this also fixes #154 but i'm not sure why this approach wasn't taken earlier

types3.diff

diff --git a/pgpy/pgp.py b/pgpy/pgp.py
index 89ff7f6..7d38f45 100644
--- a/pgpy/pgp.py
+++ b/pgpy/pgp.py
@@ -852,11 +852,13 @@ class PGPMessage(PGPObject, Armorable):
         :type sensitive: ``bool``
         :keyword compression: Set the compression algorithm for the new message.
                               Defaults to :py:obj:`CompressionAlgorithm.ZIP`. Ignored if cleartext is True.
+        :keyword encoding: if message is unicode or str, this is the encoding of the message
         """
         cleartext = kwargs.pop('cleartext', False)
         sensitive = kwargs.pop('sensitive', False)
         compression = kwargs.pop('compression', CompressionAlgorithm.ZIP)
         file = kwargs.pop('file', False)
+        encoding = kwargs.pop('encoding', 'utf-8')
 
         filename = ''
         mtime = datetime.utcnow()
@@ -878,7 +880,7 @@ class PGPMessage(PGPObject, Armorable):
         else:
             # load literal data
             lit = LiteralData()
-            lit._contents = bytearray(cls.text_to_bytes(message))
+            lit._contents = bytearray(cls.text_to_bytes(message, encoding=encoding))
             lit.filename = '_CONSOLE' if sensitive else os.path.basename(filename)
             lit.mtime = mtime
             lit.format = 'b'
diff --git a/pgpy/types.py b/pgpy/types.py
index 2cc4320..a3ec5f0 100644
--- a/pgpy/types.py
+++ b/pgpy/types.py
@@ -224,20 +224,14 @@ class PGPObject(six.with_metaclass(abc.ABCMeta, object)):
         return i.to_bytes(blen, order)
 
     @staticmethod
-    def text_to_bytes(text):
-        bin = bytearray()
-
-        if text is None or isinstance(text, bytearray):
+    def text_to_bytes(text, encoding='utf-8'):
+        if text is None or isinstance(text, (six.binary_type, bytearray)):
             return text
-
-        for c in iter(ord(c) for c in text):
-            if c < 256:
-                bin.append(c)
-
-            else:
-                bin += PGPObject.int_to_bytes(c)
-
-        return bytes(bin)
+        try:
+            binary_text = bytes(text)
+        except TypeError:
+            binary_text = bytes(text, encoding=encoding)
+        return binary_text
 
     @abc.abstractmethod
     def parse(self, packet):