ensured that his amazing art was preserved online to a cult following of super-fans.



Unique Challenges And Unique Solutions

Paul Smith suffered from cerebral palsy, meaning that his speech and fine motor skills were seriously impaired.

Finding it difficult to communicate through other methods, he turned to art – an art that he could manage himself. He created all of his nuanced works on the typewriter!

Starting with simple, but impressive, pictures, he was initially unable to use more than a very few keys due to the challenges he faced. The symbols he used were @, #, $, %,^, &, *, (, and ), the symbols you could get from pressing shift and the number row on the typewriters of the day.

Interestingly, the same symbols are used today in computer games such as roguelikes, and in ASCII art, for their expressive ability. Paul Smith definitely knew what he was doing, and he was way ahead of his time!

Building Worlds Out Of Printer Ink

In a modern world of sophisticated printers and toner cartridges, it might be hard to understand the challenges faced by Paul Smith in creating his images.

To put it in context, imagine using only the symbols on your keyboard, being unable to delete anything that you typed, and coming up with, well, this:































That's a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, created on a typewriter. If you look closely at the bottom right corner, you can just make out the words "Typed by Paul Smith".

His grasp of shading and of the subtleties the unsubtle typewriter was capable of were unmatched. This is the great thing about social media – it gives us a way to acknowledge and spread the genius of the lesser-known talents ignored by the mainstream establishments.

Art And Promotion Online

This raises some important points in the digital age.

If it's easier to create art on a typewriter for a sufferer from cerebral palsy, imagine how much easier it must be to create art on a tool as precise as a modern computer! There must be hundreds of modern Paul Smiths out there, quietly and humbly creating astounding digital art.

What do you say? Let's find them, and give them the attention they deserve!

About the Author: 
Elise Lévêque is a Twitter addict and alternative art fan who writes blog posts about all the cool things people have done with ink for Office King, who do cool things with ink of their own.