File size: 264,455 Bytes
d5aa346 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1057 1058 1059 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 1099 1100 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120 1121 1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131 1132 1133 1134 1135 1136 1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142 1143 1144 1145 1146 1147 1148 1149 1150 1151 1152 1153 1154 1155 1156 1157 1158 1159 1160 1161 1162 1163 1164 1165 1166 1167 1168 1169 1170 1171 1172 1173 1174 1175 1176 1177 1178 1179 1180 1181 1182 1183 1184 1185 1186 1187 1188 1189 1190 1191 1192 1193 1194 1195 1196 1197 1198 1199 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207 1208 1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 1226 1227 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 1241 1242 1243 1244 1245 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1258 1259 1260 1261 1262 1263 1264 1265 1266 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 1274 1275 1276 1277 1278 1279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284 1285 1286 1287 1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 1293 1294 1295 1296 1297 1298 1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307 1308 1309 1310 1311 1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320 1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1328 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343 1344 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362 1363 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 1370 1371 1372 1373 1374 1375 1376 1377 1378 1379 1380 1381 1382 1383 1384 1385 1386 1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 1394 1395 1396 1397 1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409 1410 1411 1412 1413 1414 1415 1416 1417 1418 1419 1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 1428 1429 1430 1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439 1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461 1462 1463 1464 1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 1480 1481 1482 1483 1484 1485 1486 1487 1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494 1495 1496 1497 1498 1499 1500 1501 1502 1503 1504 1505 1506 1507 1508 1509 1510 1511 1512 1513 1514 1515 1516 1517 1518 1519 1520 1521 1522 1523 1524 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 1537 1538 1539 1540 1541 1542 1543 1544 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1550 1551 1552 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569 1570 1571 1572 1573 1574 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579 1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599 1600 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 1610 1611 1612 1613 1614 1615 1616 1617 1618 1619 1620 1621 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 1630 1631 1632 1633 1634 1635 1636 1637 1638 1639 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649 1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039 2040 2041 2042 2043 2044 2045 2046 2047 2048 2049 2050 2051 2052 2053 2054 2055 2056 2057 2058 2059 2060 2061 2062 2063 2064 2065 2066 2067 2068 2069 2070 2071 2072 2073 2074 2075 2076 2077 2078 2079 2080 2081 2082 2083 2084 2085 2086 2087 2088 2089 2090 2091 2092 2093 2094 2095 2096 2097 2098 2099 2100 2101 2102 2103 2104 2105 2106 2107 2108 2109 2110 2111 2112 2113 2114 2115 2116 2117 2118 2119 2120 2121 2122 2123 2124 2125 2126 2127 2128 2129 2130 2131 2132 2133 2134 2135 2136 2137 2138 2139 2140 2141 2142 2143 2144 2145 2146 2147 2148 2149 2150 2151 2152 2153 2154 2155 2156 2157 2158 2159 2160 2161 2162 2163 2164 2165 2166 2167 2168 2169 2170 2171 2172 2173 2174 2175 2176 2177 2178 2179 2180 2181 2182 2183 2184 2185 2186 2187 2188 2189 2190 2191 2192 2193 2194 2195 2196 2197 2198 2199 2200 2201 2202 2203 2204 2205 2206 2207 2208 2209 2210 2211 2212 2213 2214 2215 2216 2217 2218 2219 2220 2221 2222 2223 2224 2225 2226 2227 2228 2229 2230 2231 2232 2233 2234 2235 2236 2237 2238 2239 2240 2241 2242 2243 2244 2245 2246 2247 2248 2249 2250 2251 2252 2253 2254 2255 2256 2257 2258 2259 2260 2261 2262 2263 2264 2265 2266 2267 2268 2269 2270 2271 2272 2273 2274 2275 2276 2277 2278 2279 2280 2281 2282 2283 2284 2285 2286 2287 2288 2289 2290 2291 2292 2293 2294 2295 2296 2297 2298 2299 2300 2301 2302 2303 2304 2305 2306 2307 2308 2309 2310 2311 2312 2313 2314 2315 2316 2317 2318 2319 2320 2321 2322 2323 2324 2325 2326 2327 2328 2329 2330 2331 2332 2333 2334 2335 2336 2337 2338 2339 2340 2341 2342 2343 2344 2345 2346 2347 2348 2349 2350 2351 2352 2353 2354 2355 2356 2357 2358 2359 2360 2361 2362 2363 2364 2365 2366 2367 2368 2369 2370 2371 2372 2373 2374 2375 2376 2377 2378 2379 2380 2381 2382 2383 2384 2385 2386 2387 2388 2389 2390 2391 2392 2393 2394 2395 2396 2397 2398 2399 2400 2401 2402 2403 2404 2405 2406 2407 2408 2409 2410 2411 2412 2413 2414 2415 2416 2417 2418 2419 2420 2421 2422 2423 2424 2425 2426 2427 2428 2429 2430 2431 2432 2433 2434 2435 2436 2437 2438 2439 2440 2441 2442 2443 2444 2445 2446 2447 2448 2449 2450 2451 2452 2453 2454 2455 2456 2457 2458 2459 2460 2461 2462 2463 2464 2465 2466 2467 2468 2469 2470 2471 2472 2473 2474 2475 2476 2477 2478 2479 2480 2481 2482 2483 2484 2485 2486 2487 2488 2489 2490 2491 2492 2493 2494 2495 2496 2497 2498 2499 2500 2501 2502 2503 2504 2505 2506 2507 2508 2509 2510 2511 2512 2513 2514 2515 2516 2517 2518 2519 2520 2521 2522 2523 2524 2525 2526 2527 2528 2529 2530 2531 2532 2533 2534 2535 2536 2537 2538 2539 2540 2541 2542 2543 2544 2545 2546 2547 2548 2549 2550 2551 2552 2553 2554 2555 2556 2557 2558 2559 2560 2561 2562 2563 2564 2565 2566 2567 2568 2569 2570 2571 2572 2573 2574 2575 2576 2577 2578 2579 2580 2581 2582 2583 2584 2585 2586 2587 2588 2589 2590 2591 2592 2593 2594 2595 2596 2597 2598 2599 2600 2601 2602 2603 2604 2605 2606 2607 2608 2609 2610 2611 2612 2613 2614 2615 2616 2617 2618 2619 2620 2621 2622 2623 2624 2625 2626 2627 2628 2629 2630 2631 2632 2633 2634 2635 2636 2637 2638 2639 2640 2641 2642 2643 2644 2645 2646 2647 2648 2649 2650 2651 2652 2653 2654 2655 2656 2657 2658 2659 2660 2661 2662 2663 2664 2665 2666 2667 2668 2669 2670 2671 2672 2673 2674 2675 2676 2677 2678 2679 2680 2681 2682 2683 2684 2685 2686 2687 2688 2689 2690 2691 2692 2693 2694 2695 2696 2697 2698 2699 2700 2701 2702 2703 2704 2705 2706 2707 2708 2709 2710 2711 2712 2713 2714 2715 2716 2717 2718 2719 2720 2721 2722 2723 2724 2725 2726 2727 2728 2729 2730 2731 2732 2733 2734 2735 2736 2737 2738 2739 2740 2741 2742 2743 2744 2745 2746 2747 2748 2749 2750 2751 2752 2753 2754 2755 2756 2757 2758 2759 2760 2761 2762 2763 2764 2765 2766 2767 2768 2769 2770 2771 2772 2773 2774 2775 2776 2777 2778 2779 2780 2781 2782 2783 2784 2785 2786 2787 2788 2789 2790 2791 2792 2793 2794 2795 2796 2797 2798 2799 2800 2801 2802 2803 2804 2805 2806 2807 2808 2809 2810 2811 2812 2813 2814 2815 2816 2817 2818 2819 2820 2821 2822 2823 2824 2825 2826 2827 2828 2829 2830 2831 2832 2833 2834 2835 2836 2837 2838 2839 2840 2841 2842 2843 2844 2845 2846 2847 2848 2849 2850 2851 2852 2853 2854 2855 2856 2857 2858 2859 2860 2861 2862 2863 2864 2865 2866 2867 2868 2869 2870 2871 2872 2873 2874 2875 2876 2877 2878 2879 2880 2881 2882 2883 2884 2885 2886 2887 2888 2889 2890 2891 2892 2893 2894 2895 2896 2897 2898 2899 2900 2901 2902 2903 2904 2905 2906 2907 2908 2909 2910 2911 2912 2913 2914 2915 2916 2917 2918 2919 2920 2921 2922 2923 2924 2925 2926 2927 2928 2929 2930 2931 2932 2933 2934 2935 2936 2937 2938 2939 2940 2941 2942 2943 2944 2945 2946 2947 2948 2949 2950 2951 2952 2953 2954 2955 2956 2957 2958 2959 2960 2961 2962 2963 2964 2965 2966 2967 2968 2969 2970 2971 2972 2973 2974 2975 2976 2977 2978 2979 2980 2981 2982 2983 2984 2985 2986 2987 2988 2989 2990 2991 2992 2993 2994 2995 2996 2997 2998 2999 3000 3001 3002 3003 3004 3005 3006 3007 3008 3009 3010 3011 3012 3013 3014 3015 3016 3017 3018 3019 3020 3021 3022 3023 3024 3025 3026 3027 3028 3029 3030 3031 3032 3033 3034 3035 3036 3037 3038 3039 3040 3041 3042 3043 3044 3045 3046 3047 3048 3049 3050 3051 3052 3053 3054 3055 3056 3057 3058 3059 3060 3061 3062 3063 3064 3065 3066 3067 3068 3069 3070 3071 3072 3073 3074 3075 3076 3077 3078 3079 3080 3081 3082 3083 3084 3085 3086 3087 3088 3089 3090 3091 3092 3093 3094 3095 3096 3097 3098 3099 3100 3101 3102 3103 3104 3105 3106 3107 3108 3109 3110 3111 3112 3113 3114 3115 3116 3117 3118 3119 3120 3121 3122 3123 3124 3125 3126 3127 3128 3129 3130 3131 3132 3133 3134 3135 3136 3137 3138 3139 3140 3141 3142 3143 3144 3145 3146 3147 3148 3149 3150 3151 3152 3153 3154 3155 3156 3157 3158 3159 3160 3161 3162 3163 3164 3165 3166 3167 3168 3169 3170 3171 3172 3173 3174 3175 3176 3177 3178 3179 3180 3181 3182 3183 3184 3185 3186 3187 3188 3189 3190 3191 3192 3193 3194 3195 3196 3197 3198 3199 3200 3201 3202 3203 3204 3205 3206 3207 3208 3209 3210 3211 3212 3213 3214 3215 3216 3217 3218 3219 3220 3221 3222 3223 3224 3225 3226 3227 3228 3229 3230 3231 3232 3233 