this also fixes #154

types2.diff

diff --git a/pgpy/types.py b/pgpy/types.py
index 2cc4320..62d69fb 100644
--- a/pgpy/types.py
+++ b/pgpy/types.py
@@ -224,18 +224,33 @@ class PGPObject(six.with_metaclass(abc.ABCMeta, object)):
         return i.to_bytes(blen, order)

     @staticmethod
-    def text_to_bytes(text):
+    def char_to_bytes(c, bin):
+        if c < 256:
+            bin.append(c)
+
+        else:
+            bin += PGPObject.int_to_bytes(c)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def text_to_bytes(text, encoding='utf-8'):
         bin = bytearray()

         if text is None or isinstance(text, bytearray):
             return text

         for c in iter(ord(c) for c in text):
-            if c < 256:
-                bin.append(c)
+            PGPObject.char_to_bytes(c, bin)

-            else:
-                bin += PGPObject.int_to_bytes(c)
+        try:
+            bin.decode(encoding)
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            bin = bytearray()
+            try:
+                byte_a = bytearray(text)
+            except TypeError:
+                byte_a = bytearray(text, encoding=encoding)
+            for c in byte_a:
+                PGPObject.char_to_bytes(c, bin)

         return bytes(bin)