At first glance, you might not realize just how Brazilian graphic designer Álvaro Franca creates his stylized portraits. A closer look reveals that his subjects’ faces, hair, and clothing are all comprised of letterforms that are impressively produced on a vintage typewriter. Aptly titled Typewritten Portraits, text is grouped together and gives five of Franca’s favorite authors a sense of form and shading.
To craft these works, Franca created reference images on his computer. It gave him an idea of where the dark and light parts are on a face, and he used this as a guide when pecking away on his typewriter. Certain letterforms seem to be perfect for conveying a sense of realism in the portraits. The “m,” when placed together, creates a dense, shaded area, and we can see that the designer also layered text to further enhance this…
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