3234 3235 3236 3237 3238 3239 3240 3241 3242 3243 3244 3245 3246 3247 3248 3249 3250 3251 3252 3253 3254 3255 3256 3257 3258 3259 3260 3261 3262 3263 3264 3265 3266 3267 3268 3269 3270 3271 3272 3273 3274 3275 3276 3277 3278 3279 3280 3281 3282 3283 3284 3285 3286 3287 3288 3289 3290 3291 3292 3293 3294 3295 3296 3297 3298 3299 3300 3301 3302 3303 3304 3305 3306 3307 3308 3309 3310 3311 3312 3313 3314 3315 3316 3317 3318 3319 3320 3321 3322 3323 3324 3325 3326 3327 3328 3329 3330 3331 3332 3333 3334 3335 3336 3337 3338 3339 3340 3341 3342 3343 3344 3345 3346 3347 3348 3349 3350 3351 3352 3353 3354 3355 3356 3357 3358 3359 3360 3361 3362 3363 3364 3365 3366 3367 3368 3369 3370 3371 3372 3373 3374 3375 3376 3377 3378 3379 3380 3381 3382 3383 3384 3385 3386 3387 3388 3389 3390 3391 3392 3393 3394 3395 3396 3397 3398 3399 3400 3401 3402 3403 3404 3405 3406 3407 3408 3409 3410 3411 3412 3413 3414 3415 3416 3417 3418 3419 3420 3421 3422 3423 3424 3425 3426 3427 3428 3429 3430 3431 3432 3433 3434 3435 3436 3437 3438 3439 3440 3441 3442 3443 3444 3445 3446 3447 3448 3449 3450 3451 3452 3453 3454 3455 3456 3457 3458 3459 3460 3461 3462 3463 3464 3465 3466 3467 3468 3469 3470 3471 3472 3473 3474 3475 3476 3477 3478 3479 3480 3481 3482 3483 3484 3485 3486 3487 3488 3489 3490 3491 3492 3493 3494 3495 3496 3497 3498 3499 3500 3501 3502 3503 3504 3505 3506 3507 3508 3509 3510 3511 3512 3513 3514 3515 3516 3517 3518 3519 3520 3521 3522 3523 3524 3525 3526 3527 3528 3529 3530 3531 3532 3533 3534 3535 3536 3537 3538 3539 3540 3541 3542 3543 3544 3545 3546 3547 3548 3549 3550 3551 3552 3553 3554 3555 3556 3557 3558 3559 3560 3561 3562 3563 3564 3565 3566 3567 3568 3569 3570 3571 3572 3573 3574 3575 3576 3577 3578 3579 3580 3581 3582 3583 3584 3585 3586 3587 3588 3589 3590 3591 3592 3593 3594 3595 3596 3597 3598 3599 3600 3601 3602 3603 3604 3605 3606 3607 3608 3609 3610 3611 3612 3613 3614 3615 3616 3617 3618 3619 3620 3621 3622 3623 3624 3625 3626 3627 3628 3629 3630 3631 3632 3633 3634 3635 3636 3637 3638 3639 3640 3641 3642 3643 3644 3645 3646 3647 3648 3649 3650 3651 3652 3653 3654 3655 3656 3657 3658 3659 3660 3661 3662 3663 3664 3665 3666 3667 3668 3669 3670 3671 3672 3673 3674 3675 3676 3677 3678 3679 3680 3681 3682 3683 3684 3685 3686 3687 3688 3689 3690 3691 3692 3693 3694 3695 3696 3697 3698 3699 3700 3701 3702 3703 3704 3705 3706 3707 3708 3709 3710 3711 3712 3713 3714 3715 3716 3717 3718 3719 3720 3721 3722 3723 3724 3725 3726 3727 3728 3729 3730 3731 3732 3733 3734 3735 3736 3737 3738 3739 3740 3741 3742 3743 3744 3745 3746 3747 3748 3749 3750 3751 3752 3753 3754 3755 3756 3757 3758 3759 3760 3761 3762 3763 3764 3765 3766 3767 3768 3769 3770 3771 3772 3773 3774 3775 3776 3777 3778 3779 3780 3781 3782 3783 3784 3785 3786 3787 3788 3789 3790 3791 3792 3793 3794 3795 3796 3797 3798 3799 3800 3801 3802 3803 3804 3805 3806 3807 3808 3809 3810 3811 3812 3813 3814 3815 3816 3817 3818 3819 3820 3821 3822 3823 3824 3825 3826 3827 3828 3829 3830 3831 3832 3833 3834 3835 3836 3837 3838 3839 3840 3841 3842 3843 3844 3845 3846 3847 3848 3849 3850 3851 3852 3853 3854 3855 3856 3857 3858 3859 3860 3861 3862 3863 3864 3865 3866 3867 3868 3869 3870 3871 3872 3873 3874 3875 3876 3877 3878 3879 3880 3881 3882 3883 3884 3885 3886 3887 3888 3889 3890 3891 3892 3893 3894 3895 3896 3897 3898 3899 3900 3901 3902 3903 3904 3905 3906 3907 3908 3909 3910 3911 3912 3913 3914 3915 3916 3917 3918 3919 3920 3921 3922 3923 3924 3925 3926 3927 3928 3929 3930 3931 3932 3933 3934 3935 3936 3937 3938 3939 3940 3941 3942 3943 3944 3945 3946 3947 3948 3949 3950 3951 3952 3953 3954 3955 3956 3957 3958 3959 3960 3961 3962 3963 3964 3965 3966 3967 3968 3969 3970 3971 3972 3973 3974 3975 3976 3977 3978 3979 3980 3981 3982 3983 3984 3985 3986 3987 3988 3989 3990 3991 3992 3993 3994 3995 3996 3997 3998 3999 4000 4001 4002 4003 4004 4005 4006 4007 4008 4009 4010 4011 4012 4013 4014 4015 4016 4017 4018 4019 4020 4021 4022 4023 4024 4025 4026 4027 4028 4029 4030 4031 4032 4033 4034 4035 4036 4037 4038 4039 4040 4041 4042 4043 4044 4045 4046 4047 4048 4049 4050 4051 4052 4053 4054 4055 4056 4057 4058 4059 4060 4061 4062 4063 4064 4065 4066 4067 4068 4069 4070 4071 4072 4073 4074 4075 4076 4077 4078 4079 4080 4081 4082 4083 4084 4085 4086 4087 4088 4089 4090 4091 4092 4093 4094 4095 4096 4097 4098 4099 4100 4101 4102 4103 4104 4105 4106 4107 4108 4109 4110 4111 4112 4113 4114 4115 4116 4117 4118 4119 4120 4121 4122 4123 4124 4125 4126 4127 4128 4129 4130 4131 4132 4133 4134 4135 4136 4137 4138 4139 4140 4141 4142 4143 4144 4145 4146 4147 4148 4149 4150 4151 4152 4153 4154 4155 4156 4157 4158 4159 4160 4161 4162 4163 4164 4165 4166 4167 4168 4169 4170 4171 4172 4173 4174 4175 4176 4177 4178 4179 4180 4181 4182 4183 4184 4185 4186 4187 4188 4189 4190 4191 4192 4193 4194 4195 4196 4197 4198 4199 4200 4201 4202 4203 4204 4205 4206 4207 4208 4209 4210 4211 4212 4213 4214 4215 4216 4217 4218 4219 4220 4221 4222 4223 4224 4225 4226 4227 4228 4229 4230 4231 4232 4233 4234 4235 4236 4237 4238 4239 4240 4241 4242 4243 4244 4245 4246 4247 4248 4249 4250 4251 4252 4253 4254 4255 4256 4257 4258 4259 4260 4261 4262 4263 4264 4265 4266 4267 4268 4269 4270 4271 4272 4273 4274 4275 4276 4277 4278 4279 4280 4281 4282 4283 4284 4285 4286 4287 4288 4289 4290 4291 4292 4293 4294 4295 4296 4297 4298 4299 4300 4301 4302 4303 4304 4305 4306 4307 4308 4309 4310 4311 4312 4313 4314 4315 4316 4317 4318 4319 4320 4321 4322 4323 4324 4325 4326 4327 4328 4329 4330 4331 4332 4333 4334 4335 4336 4337 4338 4339 4340 4341 4342 4343 4344 4345 4346 4347 4348 4349 4350 4351 4352 4353 4354 4355 4356 4357 4358 4359 4360 4361 4362 4363 4364 4365 4366 4367 4368 4369 4370 4371 4372 4373 4374 4375 4376 4377 4378 4379 4380 4381 4382 4383 4384 4385 4386 4387 4388 4389 4390 4391 4392 4393 4394 4395 4396 4397 4398 4399 4400 4401 4402 4403 4404 4405 4406 4407 4408 4409 4410 4411 4412 4413 4414 4415 4416 4417 4418 4419 4420 4421 4422 4423 4424 4425 4426 4427 4428 4429 4430 4431 4432 4433 4434 4435 4436 4437 4438 4439 4440 4441 4442 4443 4444 4445 4446 4447 4448 4449 4450 4451 4452 4453 4454 4455 4456 4457 4458 4459 4460 4461 4462 4463 4464 4465 4466 4467 4468 4469 4470 4471 4472 4473 4474 4475 4476 4477 4478 4479 4480 4481 4482 4483 4484 4485 4486 4487 4488 4489 4490 4491 4492 4493 4494 4495 4496 4497 4498 4499 4500 4501 4502 4503 4504 4505 4506 4507 4508 4509 4510 4511 4512 4513 4514 4515 4516 4517 4518 4519 4520 4521 4522 4523 4524 4525 4526 4527 4528 4529 4530 4531 4532 4533 4534 4535 4536 4537 4538 4539 4540 4541 4542 4543 4544 4545 4546 4547 4548 4549 4550 4551 4552 4553 4554 4555 4556 4557 4558 4559 4560 4561 4562 4563 4564 4565 4566 4567 4568 4569 4570 4571 4572 4573 4574 4575 4576 4577 4578 4579 4580 4581 4582 4583 4584 4585 4586 4587 4588 4589 4590 4591 4592 4593 4594 4595 4596 4597 4598 4599 4600 4601 4602 4603 4604 4605 4606 4607 4608 4609 4610 4611 4612 4613 4614 4615 4616 4617 4618 4619 4620 4621 4622 4623 4624 4625 4626 4627 4628 4629 4630 4631 4632 4633 4634 4635 4636 4637 4638 4639 4640 4641 4642 4643 4644 4645 4646 4647 4648 4649 4650 4651 4652 4653 4654 4655 4656 4657 4658 4659 4660 4661 4662 4663 4664 4665 4666 4667 4668 4669 4670 4671 4672 4673 4674 4675 4676 4677 4678 4679 4680 4681 4682 4683 4684 4685 4686 4687 4688 4689 4690 4691 4692 4693 4694 4695 4696 4697 4698 4699 4700 4701 4702 4703 4704 4705 4706 4707 4708 4709 4710 4711 4712 4713 4714 4715 4716 4717 4718 4719 4720 4721 4722 4723 4724 4725 4726 4727 4728 4729 4730 4731 4732 4733 4734 4735 4736 4737 4738 4739 4740 4741 4742 4743 4744 4745 4746 4747 4748 4749 4750 4751 4752 4753 4754 4755 4756 4757 4758 4759 4760 4761 4762 4763 4764 4765 4766 4767 4768 4769 4770 4771 4772 4773 4774 4775 4776 4777 4778 4779 4780 4781 4782 4783 4784 4785 4786 4787 4788 4789 4790 4791 4792 4793 4794 4795 4796 4797 4798 4799 4800 4801 4802 4803 4804 4805 4806 4807 4808 4809 4810 4811 4812 4813 4814 4815 4816 4817 4818 4819 4820 4821 4822 4823 4824 4825 4826 4827 4828 4829 4830 4831 4832 4833 4834 4835 4836 4837 4838 4839 4840 4841 4842 4843 4844 4845 4846 4847 4848 4849 4850 4851 4852 4853 4854 4855 4856 4857 4858 4859 4860 4861 4862 4863 4864 4865 4866 4867 4868 4869 4870 4871 4872 4873 4874 4875 4876 4877 4878 4879 4880 4881 4882 4883 4884 4885 4886 4887 4888 4889 4890 4891 4892 4893 4894 4895 4896 4897 4898 4899 4900 4901 4902 4903 4904 4905 4906 4907 4908 4909 4910 4911 4912 4913 4914 4915 4916 4917 4918 4919 4920 4921 4922 4923 4924 4925 4926 4927 4928 4929 4930 4931 4932 4933 4934 4935 4936 4937 4938 4939 4940 4941 4942 4943 4944 4945 4946 4947 4948 4949 4950 4951 4952 4953 4954 4955 4956 4957 4958 4959 4960 4961 4962 4963 4964 4965 4966 4967 4968 4969 4970 4971 4972 4973 4974 4975 4976 4977 4978 4979 4980 4981 4982 4983 4984 4985 4986 4987 4988 4989 4990 4991 4992 4993 4994 4995 4996 4997 4998 4999 5000 5001 5002 5003 5004 5005 5006 5007 5008 5009 5010 5011 5012 5013 5014 5015 5016 5017 5018 5019 5020 5021 5022 5023 5024 5025 5026 5027 5028 5029 5030 5031 5032 5033 5034 