Essex typewriter artist surprised by Burna Boy's response

An artist who uses typewriters to create portraits was "pleasantly surprised" to receive praise from one of his subjects - singer Burna Boy.

26-year-old James Cook was asked by the Coachella music festival to make portraits of some of its headline acts.

He posted the artwork on social media and captured the attention of the Nigerian musician.

Burna Boy's response garnered more than 800 retweets, over 5,000 likes, over 300,000 views and many comments complimenting the artist's work.

Cook says he was really pleasantly surprised to see that he saw the work and that he liked it.

He also says it is always a vote of confidence because you never know if you're able to convey a good likeness of someone and whether they actually genuinely liked that recreation of them.

The A3 portrait of the singer took about 60 to 70 hours of work.

It includes between 50,000 to 60,000 individually typed marks, with some concentrated to create darker areas, like Burna Boy's beard and eyebrows.

The 26-year-old says the paper has gone through the machine at least 60 to 70 times because that's how you build the ink up onto the page to get the darker regions.

So sick ! 🔥 @jjcook9628!!! How long did it take to make this ? 🤯 https://t.co/LuReL9kFlc

— Burna Boy (@burnaboy) May 14, 2023

Source: BBC