Essex artist who creates landscapes and portraits using a typewriter set to create Christmas cards

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An artist from Braintree in Essex who has created more than 100 intricate drawings using a typewriter is set to create Christmas cards this year.

24-year-old James Cook first discovered typewriting art while he was studying for his A-levels, with the course requiring him to look for alternative ways of creating art.

A portrait by typewriter artist James Cook Credit: ITV News Anglia

James has been creating typewriter art for the past seven years. Using just the 44 keys in front of him, he is able to create drawings of buildings, landscapes and people.

This year he will be creating 10 Christmas card designs, five of which are London-based scenes and five which are winter-themed, including animals and birds.

A Christmas card design created by James Cook Credit: James Cook/PA

James Cook's work has been commissioned across the world is on display at a gallery in Finchingfield.

He is often asked for commissions and in one case an American lawyer requested a series of drawings with specific punctuation used in litigation.

James Cook draws himself using a typewriter Credit: James Cook/PA

James said: "Last year, there was a fashion designer in China who wanted a picture as a memory of his mother who had recently passed away.

"He wanted a drawing of her that integrated messages from the wedding speech that she had read out on his wedding day.

"When you looked at the drawing really closely, you could see all these little messages that were moments of the speech that were read on the day of his wedding.

"When you stand back, you see the whole picture of his mother."

The picture took a month to create and Mr Cook said he used around 100,000 stamp marks from the typewriter keys.