5035 5036 5037 5038 5039 5040 5041 5042 5043 5044 5045 5046 5047 5048 5049 5050 5051 5052 5053 5054 5055 5056 5057 5058 5059 5060 5061 5062 5063 5064 5065 5066 5067 5068 5069 5070 5071 5072 5073 5074 5075 5076 5077 5078 5079 5080 5081 5082 5083 5084 5085 5086 5087 5088 5089 5090 5091 5092 5093 5094 5095 5096 5097 5098 5099 5100 5101 5102 5103 5104 5105 5106 5107 5108 5109 5110 5111 5112 5113 5114 5115 5116 5117 5118 5119 5120 5121 5122 5123 5124 5125 5126 5127 5128 5129 5130 5131 5132 5133 5134 5135 5136 5137 5138 5139 5140 5141 5142 5143 5144 5145 5146 5147 5148 5149 5150 5151 5152 5153 5154 5155 5156 5157 5158 5159 5160 5161 5162 5163 5164 5165 5166 5167 5168 5169 5170 5171 5172 5173 5174 5175 5176 5177 5178 5179 5180 5181 5182 5183 5184 5185 5186 5187 5188 5189 5190 5191 5192 5193 5194 5195 5196 5197 5198 5199 5200 5201 5202 5203 5204 5205 5206 5207 5208 5209 5210 5211 5212 5213 5214 5215 5216 5217 5218 5219 5220 5221 5222 5223 5224 5225 5226 5227 5228 5229 5230 5231 5232 5233 5234 5235 5236 5237 5238 5239 5240 5241 5242 5243 5244 5245 5246 5247 5248 5249 5250 5251 5252 5253 5254 5255 5256 5257 5258 5259 5260 5261 5262 5263 5264 5265 5266 5267 5268 5269 5270 5271 5272 5273 5274 5275 5276 5277 5278 5279 5280 5281 5282 5283 5284 5285 5286 5287 5288 5289 5290 5291 5292 5293 5294 5295 5296 5297 5298 5299 5300 5301 5302 5303 5304 5305 5306 5307 5308 5309 5310 5311 5312 5313 5314 5315 5316 5317 5318 5319 5320 5321 5322 5323 5324 5325 5326 5327 5328 5329 5330 5331 5332 5333 5334 5335 5336 5337 5338 5339 5340 5341 5342 5343 5344 5345 5346 5347 5348 5349 5350 5351 5352 5353 5354 5355 5356 5357 5358 5359 5360 5361 5362 5363 5364 5365 5366 5367 5368 5369 5370 5371 5372 5373 5374 5375 5376 5377 5378 5379 5380 5381 5382 5383 5384 5385 5386 5387 5388 5389 5390 5391 5392 5393 5394 5395 5396 5397 5398 5399 5400 5401 5402 5403 5404 5405 5406 5407 5408 5409 5410 5411 5412 5413 5414 5415 5416 5417 5418 5419 5420 5421 5422 5423 5424 5425 5426 5427 5428 5429 5430 5431 5432 5433 5434 5435 5436 5437 5438 5439 5440 5441 5442 5443 5444 5445 5446 5447 5448 5449 5450 5451 5452 5453 5454 5455 5456 5457 5458 5459 5460 5461 5462 5463 5464 5465 5466 5467 5468 5469 5470 5471 5472 5473 5474 5475 5476 5477 5478 5479 5480 5481 5482 5483 5484 5485 5486 5487 5488 5489 5490 5491 5492 5493 5494 5495 5496 5497 5498 5499 5500 5501 5502 5503 5504 5505 5506 5507 5508 5509 5510 5511 5512 5513 5514 5515 5516 5517 5518 5519 5520 5521 5522 5523 5524 5525 5526 5527 5528 5529 5530 5531 5532 5533 5534 5535 5536 5537 5538 5539 5540 5541 5542 5543 5544 5545 5546 5547 5548 5549 5550 5551 5552 5553 5554 5555 5556 5557 5558 5559 5560 5561 5562 5563 5564 5565 5566 5567 5568 5569 5570 5571 5572 5573 5574 5575 5576 5577 5578 5579 5580 5581 5582 5583 5584 5585 5586 5587 5588 5589 5590 5591 5592 5593 5594 5595 5596 5597 5598 5599 5600 5601 5602 5603 5604 5605 5606 5607 5608 5609 5610 5611 5612 5613 5614 5615 5616 5617 5618 5619 5620 5621 5622 5623 5624 5625 5626 5627 5628 5629 5630 5631 5632 5633 5634 5635 5636 5637 5638 5639 5640 5641 5642 5643 5644 5645 5646 5647 5648 5649 5650 5651 5652 5653 5654 5655 5656 5657 5658 5659 5660 5661 5662 5663 5664 5665 5666 5667 5668 5669 5670 5671 5672 5673 5674 5675 5676 5677 5678 5679 5680 5681 5682 5683 5684 5685 5686 5687 5688 5689 5690 5691 5692 5693 5694 5695 5696 5697 5698 5699 5700 5701 5702 5703 5704 5705 5706 5707 5708 5709 5710 5711 5712 5713 5714 5715 5716 5717 5718 5719 5720 5721 5722 5723 5724 5725 5726 5727 5728 5729 5730 5731 5732 5733 5734 5735 5736 5737 5738 5739 5740 5741 5742 5743 5744 5745 5746 5747 5748 5749 5750 5751 5752 5753 5754 5755 5756 5757 5758 5759 5760 5761 5762 5763 5764 5765 5766 5767 5768 5769 5770 5771 5772 5773 5774 5775 5776 5777 5778 5779 5780 5781 5782 5783 5784 5785 5786 5787 5788 5789 5790 5791 5792 5793 5794 5795 5796 5797 5798 5799 5800 5801 5802 5803 5804 5805 5806 5807 5808 5809 5810 5811 5812 5813 5814 5815 5816 5817 5818 5819 5820 5821 5822 5823 5824 5825 5826 5827 5828 5829 5830 5831 5832 5833 5834 5835 5836 5837 5838 5839 5840 5841 5842 5843 5844 5845 5846 5847 5848 5849 5850 5851 5852 5853 5854 5855 5856 5857 5858 5859 5860 5861 5862 5863 5864 5865 5866 5867 5868 5869 5870 5871 5872 5873 5874 5875 5876 5877 5878 5879 5880 5881 5882 5883 5884 5885 5886 5887 5888 5889 5890 5891 5892 5893 5894 5895 5896 5897 5898 5899 5900 5901 5902 5903 5904 5905 5906 5907 5908 5909 5910 5911 5912 5913 5914 5915 5916 5917 5918 5919 5920 5921 5922 5923 5924 5925 5926 5927 5928 5929 5930 5931 5932 5933 5934 5935 5936 5937 5938 5939 5940 5941 5942 5943 5944 5945 5946 5947 5948 5949 5950 5951 5952 5953 5954 5955 5956 5957 5958 5959 5960 | File: academy/tutorials/tut_atkins.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/20210226065248/https://vyznev.net/ascii/ada/aaatutorial.txt
,-,-,-. .
`,| | | ,-. | , . ,-. ,-. . . ,-. . . ,-. ,-. . , , ,-.
| ; | . ,-| |< | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |/|/ | |
' `-' `-^ ' ` ' ' ' `-| `-| `-' `-^ ' `-' ' ' ' '
,| /|
`' `-'
,. .---. ,--. ,-_/ ,-_/ ,. .
/ | \___ | `-' ' | ' | / | ,-. |-
/~~|-. \ | . .^ | .^ | /~~|-. | |
,' `-' `---' `--' `--' `--' ,' `-' ' `'
A short tutorial on making and posting ASCII Art
By Martin Atkins (March 1999)
This document was based on 'Make a Start in ASCII Art' by Daniel Au
Stop before asking for an ascii picture of a whatever, or ascii for a
logo... wouldn't it be more fun to make your own? Perhaps you could
create a beautiful piece of ASCII Artwork and share it with us all at
alt.ascii-art!
If you would like to learn how to make ascii art, this tutorial should
help you get started.
-._.-> Quick Start
"""""""""""
You don't need a special program to make ASCII Art, you can make it in
any text editor, or another program that allows you to type characters
from the keyboard.
You should, however, make sure that it is producing plain text (no
colours, bold etc) and is set to a monospaced font. A monospaced (or
fixed width) font is one where all of the characters are the same
width.
In a monospaced font, these two lines will be the same length:
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|
If they aren't, then you aren't using a monospaced font. Experiment
with available fonts until you find one that makes those two lines
match up.
-._.-> Making a picture
""""""""""""""""
The best way to pick up ascii art is to try it. Find a nice text editor
(most computers will have one, look for Notepad, Edit, Nisus, Ed...)
and load it up.
Just fiddle around a little to get a feel of what shapes each character
makes, and then try to put them together to make a shape:
o
-|- ASCII Art Stickman!
/ \
Try making this stickman do things, like...
o/ o
'| Waving... -|- o or Kicking a ball!
/ \ |'.
Now look around where you are now... can you see anything interesting
to make an ascii art of? Computers make very good 'first pictures',
because they are mostly rectangular and so easy to shape. Have a go at
showing your computer in ASCII Art. Try not to produce *exactly* what
you see, but enough detail that the eye assumes the extra detail. This
takes some practice, but once you've mastered it you can make almost
anything!
How about a person? This is a good thing to do next. The best place to
start is not a specific person, but a generic one ... that way you can
concentrate on forming a person-shape without worrying about the exact
details of a person and possibly offending them!
I've gone for a cartoony sort of person, since less details are needed
to produce it. Let's start with the head...
/"""""\
| (o|o) |
| _\ |
| '---' |
\_____/ mga
| |
See how you see a human face, but know that it's very unlikely you will
ever meet anyone who looks like this? This is what I mean by not
producing exactly what something looks like.
Let's continue the picture...
/"""""\
| (o|o) |
| _\ |
| '---' |
\_____/
___| |___
/ '-' \
| . . |
| | | |
| | | |
\_|_____|_/
/_| |_\
| .-. |
| | | |
'._| |_.'
/__| |__\ mga
Since it is a cartoon, I didn't worry too much about the proportions.
If this was a serious picture, the legs would be far too short for the
rest if the body, but you get the general idea.
-._.-> Diagonal Lines
""""""""""""""
Notice on the bottom of the trousers I have used the full stop and
apostrophe characters to produce I greater diagonal line than the slash
offers. This is the basis for producing lines in ascii art. This one
takes some time to master, but here are some lines to show you how to
construct a few 'odd' angles...
| | / ,' ,-' _,-'
| .' / ,' ,-' _,-'
| | / ,' ,-' _,-' __..--""
| .' / ,' ,-' _,-' __..--""
| | / ,' ,-' ,-' __..--"" _______________
-._.-> Adding more detail
""""""""""""""""""
We can make our picture more interesting by adding some extra details.
Just add anything that makes the picture look more like what it's meant
to be, or looks cool.
I'll just make a minor adjustment...
/"""""\
| (o|o) |
| _\ |
| '---' |
\_____/
___| |___
/ '-' \
| . . | What young person would be seen
| |Robik| | without his expensive brand-name
| | './ | | sweatshirt?
\_|_____|_/
/_| |_\
| .-. |
| | | |
'._| |_.'
/__| |__\ mga
-._.-> Background detail
"""""""""""""""""
At the moment, our person is standing in a blank void. Why don't we add
some interesting backdrop to the picture?
Since my picture is of a young man, where better to stand him than in
front of a shop in town?
-----------------------------------.---------.----------
.----------. | .-----. ||"""""""""
.-------. .------ /"""""\ | | | ||
|FOREMEN| |..-.-.| (o|o) | _| | | ||
|WANTED | |_.=-.-| _\ | / | | | ||
'-------' '----- | '---' | |""| | | ||
.------. .-----. \_____/ | | '-. | ||
|.----.| |ASCII ___| |___ |""| | | ||_________
||Sulk|| |MONTH / '-' \ | | .-' | |__________
||Kit || ||""| | . . | |""| | | |__|___|___
_________________ | |Robik| | |__| | | ||___|___|_
================= | | './ | | ===| |mga | |__|___|___
\_|_____|_/ | '-----' ||___|___|_
__________________ /_| |_\ ____|_________|__|___|___
/ | .-. |
| | | | /
/ '._| |_.' /
/ /__| |__\
________________________________________________________
___/_________/________/________/_______/_______/______/_
___|_________|________|________|_______|_______|______|_
And here we have what is a pretty good ascii are picture! With more
tweaking it can be made even better.
-._.-> Finishing it off
""""""""""""""""
You may have noticed that in the example pictures above there are three
letters floating about apparently for no reason... 'mga'.
When you make ascii art, should put your name or initials somewhere on
it to identify it as yours. My initials are mga, which is where the mga
comes from!
Try to find a place where the initials don't spoil the picture, like on
a wall, or a screen...
-._.-> Going public... releasing your picture to alt.ascii-art!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Once you are happy with your picture, and have added your initials, you
can post it to alt.ascii-art. Paste it into your newsreader's message
composition window. Check that it is plain text (no colours or styles)
and in a monospaced font before posting.
You might want to mention that this is your first pic when you post it.
Check back to alt.ascii-art a few days later, and you may find that
some people have responded to your picture. They may have written a
'Cool pic!' type message, in which case you did it right! Do some more!
The other possibility is that someone is offering a suggestion for
improvement. This will come in one of two forms:
* Diddling
'Diddling' is when someone takes your picture, and changes it a
little. You shouldn't take offense at this (unless your pic has been
made offensive of course), just take heed to the suggestions and
bear them in mind for your future pictures.
* Textual Suggestion
Someone may make a suggestion like 'try to smooth out the corners
with a full stop', or 'try using a | instead of a : for vertical
lines'. These are just friendly suggestions, which you may choose to
bear in mind when you create future pictures.
Whether everyone loves your pic, or they offer suggestions, you should
still continue to produce more pics. Remember practice makes, if not
perfect, at least pretty good!
-._.-> Learning from others
""""""""""""""""""""
The best way to learn is by example. Take a look at the ascii art in
alt.ascii-art. Note how different artists have used certain characters
to produce different shapes.
You can try some of the techniques used by other artists, and will
probably develop your own 'style' of ascii art. You can see differences
between how each artists create ascii art, some are subtle while others
are blatently obvious. Just practice and you'll get there!
-._.-> In conclusion
"""""""""""""
Anyone can create ASCII Art with a little perseverance. If you find
yourself bitten by the ASCII Art bug, please post your pictures to
alt.ascii-art - we'd love to see them!
File: academy/tutorials/tut_au.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/19990427090024/http://users.inetw.net/~mullen/auteach.htm
From: dcau@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Daniel Au)
Date: 4 Oct 1995 15:47:46 -0500
I just wrote this now in response to an email sent to me asking how
I did my ASCII artwork. I responded by writing a brief walkthrough
of my thought processes (well, kind of) and just wanted to share
them on the group. Let's see more people try to make create their
own new artwork instead of requesting for the old stuff all the
time. It'll make for a better newsgroup overall and everyone will
benefit! -- Daniel
= ASCII art tips and example ==
Try practicing to make your own artwork by just typing on the
keyboard, which is what I do (I work just using the DOS text editor
which comes along with any MSDOS machine. Any text editor will do.)
Begin by basic shapes. For example, if you're making an animal -
say a giraffe - let's start with the head:
__.ii,
(__," |
| |
basically simple shapes to make it look approximately like it does
in real life (as best as you can, at least, in this case I've
cartooned it a bit :-) The " is making up the eyes, the . and , the
ears and a smile. The i i are those antennae like things on top of
their heads (if I remember correctly). I usually like to keep my
artwork within the size of a screen. Since a giraffe is a tall
animal, I'm keeping the details smaller. Then continue on with the
body and some legs. Try to do a rough outline.
__.ii,
(__," |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |------------,
/ \\
| |\
|,._ |,______\ |||
|| //' || || |
|| (( || || |
|| `\\ || || M
|| \\ || ||
/_| /_| /_| /_|
It's best to add some . and , in order to smooth out some of the
edges. Then the tail is in the back. Then add the detail - hair on
the neck and spots on the body.
__.ii,
(__," |%
| #%
| |%
| #%
# |%
| |%
| |%-----------,
/ ### ##### \\
|#### """" ### |\
|,._ |,_###__\ |||
|| //' || || |
|| (( || || |
|| `\\ || || M
|| \\ || ||
/_| /_| /_| /_| dcau
That's pretty much for a quick giraffe that I just did while writing
this letter. You can add more stuff like a tree and a bird on a
branch too:
O ) __.ii, \ | /
O ) (__," |% - (_) -
O ) | #% / | \
) | |%
O ) | #%
O ) # |%
,~ | |%
-- ~| ~ `O> | |------------,
| ||_</)__ / ### ##### \\
| //'/"" |#### """" ### |\
// |,._ |,_###__\ ||| A quick sketch of a
| || //' || || | tree, bird, and giraffe
D | || (( || || | by Daniel C. Au (dcau)
C | || \\ || || M
A | || \\ || ||
U \_,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,/_|,,,/_|,,/_|,/_|,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
How's that for a happy little scene? :-) I etched my initials on
the bottom of the tree. *grin*
Just practice and practice and you'll get the hang of it. Try to
learn techniques from other people's artwork (Felix Lee's cats are a
good example). It'll help you learn how to orientate yourself and
how to best use some of the characters. Hope it goes well for
everyone. Let's see some more creative activity on the newsgroup.
You _can_ do it!
Regards,
Daniel
File: academy/tutorials/tut_bger.txt
https://www.ludd.ltu.se/~vk/pics/ascii/junkyard/techstuff/tutorials/Joris_Bellenger.html
To follow this tutorial you will need to
download and install JavE.
http://www.jave.de/
JavE is a free Ascii Editor and I could save
a few hours work by using it.
1/
I first made a gif-to-ascii conversion with JavE.
The quality didn't really matter because I was about to change every
single character later anyway.
Have a look at the original picture.
The idea behind this was to set the overall shape of the drawing.
This is the raw conversion.
_aOs_.__.
_f~.yJ'`._an.
_a__t.`.._____/u/3D_.
._J:_..__dMgmQ/7GZMmS,
J~(:`:%z_7A{`7`.(JQ;`
/u_P___.`:``0. /` .Ml
(JZ%.___. .` ._>_/Q;
_JNm`.._./, /%u_``Rq,
_]\q,_^d: ( =`(!> Q4:
((u! _(| kP
.j_,.. ` .J2%
`(_. _._Jzz_._..r.
_. _[, .x{..J: _%~
..7x. (% `qu. .7=>`_J=`
([:no((. _. `d `_...__+r` ..
(/vD6~;.+r .r `(:((() .{ /~(`
j/G=:(4DJ, `` __% ```J` /(__%: .
`~.`>:__?&.. .__/'` ]7>__. _:` ((:r>(~`
`~. ^_: `_:` _` `:=_ .:{._>/J(=:
: .; _: ` ` . ._``` %`._%`=~...>(`
. ; r .._` _~J~((^`../^`
_ (.) _(C``._^`
~ (/ ., . __|` {
.` _, ( .` .: _J``()
_ % /` `` ._} .] (;
: _ (:`/~_ ~:~/:`J (;
. .~ /(. `:` ``_:_: |
~ _ ` .S,``` _. ... .._: ; |
. .%.` _;`:``` .`^^:(3~ : >
~ _| _; J`v.: >
{_/` : .] .=| .:
( J % /
_. . .% %_`/
.` ~ _~ `
.: .} _>
.: .c .:
.` /.
` :
.` _,
/ (
~ ~
_` .` .
; `. _(_` _^ .,
.: `_J[{_(^ .:
.. (.`_` _`
: ` ; ,
. ~` .`
.. J ~
( _ _`
: _ `
_. . .`
( . .`
: ~`
.. _ .`
; / _`
( ( (
_~ r `
) .x. ;
; _3. .;
~ . . 2 % ~..`. :
.~ :``(:_% .} `..` .
_ ~((: c ( `. .~
; /} : (
.` o ; (
_ ( .: _`
( ( .` _`
` ; _~ (
. .` .;` .;
: ; v _`
~ .` _; r
_ . v` .:
.. .` (. _`
, ( .: (
.: .] ) ;
/. .; .: >
/` 8 : r
.` )` ( (
_` .; .: ._
.` ) _ (
_=/__` ) { ...__
.(c?!3/ (:(>`~w.
`` `:``(:
2/
I saved the document and opened it in a text editor for hand made
diddling where I worked on the top-half of the girl, keeping the
legs for later.
The diddling could have been made in JavE but I'm just used to my
text editor.
.-- .&dkl`,ivne._
| sRfkgvc+rsnmGBND.
| aHBNLbni+.irumLGNMms
| NRIr`'+dLKNMFb`'iNQr
| `ANWM7 `+lM0. `'^Kl
| iNWL*_;=e. Y._,_ ON
| aRNm _.l, j^ _` Bq,
| eNL:,l=N0`. ls`N0> ibK
| XHZu! _(c kPBN
| 'CD . ` tK7KX
| 'f _&zrc_. .Y
| , v, `ta.=" ,V
| 7q. 6% ^l = .r
| f'noib. + `d+ .._a7 t
| k+RD6 L.dr h' `*+iPb .f adI`
| dj+Ggr 4NJb .,dT `'KJc _ir+4b .
| `cl^ ._ tk. .,&;:rf"t&; 'yIKbr;. dp` luhrZti
| `~. ^_T `ysf' " n, 7 *lkr,. i7k._m.JKiV"
| J .H dY `"- ._`` "VK,4= . Kdj`
| K K B -s&. eJ+ .ys7^`
| T lLj (C' .4
| P 'y ., . +j 7
| ,y b, l .` ,t Y` Y
| 4` i J` g, ti .l k
| Y G p" - - "i`J p
| L .~ 74. `W` '`W 9+y b.
| N .Y 6s, _. .. ;T; gl
| A y *Yf+:'` `^*:pfjVK+i tb
| Y. j" K .J`X.f ly
| Tj V T. il .Vj .j'
| +' fi J` L. y
| 'y - .Y Yz,V
| .7 . 'A +
| .V ,i Tj
| xY fG ki
| tl K.
| K Jb
| ,I zH
| T I
| K N
| iU .` P.
| V `. _7_` _^ Rg
| .B `dJNMHb^ dl
| rG 'YKB` d'
| ls `T; f
'-- r '` il
.. J ~
( _ _`
: _ `
_. . .`
( . .`
: ~`
.. _ .`
; / _`
( ( (
_~ r `
) .x. ;
; _3. .;
~ . . 2 % ~..`. :
.~ :``(:_% .} `..` .
_ ~((: c ( `. .~
; /} : (
.` o ; (
_ ( .: _`
( ( .` _`
` ; _~ (
. .` .;` .;
: ; v _`
~ .` _; r
_ . v` .:
.. .` (. _`
, ( .: (
.: .] ) ;
/. .; .: >
/` 8 : r
.` )` ( (
_` .; .: ._
.` ) _ (
_=/__` ) { ...__
.(c?!3/ (:(>`~w.
`` `:``(:
3/
I made a copy of the legs and pasted them in JavE
.. J ~
( _ _`
: _ `
_. . .`
( . .`
: ~`
.. _ .`
; / _`
( ( (
_~ r `
) .x. ;
; _3. .;
~ . . 2 % ~..`. :
.~ :``(:_% .} `..` .
_ ~((: c ( `. .~
; /} : (
.` o ; (
_ ( .: _`
( ( .` _`
` ; _~ (
. .` .;` .;
: ; v _`
~ .` _; r
_ . v` .:
.. .` (. _`
, ( .: (
.: .] ) ;
/. .; .: >
/` 8 : r
.` )` ( (
_` .; .: ._
.` ) _ (
_=/__` ) { ...__
.(c?!3/ (:(>`~w.
`` `:``(:
The idea was to use the gradient tool to fill the legs. To
obtain a nice shading effect I had to fill them separately.
So I erased one leg, closed the gaps and erased the shadows around
the knees and toes.
..:'''''''''':
( '
: '
_. .
( .
: :
.. :
; :
( (
_~ r
) .x.
; _3
~ 2
.~ _%
_ c
; }
.` o
_ (
( (
` ;
. .`
: ;
~ .`
_ .
.. .`
, (
.: .]
/. .;
/` 8
.` )`
_` .;
.` )
_ )
.(c?!3/
``
The next step was to make a custom gradient in the Fill Options panel.
MNBtir+iB
I entered the following settings in the Fill Options panel:
- Linear
- dither: enabeld
- Any character + diagonal
... and filled the edges of the legs
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
M N
M M
MN N
M N
N B
NN N
B t
N B
BB t
B tBt
B ti
t t
it it
t t
i i
it i
i r
i i
i r
r rr
+ r
r r+
+ +
r+ ++
+ +
+i +i
i+ ii
+i i
iB Bi
ii Bi
iB B
B B
BBBBBBB
BB
Then I changed the last setting to:
- Equal character
... ans filled the inside of the leg.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMNNBBttiirrN
MMNNBBtBitiirM
MNNBBtBitrirrN
MNNBBttiirr+N
NBBttiirr++B
NNtBttiirr+N
BBitiirr++t
Nttiirr+riB
BBiirr++i+t
Btiirr++tBt
Biirr++iti
tiri+r++t
itrr+ri+it
tiirr++it
iirr++iii
itrirr++ii
iri+r++iir
iirr++iiBi
irr++iiBBr
rirr++iirr
+r++iiBr
r++i+Br+
++iiBi+
r++ii++
+iiB+
+i+i+i
i+Biii
+iiBi
iBiBBBi
ii+iiBi
iB+iiBBB
B+iiBBBB
BBBBBBB
BB
The left leg was made the same way.
4/
I opened the diddled drawing (step 2) in JavE and carefuly pasted the two legs
in place.
The setting I used in the Selection Options panel was:
- Foreground
5/
I saved and closed the document, and opened again it in my text editor where
the legs shading and edges were hand diddled.
Tadaaaa...
.&dkl`,ivne._
sRfkgvc+rsnmGBND.
aHBNLbni+.irumLGNMms
NRIr`'+dLKNMFb`'iNQr
`ANWM7 `+lM0. `'^Kl
iNWL*_;=e. Y._,_ ON
aRNm _.l, j^ _` Bq,
eNL:,l=N0`. ls`N0> ibK
XHZu! _(c kPBN
'CD . ` tK7KX
'f _&zrc_. .Y
, v, `ta.=" ,V
7q. 6% ^l = .r
f'noib. + `d+ .._a7 t
k+RD6 L.dr h' `*+iPb .f adI`
dj+Ggr 4NJb .,dT `'KJc _ir+4b .
`cl^ ._ tk. .,&;:rf"t&; 'yIKbr;. dp` luhrZti
`~. ^_T `ysf' " n, 7 *lkr,. i7k._m.JKiV"
J .H dY `"- ._`` "VK,4= . Kdj`
K K B -s&. eJ+ .ys7^`
T lLj (C' .4
P 'y ., . +j 7
,y b, l .` ,t Y` Y
4` i J` g, ti .l k
Y G p" - - "i`J p
L .~ 74. `W` '`W 9+y b.
N .Y 6s, _. .. ;T; gl
A y *Yf+:'` `^*:pfjVK+i tb
Y. j" K .J`X.f ly
Tj V T. il .Vj .j'
+' fi J` L. y
'y - .Y Yz,V
.7 . 'A +
.V ,i Tj
xY fG ki
tl K.
K Jb
,I zH
T I
K N
iU .` P.
V `. _7_` _^ Rg
.B `dJNMHb^ dl
rG 'YKB` d'
ls `T; f
'MWMNBKbri++ Y il
VMWNRKtirdJNMWNZ _.++ttKRNNs
VBKkrze+rdRBNMNkr++iittKKBNN
`VRttii++rrddNMNBKii++ddZZYe
Yttii+;rrddZBNNNttiirrddZl
Kttii;+rrddNMNKKii++ddZV'
`Vii+;rrddZBNNNttiirrddf
ltii+;rrddNWNKKii++ddZ
'ii++;iddZBNNNttiirrd'
tii+;;rddNMNKKii++dV
'i++r;ddZBNNNttiirrj
ii++irddNMNKKii++dl
i+:irddBNKNNtti+rri
ii+,:rddN NKKb+,;dd
,i+.;iddMV VMNBb.ird
li,;xdRMB XMBkrddZ.
.ii+zBRMKX HSMBbrrd,
ili+inGBKJ XKbm++ddZ
rii++irdRZ ,GKtiirrdd.
ltii++rzkd lKKii++ddZi
tii++rrddZ BHttiirrdf'
ttii++rxd' KRbii++dd7
tri:+rrdf 'Nbtii+rdl
'Yi;++rB' KKii++dd
Bt:+rrf 'Rbii+rd
'ii++H` Kbi++dl
V+irf "KiirP
,Zli7 `Yi+rd
Z;bK tk;rl
tii+K Xli+i
si;+it AkirY.
etritkl ;ffi+ds
fltiielf Kbzrire
HKltfdN' NBKlfBH
b'ger NMBblB7 VMNKblKl
dBMN9 VKBNM7
'`
-
That's it.
:)
File: academy/tutorials/tut_ceejay.txt
"How to draw ASCII" by Christian 'CeeJay' Jensen
Website at http://CeeJay.dk (practicly never updated - I'm lazy)
[Lines]
Lines in general are made by putting characters with different "height"
next to each other in a way that simulates a line.
Most characters suitable for creating a line fall in 4 heightcategories.
For some heights there are a choice between different characters.
It's important to choose a character for your height with a form and
position that seems to match the line.
Suitable characters are :
High : ` ' "
Middle : - =
Low : . ,
Bottom : _
You might think that ~ would be a good character too, but since ~ can
be displayed very differently from system to system it is best not to
use it when drawing lines
Some of theese are best for lines slanting ..
.. right :
_,.-'"
and some for slanting ..
.. left :
"`-._
And then there are / and \ and | .. all characters which forms restrict
their usability to lines that closely resembles their shape.
The best characthers are entirely a personal preference.
Here are some different types of lines.. which do you like the best ?
| | / .' .-' _.-'
| .' / .' .-' _.-'
| | / .' .-' _.-' __..--""
| .' / .' .-' _.-' __..--""
| | / .' .-' .-' __..--"" _______________
| | / ,' _,' _,-'
| ,' / ,' _,' _,-'
| | / ,' _,' _,-' __..--'"
| ,' / ,' _,' _,-' __..--'"
| | / ,' ,' ,-' __..--'" _______________
| | ; ," ,-" _.-"
| ; ; ," ,-" _.-"
| | ; ," ,-" _.-" __..--'"
| ; ; ," ,-" _.-" __..--'"
| | ; ," ,-" .-" __..--'" _______________
Here are some people's favourite linestyles :
3/1 2/1 1/1 2/3 1/2
| | / / .' .'
| | | / / .'
| / / / .' .' 1/3
| | | / / .' .-'
| | / / .' .' .-'
| / | / / .' .-' 1/4
| | / / .' .' .-' _.-'
| | | / / .' .-' _.-' 1/5
| / / / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--'
| | | / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' 1/6
| | / / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' 1/7
| | | / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' __..--'
_.-' _.--' __.--' __..--' 1/8
_.--' __.--' __..--' __..--''
__.--' __..--' __..--''
__..--' __..--''
__..--''
[VK] -------------------------- 0
6/1 3/1 2/1 1/1 2/3 1/2
| J J J / .' .'
| J | F / / .'
| | F J / .' .' 1/3
| | J F / / .' .-'
| F | J / .' .' .-'
| F F F / / .' .-' 1/4
| J J J / .' .' .-' _.-'
| J | F / / .' .-' _.-' 1/5
| | F J / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--'
| | J F / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' 1/6
| F | J / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' 1/7
| F F F / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' __..--'
_.-' _.--' __.--' __..--' 1/8
_.--' __.--' __..--' __..--''
__.--' __..--' __..--''
__..--' __..--''
__..--''
[HS] -------------------------- 0
...and if the line slopes the other way use L instead of F.
2\1 3\2 1\1 1\2 1\3 12infinity
`. `. \ \ | |
`. \ \ | | |
3\1 `. `. \ \ \ |
`-. `. \ \ | | |
`-. `. `. \ \ | |
4\1 `-. `. \ \ | \ |
`-._ `-. `. `. \ \ | |
5\1 `-._ `-. `. \ \ | | |
`--._ `-._ `-. `. `. \ \ \ |
6\1 `--._ `-._ `-. `. \ \ | ||
7\1 `--.__ `--._ `-._ `-. `. `. \ \ ||
`--..__ `--.__ `--._ `-._ `-. `. \ \ | ||
8\1 `--..__ `--.__ `--._ `-._ _=_
``--..__ `--..__ `--.__ `--._ q(-_-)p
``--..__ `--..__ `--.__ '_) (_`
``--..__ `--..__ /__/ \
``--..__ _(<_ _/)_
infinity21 ----------------------- (__\_\_|_/__) [mic]
[Sun of directions]
My "Sun of directions"
It show my (CeeJay) favourite linestyles
The first number is the change in the X value.
The second number is the change in the Y value.
Note that the lines in the upper half of the sun
differs from the ones in the lower half.
I prefer the ones in the upper half but there are
different lines for different occasions.
1/3 | 1/3
1/2 | | | 1/2
1/1 | | | | | 1/1
3/2 \ `. `. | ,' ,' / 3/2
2/1 \ \ | | | | | / / 2/1
. `. \ `. | | | ,' / ,' ,
3/1 `. \ \ | `. | ,' | / / ," 3/1
. `. `. \ `. | | | ,' / ,' ," ,
4/1 `-. `. \ \ | | | | | / / ," ,-" 4/1
-._ `-. `. `. \ `. `.|,' ,' / ,' ," ,-" _.-
5/1 `-._ `-. `. \ \ | ||| | / / ," ,-" _.-" 5/1
`--._ `-._ `-. `. `. \ `. ||| ,' / ,' ," ,-" _.-" _.--"
6/1.__ `--._ `-._ `-. `. \ / ," ,-" _.-" _.--" __.6/1
`--.__ `--._ `-._` _____ "_.-" _.--" __.--"
7/1 `--..__ `--.__ `--._ .-' `-. _.--" __.--" __..--" 7/1
--..__ `--..__ `--.__ ,' `. __.--" __..--" __..--
8/1 ``--..__ `--..__ / _ _ \ __..--" __..--'" 8/1
``--..__ ; (_) (_) : __..--'"
----------------------- | | ------------------------
..--''"" : | | ; ""``--..
8/1 ..--''"" .--''"" \ `.___.' / ""``--. ""``--.. 8/1
--''"" .--''"" .--'"" `. ,' ""`--. ""``--. ""``--
7/1 .--''"" .--'"" ,--' `-._____.-' CJ ``--. ""`--. ""``--. 7/1
.--'"" ,--'" _,-". . `-._ ``--. ""`--.
6/1'"" ,--'" _,-" .-' ,' / \ `. `-. `-._ ``--. ""`6/1
,--'" _,-" .-' ,' .' / .' ||| `. \ `. `. `-. `-._ ``--.
5/1" _,-" .-' ,' / / | ||| | \ \ `. `-. `-._ 5/1
,-" .-' ,' .' / .' .'|`. `. \ `. `. `-. `-.
4/1 .-' ,' / / | | | | | \ \ `. `-. 4/1
' ,' .' / .' | | | `. \ `. `. `
3/1 ,' / / | .' | `. | \ \ `. 3/1
' .' / .' | | | `. \ `. `
2/1 / / | | | | | \ \ 2/1
3/2 / .' .' | `. `. \ 3/2
1/1 | | | | | 1/1
1/2 | | | 1/2
1/3 | 1/3
[Special purpose lines & steps]
,8 ;" _| ,;' .oO |
,8' ;" _| ,;' .o0008 __|
,8' ;" _| ,;' .o0008888 |
,8' ;" | ,;' .o0008888888 |
98b 080 d8P .o0P'
98b 080 d8P .oOP'
98b 080 d8P .o0P'
98b 080 d8P .o0P'
98b 080 d8P .o0P'
_|| _(
_||" _(
_||" _(
||" (
[Circular shapes]
_____ __
.-' `-. ,dP""Yb,
,' `. ,d" "b,
/ \ d' _ `Y,
__ ; : 8 8 `b
__ ,'" "`. | | `b,_,aP P
__ ,' `. / \ : ; """" d'
,' `. : | | | \ / ,P"
_ | | | ; \ / `. ,' a,.__,aP"
. o (_) `.__.' `.__.' `.____.' `-._____.-' `"""''
_______
.-'"" ""`-.
.-' `-.
,' `.
,' `.
/ \
/ \
; :
: :
| |
: :
: ;
\ /
\ /
`. ,'
`. ,'
`-. ,-'
`-.,,_______,,.-'
( An example of what you can achive by using
curves from ever smaller/bigger circles - A spiral )
_______
.-'"" ""`-.
.-" `-.
," `.
," `.
/ \
/ \
; _ :
: ,'" "`. ;
| ( , \ |
; `' | ;
\ /
`. ,"
`-.,_____,.-"
( .. and in this case a seashell)
_______
.-'"" ""`-.
.-" `-.
," `.
," `.
/ \
/ \
; _ :
: ,'" "`. :
| ( , \ |
; `' | |
\ / |
`. ," :
`-.,_____,.-" ;
,' `. /
/ \ /
; : /
| | /
| | ,"
| | ,"
: : ,-"
\ / _,-"
`. ," _.--" CJ
`""---'"
[Sentence drawing] - ( Drawing with characters aligned so they actually spell something! )
ught i
ca n
m a
' ... t
I . . i
! m
! ! e
p !pool
l
e
h
[Geometric figures]
( Mirrored cubes )
|
_______ | _______
/\ \ | / /\
/ \ \ | / / \
/ \______\ | /______/ \
/ / / | \ \ \
\ / / | \ \ /
\ / / | \ \ /
\/______/ | \______\/
_________________|___________________
_______ | _______
/\ \ | / /\
/ \ \ | / / \
/ \ \ | / / \
\ \______\ | /______/ /
\ / / | \ \ /
\ / / | \ \ /
\/______/ | \______\/
|
| CJ
(Pyramid)
___________________________
/\__\/\__\/\__\/\__\/\__\\\\\
\/\__\/\__\/\__\/\__\/__/_\\\\
\/\__\/\__\/\__\/\__\__\__\\\\
\/\__\/\__\/\__\/__/__/__/_\\\
\/\__\/\__\/\__\__\__\__\__\\\
\/\__\/\__\/__/__/__/__/__/_\\
\/\__\/\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\\
\/\__\/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/_\
\/\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\
CJ \/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/
If you keep at it long enough you can create
some pretty amazing and sometimes confusing stuff.
( Two very similar drawings with very different
illusions of depth )
_________
/ ___ /\
/ /__/\ / \
/ \__\/ / ___\
/________/ /__/\\
\ ___ \ \__\//
\ /__/\ \ /
\ \__\/ \ /
\________\/ CJ
_________
/ ___ /\
/ /\__\ / \
/ \/__/ / ___\
/________/ /\__\\
\ ___ \ \/__//
\ /\__\ \ /
\ \/__/ \ /
\________\/ CJ
And sometimes ... REALLY confusing stuff.
Here f.x is a Escher-style geometric form ..
Dont look too long trying to figure it out.
It's an impossible form .. it cannot not exist in RealLife(tm)
______________
/\ __________ \
/ \ \______ /\ \
/ /\ \ \ / / \ \
/ / /\ \ \ / / /\ \ \
/ / / \ \ \/ / / \ \ \
/ / / \ \ \/_/____\_\ \
/ / / \ \____________ \
/ / /______/_\ ___________ /
\ \ _________/ / / / /
\ \ \_______ \ \ / / /
\ \ \ / / /\ \ \ / / /
\ \ / / / \ \ \ / / /
\ V / /____\_\ / / /
\ / /_________\/ /
\______________/ lgbeard/KPB/ap
Another variation .. an endless staircase
"Slinky Heaven" _______
by CeeJay _\|/_____/\ \
______=/\= \ \ ____\__
/\ =\ \ \ \/\ \
/ \ = \ \______\/ \ ____\__
/ \______\/ / \/\ \
/ / _____/_ / / \ ____\__
/ / /\ \ / / ___\/\_ \
/ / / \ \ / __/__\_ \ \
\ / / \______\____\_ \ \_____\
\ / / / _____/_ \ \_____\ /
\/_/ / /\ \ \_____\ / /
/ / / \ \_____\ / / /
/ / / \______\ / / / /
\ / / / / / / / /
\ / / / / / / / /
\/_/ / / / / / /
/ / / / / /___/CJ
/ / / / /___/
\ / / /___/
\ / /___/
\/______/
File: academy/tutorials/tut_crawford.txt
http://www.penceland.com/AsciiCrawford.html
Date: 21 Apr 94 16:45:44 GMT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
..ASCII GRAPHICAL TECHNIQUES V1.0..
By Rowan Crawford.
All text and art copyright (c) 1994 Sumaleth Productions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS: 1. Intro ____ _ ..
2. Line art dHHA /^ |T AHHHHHA (_) : .
3. Small/sig art dHPHH Y __jj HP" IH .-. I::
4. Solid art dHP HH l__ \\ H HHHH | | HI:
5. 3 Dimensional art dHHHHHH | // Hb. IH | | HHI
6. Conclusion dHP HH l___// UHHHHHU l_j UHU
7. Quick plug
1. Intro
Producing pictures from ascii is such a strange idea, and yet the results
can sometimes be quite impressive. Although there are a many different
forms of ascii art, they all use basically the same ideas to produce
the end result.
The techniques I use are based around a few simple rules. These rules
help me make decisions about which character to use, and where to place
it. Of course they aren't strict rules, but they make a good foundation
upon which to build a picture.
This is not intended as the "definitive" guide to ascii creation, but is
instead simply an analysis of how I approach the subject.
Back to Contents
2. Line Art
Line art is where you represent a picture by just it's outlines and
details. Comic art is good material for this type of work since you have
a definite outline to work from. However, any picture can be reproduced
just by defining it's various boundaries.
There are many standard characters which can be applied to this form
of ascii art. These are the most obvious ones:
/ \ | - _ + ( ) < > , . ~ ^ " V X T Y I l L : ` ' ! j J 7
Start by finding an area of the picture which is fairly simple. From
there, work your way around the perimeter creating an outline using
just these "basic" ascii characters:
/ \ | - _ ( )
Try to get proportions correct at this stage, because it IS important,
and the later you leave it the harder it is to correct. You can also
draw in some of the larger details at this stage, which may help get the
proportions correct.
Once you're happy with that, it's time to go over the whole thing and
work on the anti-aliasing. I like to have *every* line connect up,
leaving no large gaps such as:
~~~~~~~~________
If I come across an area which has no "ultimate" choice of characters,
I may decide to add an extra detail there. For example, "near" vertical
lines are virtually impossible in ascii. Here's some options:
| | | | |
| l l. \ l
| I `| Y `L
| | | | |
START ^----------OPTIONS----------^
As you can see, none of them produce the "perfect" results I'd like.
In this case, I would try adding some form of detail in there thus
removing the problem. It doesn't always work, but it's worth a try.
Near-horizontal lines are much easier (thankfully). Using these
chars: ( ~"-.,_ ) you can quite easily produce a reasonably decent
line. The previous (horizontal) example would become:
__
"~~"----..,___
Or at least something to that effect. I usually get very "nit-picky"
and arrange the comma just before an underscore since it sits down
one pixel lower than the full-stop ("."). I also like to carefully
select between the " and ~ since they each have their own distinct
properties. Avoid using this technique at angles around 30 degrees
(looks a bit odd), and very slight angles (because it results in a
long line of dots, and that doesn't look good).
Actually, the selection of the picture is very important in determining
how the resulting pic will look. You also have the option of changing
certain parts of the pic, so that they work better in the ascii format.
For example, instead of trying to do a near-vertical line, just make it
perfectly vertical.
Curves also play an important role in ascii art. Although the standard
ascii character set does not directly support curves (apart from "(" and
")" of course :), you can get some nice curves with a little bit of work.
Here's the most often used chars for curve creation:
/ \ - _ ~ " . , ' ` ! I l Y
And here's a couple of sample curves to demonstrate the idea:
___
.-~" "~-. /
/ \ _.-~
Y Y ,^
| | /
l ! /
\ / __.-~
"-.,___,.-"
CIRCLE SUBTLE CURVATURES
Some people wouldn't like the use of "Y" and "^", but to me, the
advantages outweigh the negative aspects. Also note the use of "l" and
"!" to make the transition from vertical to angled less pronounced.
I also consider the choice between "." an "," important because it
affects the smoothness of the line. For example, in the part on the
above curve: _.- :it looks like a "," may have been a better choice:
/ But as you can see here, using the
_,-~ comma has altered the flow of the
,^ line somewhat. It now appears as
/ more of a "step" rather than an
/ angled line.
_,-~
CURVE USING COMMA
Intersections require yet another strategy. Often you'll find that one
line must join onto another at a place where the join isn't neat:
"-._ / "-._ / Here the incoming line should join
/ 7 onto the main part halfway through
/ / a "/". That's where you can use some
other chars. In this example, a "7"
INTERSECTION FIX would work well, as seen in the
example to the left.
You could also try "Z" "X" "T" "Y" as a replacement, but it depends
entirely on what is happening around that point as to which char works
the best. Other chars which work well in these situations are "K" "<" ">"
"r" "L" "j" "J" and "I" because they all point in at least 3 directions.
After practice, the anti-aliasing can be done as you are drawing the
main outline. Not that it really makes any difference.
That basically covers the outline techniques. The smaller details are
the next, and final, step. Adding details isn't always necessary, but
it will be in most cases. Eyes, noses, finger nails, switches, knobs,
handles, plus a host of other things are usually confined to just one
or two character spaces, so the choice of chars is quite important.
Eyes are a common example. You have quite a few different characters
available which work well as eyes, but it's up to you to decide which
work best. You need to decide what "emotion" you want to portray, and
then find an appropriate character.
As some examples, I have used two "6"'s for a kangaroo, a "bd" combo
for a horse, a pair of "r"'s for a giraffe and: -=b- :as the eye of
an eagle. In each case, I tried many different combinations until I
was happy with the selection:
.
/\ /| . , ___,A.A_ __ _____
((.Y(! |\/| \ , 7"_/ / ~"-.
\ |/ bd "n. ~"T( r r) Y -=b-. _)
/ 6~6, / _,"n | \ Y l c"~o \
\ _ +-. <co>'\ | ~\ .| \_.-~"~--. )
\`-=--^-' ~~ | |`-' )/
\ \ '
Other details are equally important, and the same technique is used.
Just trying different combinations of characters until a "solution"
is found. Sometimes there is no optimum arrangement, so you either
have to live with it, or rearrange things just enough to give you a
fresh angle of attack.
____
.-~. /_"-._ This T-Rex head demonstrates how you can use
/ /_ "~o\ :Y the character shapes to an advantage. The "L"
/ : \~x. ` ') at the bottom joins three connections together
| Y< ~-.__j quite well, as does the "Y" at the back of the
: l l< /.-~ mouth. These are things too look out for when
l /~\ \<|Y creating a picture, and by using the chars in
'.-~\ \L| such a fashion, you can usually get quite a lot
"--' of detail into a small area.
Back to Contents
3. Small/Signature Art
Smaller artwork requires a slightly different approach than the large
pieces. Due to the smaller area, you aren't always able to recreate
a picture perfectly, so a different frame of mind is needed.
Take, for example, the kangaroo head above. The back of the neck should
of course be curved, but this was not possible with only two characters.
In smaller pics however, it's not always necessary to be that detailed,
it is more important to focus on making the object immediately
identifiable.
Small ascii pictures usually start from a simple motif or idea. The way
certain characters fit together often creates the idea, and once an idea
is found, you have a base to work from.
___
{~._.~} This little koala pic is a good example of how a
( Y ) relatively simple collection of characters can
()~*~() produce a very "familiar" result. Some experimenting
(_)-(_) was done with the eyes, "bow tie" and the bottom "-",
with these being chosen simply because they worked the
best. Different "eye" characters produced different emotional feelings
(which is how the "Koala Collection" came about), but the simple "."
resulted in the most familiar appearance.
Remember, shape is the most important aspect of small ascii art. There
are so many different shaped ascii characters available that there
is bound to be one which fits the needs
_ . of the picture. This example is a "mini"
__CL\H--. Millennium Falcon. Since I'd already
L__/_\H' \\--_- drawn a bigger one, I knew exactly what
__L_(=): ]-_ _-- - shape it needed to be, and what features
T__\ /H. //---- - it needed to make it look like the Falcon.
~^-H--'
" Picking out the main features is a good
step, and then find chars which closely
resemble them. The blasters on top of the Falcon were well emulated by
the "=" for example. The combination of "CL" worked perfectly as the
cockpit, as did a simple ":" for the distinctive markings on it's back.
Simplicity is the key in small art, but that doesn't necessarily make
things any easier. Many things simply cannot be successfully drawn in
small sizes, so a touch of planning can sometimes help.
Back to Contents
4. Solid Art
Solid ascii art differs from line art in that the resulting image is
more of a "silhouette" rather than an outline.
By using a "heavy" character such as: W M H 8 :you build up a basic
silhouette (filled in outline), and then use other characters to anti-
alias (smoothen) the image.
"W" and "M" are the darkest characters in most character sets, but they
do vary quite a lot and are a bit too bottom/top heavy which ruins the
effect somewhat. "H" and "8" also produce patterns of similar darkness,
but result in two different "looks". The "H" is more stark and rigid,
whereas the "8" produces a more "bubbly" appearance (which prints up
quite well apparently).
WWWWWWWW MMMMMMMM HHHHHHHH 88888888
WWWWWWWW MMMMMMMM HHHHHHHH 88888888
WWWWWWWW MMMMMMMM HHHHHHHH 88888888
WWWWWWWW MMMMMMMM HHHHHHHH 88888888
I originally used "M" and "W" since they worked well with the font I once
used, but now I use "H" because I like its consistency. Other people
prefer "8", so it's really just a matter of personal taste. Indeed,
remapping an image from one type into another is quite simple, and should
not affect the picture at all.
Different effects can be created by varying the chosen texture over
various sections of the picture (shading). The choice of character can
also be based on the subject matter, for example, if money were involved
the obvious choice would be a "$". Try to avoid using "*" though, as it
looks a bit cheesy (imho).
Once the basic shape is defined with the chosen character, the anti-
aliasing process is next. The most used chars are:
d b P F 9 V T Y A U _ , . - * ^ ~ " ` ' n a o l L j J k [ ] ( ) : \ / | !
Each character has a purpose based on its shape, although there are
cases where no character will produce perfect results. In these cases,
you either have to make do as best you can, or remodel that particular
area of the picture, thus giving you a fresh approach.
Going back to the earlier "curve" examples, here they are in solid form:
.adAHHHAbn. JHH
dHHHHHHHHHHHb _.adHHH
dHHHHHHHHHHHHHb ,AHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH dHHHHHHHHH
VHHHHHHHHHHHHHP JHHHHHHHHHH
YHHHHHHHHHHHP _.adHHHHHHHHHHH
"^YUHHHUP^" HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"~"
SPHERE CURVED HILL
It's important to get a good understanding of how best to use the
characters. The basic forms are as follows:
_,.aomdAHAbmon.,_ For the upper curves.
"~^*YUHUP*^~" For the lower curves.
The characters: d b P :are all extremely useful, but there is no
equivalent character for bottom/left. There is, however, four chars
available which do a decent job: T Y V 9 .The 9 works well for *some*
char sets, but generally it has a big hook at the bottom so isn't
quite so useful.
Notice how I've used "A" and "U" to smoothen the transistion from "H"
to "d"/"b" (and "Y"/"P" respectively) even though the effect is quite
subliminal. A minor detail, but it does help. I don't often use "_"
in these types of pics because of the way it touches the top of the
"H". It does come in handy sometimes though.
Side curves require more of an "on the spot" approach. The chars:
l [ ] : j i :all come in handy when trying to smoothen out vertical
curves, and I've also seen "(" and ")" used (although I wouldn't use
them myself). Consistency in contrast is very important.
Adding details using the solid ascii technique is a bit harder than
in line art because there isn't the same number of possible choices
for each position. The letters: a n o :are all very useful because
they are nice "solid" chars which only occupy the bottom half of the
character space, but there is no good alternative for the top half.
dHF^^^ See how the bottom arm fits in with the solid
dHP appearance of the main part, yet the "^" (which
dHBooan is the closest char available) doesn't look so
beefy. Even the "^" varies across different char
sets, so that leaves just: " ~ : which are of no use at all. In that
particular case, it is necessary to expand the picture by one line:
anpoan Note the use of the "p" to make the effect just
dHP that little bit more effective. An "r" could also
dHP work well at the end of each arm. Purely cosmetic
dHBooan though. Note that if you're using "M" or "W", then
"m" and "w" can be used to keep it consistent.
Details aren't always as simple as that example though (unfortunately).
HHHH aann .aoon.
HHHHHHHHHHHHH aanndHHHHHHP" "^vaondAHHHHHP"
HHHHHHH "~^YHHHHH "~^SHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHH dHHHHHHb .adHHHHHHh,
HHHHHH ~^VHHHP ~^VHHHP
HH YHP "VP
START HALF WAY FINISHED
The different steps can be seen here. Starting by roughing out the shape
(a wizards head incidentally) using the chosen character. Next, go over
all the edges making all the obvious replacements. That means using:
d P b Y V a n :plus the occasional: " ~ :if there's an obvious place for
it. Just enough to give it some shape.
The final stage requires a bit more work. Start with "A" and "U"/"V",
and then the rest is purely experimentation. The "S" was chosen because
it seemed to have the right shape, although there are many chars which
could really go there.
The curve section at the back required quite a lot of work. An "a" seems
to be the best opposite of "n", and for long stretches, I like to use
some "o"'s in there just to mix it up a bit. The: "^ :piece at the end
was an obvious combination, so it was just a matter of finding a char
to connect the "a" to the "^". As it turned out, "v" was custom made
for that position.
WMHI: .:IHb. I Smooth shading can be created by using
MH[: .adAHHHI:. :H different chars to fade out at the edges,
HI: .:IHHHHHI:' .jIH instead of the anti-aliasing (which
Y: `:YHHI:' .:|IHM produces hard edges).
Good "outer" characters are: . , : ; ' `
For the transition from solid to outer edge: I H A U V T Y | i j d b
n a o [ ] :or basically anything that produces the desired effect.
Both line and solid techniques can be combined together, resulting in
a "comic book" look and feel. Each form of ascii art works well in
certain circumstances, so why not use this to your advantage. Line art
for the various outlines and small details, and solid art for large
dark areas.
Back to Contents
5. 3 Dimensional Art
3D ascii art is basically an extension of SIRDS, where you can create
the illusion of depth on a flat surface. This is achieved by producing
two slightly different versions of the one picture, and placing them
a certain distance apart.
. . Focus Point
/ \
/ \ x Where the image appears
/ x \
--- --- __ The original pictures on the screen
/ \
/ \ /\ Where your eyes are looking
/ \
O O OO Your eyes
PLAN VIEW
Although the scale and angles are a bit off, the basic principle can
be seen from the above diagram (seen looking down). The two versions
of the picture are located on the screen, but you don't look there.
You need to focus on a point *past* the screen which produces a third
image at "x".
This resulting image occurs because of the way eyes work. They can only
focus on one "depth" at a time, and anything either further away or
closer becomes blurred. These "blurs" are just two different views of
the one object produced by the two eyes seeing different things.
Try this: stand three feet from a wall. Now hold two fingers up about
one foot from your face, and about 1.5 centimeters apart. Look between
your fingers, and focus onto the wall. Keep focus on the wall, but
look into the foreground at your fingers. You should see a ghost image
from both fingers converging into the center. The trick is to make the
two ghost images overlap each other resulting in (hopefully) one solid
image. This image should appear at a different level than the originals:
| | | | |
| | | | |
TWO FINGERS RESULTING IMAGE
The results from this experiment won't be 100% perfect since your two
fingers are likely to be different, but it is a good way to understand
the concept. With a little practice, you should be able to focus on real
3D pictures without too much effort.
--- --- Note that if you cross your eyes instead of using the
\ / above technique, you actually see the picture in reverse.
\/ This diagram shows the effect from above, and the resulting
/\ image will appear where the lines cross over. Since most
/ \ stereograms (STARE-eograms?) are created to go into the
/ \ screen, looking at them this way will produce an incorrect
O O vision (and is somewhat harder on the eyes).
That's the hard part out of the way, now a bit about how to create them.
Getting back to the little koala example (which is a perfect size for
this type of work), lets bring him into 3 dimensions.
X X Here I have placed two koalas 10 chars
___ ___ apart from each other. Generally, a good
{~._.~} {~._.~} distance would be between 7 and 15 chars,
( Y ) ( Y ) although you can use any distance you like.
()~*~() ()~*~() Values outside those bounds tend to be
(_)-(_) (_)-(_) difficult to focus on however.
The distance determines how much the resulting image sits "into" the
screen. If the distance is 0 (ie. no separation), the image is neutral
which means it appears -at- the screen. As the distance is increased,
the resulting image appears further -into- the screen.
By having many koalas laid out across the screen (all separated by the
same distance), the effect becomes slightly easier to focus on. Any
extra layers should then be added across the whole picture, with the
result being quite effective.
The picture is quite boring so far, with just one layer of 3D being
created, so the next thing to do is to add another layer or two.
The "tried and tested" approach is to add a "pole" in front of him,
and since we want it -in front- of the existing layer, each pole
should be 9 chars apart:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_)
H___ H ___ H ___ H ___ H ___ H ___H __H
{H._.~} H~._.~} H{~._.~} H {~._.~}H {~._.~H {~._.H} {~._H~}
H Y ) H( Y ) H ( Y ) H ( Y ) H ( Y )H ( Y H ( YH)
(H~*~() H)~*~() H()~*~() H ()~*~()H ()~*~(H ()~*~H) ()~*H()
(H)-(_) H_)-(_) H(_)-(_) H (_)-(_)H (_)-(_H (_)-(H) (_)-H_)
H H H H H H H H
~"~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~"~~
Notice that since the pole is to appear in front of the koala, it
actually replaces the koala where they overlap. Here's the same pic
except the pole appears behind the koala:
_ _ _ _ _ _
(_) (_) (_) (_) (_) (_)
___ H ___ H ___ H ___ H ___ H ___ H___
{~._.~} {~._.~}H {~._.~} H {~._.~} H{~._.~} {~._.~} {~._.~}
( Y )H ( Y ) H ( Y ) H ( Y ) H ( Y ) H( Y ) ( Y )
()~*~() ()~*~()H ()~*~() H ()~*~() H()~*~() ()~*~() ()~*~()
(_)-(_) (_)-(_)H (_)-(_) H (_)-(_) H(_)-(_) (_)-(_) (_)-(_)
H H H H H H
~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~~~"~~~~~
Now, since the pole is to appear behind the koala, its chars do not
write over the koala where they overlap. The poles here are 11 chars
apart, so appear one "step" behind the koala. All layers are built like
this, and of course I could have the poles both behind and in front of
the koala in the same picture. Here's a multi-layer example:
_ _
.-~ \ .-~ \
/ \ _ / \ _
~x .-~_)_ ~x .-~_)_ This picture has 3 distinct layers:
~>x".-~ ~-. ~x".-~ ~-. the hat, head and face. There are
( / \ ( / \ many other examples of 3D ascii
T o o Y T o o Y around, plus there are programs
l < ! l < ! available for the easy creation
\ .__/ / \ ._/ / of SIRDS.
"-.___.-' "-.___.-'
A quick examination of the above picture shows that the head (circle),
part of the hat and a part of the mouth are all 15 characters apart.
The rest of the face is just 14 chars apart, and the top section of
the hat is 16 chars apart.
Note that all this information is from pure observation, so it may not
be 100% accurate.
Back to Contents
6. Conclusion
Perhaps there's more to ascii art than
meets the eye? Before writing this, I .
had no idea just how much thought goes /\ /l
into creating ascii pictures, and I ((.Y(!
imagine that I haven't even begun to \ |/
cover it all. / 6~6,
\ _ +-.
Analyzing the work of other people is \`-=--^-'
a great way to learn what works, and \ \
what doesn't. Analyzing "art" may seem _/ \
like a strange concept, but it does ( . Y
open your awareness to the art form, and /"\ `--^--v--.
it's a great way to learn the various / _ `--"T~\/~\/
techniques. I hope that you have found / " ~\. !
my ideas about ascii interesting. _ Y Y./'
Y^| | |~~7
In the end however, it's up to the | l | / ./'
individual artist to work the way they | `L | Y .^/~T
want to, and not necessarily the way | l ! | |/| | -Row
someone else would do it. Finding | .`\/' | Y | !
your own style is all part of the fun, l "~ j l j_L______
and perhaps this text will aid people \,____{ __"~ __ ,\_,\_
in finding that style. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:D
Back to Contents
7. Quick Plug
Check out my ascii art collection v1.2 (it's on the various ascii
FTP sites around). Collection 2 coming soon(ish).
-------------------------[ Sumaleth Productions 1994 ]-----------------------
File: academy/tutorials/tut_flump.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/20071116040106/http://www.kersbergen.com/flump/howto.html
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Getting Started
If you want to make ascii art the first thing you should know is that you don't
need a special program, or special skills to make it with. All you need is
somewhere to type text into - your e-mail program, notepad, wordpad, that sort
of thing - and an idea of what you want to draw. There are no secrets or rules
other than the following:
1.) Use a non-proportional or fixed width font. Click HERE for a page on this
site that will tell you what they are, or ask me for the text version of the
page via e-mail.
2.) Don't use tabs!! Always, but always use the space bar (or your cursor keys/
mouse if the program you're typing in supports that) for empty spaces. The
reason for this is that different computers and programs interperet the size of
a tab space differently, so although what you see on your screen looks fine, on
someone else's your pic may look all split up.
3.) Only use the keyboard characters on an American standard keyboard. That
means all the letters, numbers and punctuation that you can see printed on the
keyboard keys. You can use the shift key, but don't use the alt key to make
characters. The reason for this is similar to that for not using tabs -
different computers interperet alternative characters in different ways. The
idea behind ascii is that all computers can read it because it's made up of
characters that all computers will recognise.
4.) Don't leave empty spaces at the end of each line. Make sure every line that
you type ends on the last character, and not a few spaces after it. This can
cause problems on other systems, with line wrapping and so on.
Your First Ascii
The best way to make a start is to take someone else's picture and see if you
can copy it. That way you get a feel for how you can use different characters.
We'll start easy. Try copying these shapes, which only use the characters:
/ \ | _
___ ___
| | /\ / \
|___| /__\ \___/
Easy huh? Now try making the same shapes again using the characters:
- " . , ` : > <
This is what I came up with:
.---. . .--.
: : .' `. < >
"---" "---" `--'
Bit more tricky, and it doesn't look as neat, but some of these characters, and
knowing how you can use them can come in very handy at times, which we'll see
later. Have a go at copying these, just for practice. Change them if you like:
_ _ __ _ _ .^._ __
| |_| |_.' `._| |_| | /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ / \| \ \
| _ _ _ _ | / \/ \/ \/ \ .' `. /_____V / /
|_| |_| `.__.' |_| |_| / /\ /\ /\ /\ \ < > |[]_[]| \ \
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ `. .' | |+| | / /
\/ `"""""' \_\
Curves
It's handy to know where the characters 'sit' on each line. Are they at the
top, in the middle or on the bottom of the line? A couple of ascii characters
vary in their position from computer to computer, but mostly they all sit in
the same place. Have a go yourself on your keyboard. Here are some examples.
Top of line: " ` '
Top or middle of line: ^ * ~ =
Middle of line: - +
Bottom of line: _ . ,
You can use all these characters on one line to make a pattern, like these:
_.,-=~+"^'`*`'^"+~=-,._.,-=~+"^'`*`'^"+~=-,._.,-=~+"^'`*`'^"+~=-,._
"^`'*-=~+,._.,+~=-*'`^"^`'*-=~+,._.,+~=-*'`^"^`'*-=~+,._.,+~=-*'`^"
Now try making a simple sig with a decorative border, using all the characters
we've met so far. This is what I came up with:
_________________________
..,,++~~--==**''``^^"" Hayley Jane wakenshaw ""^^``''**==--~~++,,..
/|\ flump@quadrant.xs4all.nl /|\
< : > Flump's Fantastic Ascii Collection http://www.xs4all.nl/~klr < : >
\|/ "Daddy.. why doesn't the magnet pick up your floppy disks?..." \|/
""^^''``**--==~~++,,.._________________________..,,++~~==--**``''^^""
Using The Other Characters
The other ascii characters fall into three categories. Either they're the full
height of the line or they're half height. Capitals and numbers are always full
height. Compare them to some of the others - which are half height, and which
are full height? Some examples:
Full height: A 7 % @ ! # ) ; & $ ] } | / > l t f k h d ?
Half height: a o v z
And then there's the 3rd sort. The characters that look like half height, but
sit a little lower on the line, like they would in handwriting. These are: j g
y p q
And all together they can make a slight curve, just like the others:
pqyjgacoevA8!@)lf$%;$fl(@!8AveocagjypqacoevA8!@)lf$%;$fl(@!8Aveoc
Lines and Diagonals
There are three basic lines to any picture - straight (either horizontally, or
vertically), diagonal, and the third is the curve, which includes circles.
We'll look at straight and diagonal lines first. Horizontal and vertical lines
are simple in ascii - here are some examples:
Horizontal: 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
----------------------------------------------------------
__________________________________________________________
..........................................................
Vertical: | 8 : ! 1 I
| 8 : ! 1 I
| 8 : ! 1 I
| 8 : ! 1 I
| 8 : ! 1 I
| 8 : ! 1 I
Diagonals are a bit more tricky. You can make simple ones using the / and \
keys. Diagonals with other gradients need a technique similar to that used to
make slight curves. Experiment yourself to see how you can make different
angles. Here are some examples to start you off:
/ .' _,-' __
/ .' _,-' __..--''
/ .' _,-' __..''
/ .' _,-' __..--''
/ .' _,-' __..--''
/ .' _,-' __..--'' ____....----"""
/ .' _,-' __..--'' ____....----""""
/ .' ,-' __..--'' ____....----""""
Circles
By now we've looked at the basic characters, character height, slight curves,
lines, and slopes. The last thing to look at is what many people who make ascii
have trouble with: circles. You're half way there already, though, because
ascii circles are basically a mix of vertical and horizontal lines, slopes or
diagonals, and curves. After a little practice, you'll get a feel for making
different sized circles - I have a basic set of circles in a file that I refer
to when I need a circular or rounded shape in an ascii pic, so now I can make
them easily in all sorts of sizes. Start making small circles - how many ways
can you think of to make a circle in under 5 lines? The bigger the circle the
more rounded it can be, but try making circles of different sizes and see what
you come up with. These are mine:
__
_ /""\ / \
1 line: O () 2 lines: (_) \__/ 3 lines: \__/
____
___ .-''-. .' `.
4 lines: / \ 5 lines: / \ 6 lines: / \
| | | | | |
\___/ \ / \ /
`-..-' `.____.'
_.-""""-._
9 lines: .' `.
/ \
| |
| |
| |
\ /
`._ _.'
`-....-'
That's the basic characters, and what you can do with them. Play with them, see
what patterns and ascii scribbles you can make. Have a go at taking one of my
pics, or another ascii pic from some of the excellent sites around, and copy
it. Then change it! See how you can use the characters to make the picture look
different. Can you make the expression on a face change? Can you make an ascii
person fatter, thinner, taller, shorter? Give Barney the dinosaur a moustache,
or, much better, multiple wounds? :-) This is how I learned. Many of my first
efforts were absolutely dreadful. So I looked at how someone else had made the
same sort of picture and learned from it. And I still do - probably why people
often say my style is very similar to Joan Stark's!
To get you started, cut and paste this head into wherever you want to draw your
ascii, and give it a face. Add a hat or a body. Or make the hair shorter or
longer. Make it a clown or a devil!
,-.,~~.
,'///||\\`.
///(((||)))\\.
((( )))
_))) |(_
._//\ /\\_.
`-'_/`-._.-'\-`-'
' \/=._.=\/ hjw
Moving Forward
That's all the boring stuff about technique over. :-) What's coming up is a
step by step demo of how I go about turning a picture into ascii.
When you first start, it's always a good idea to try to draw something simple.
Gromit the dog is made up of very simple shapes - just ovals and circles, so
I'll use him as an example.
[wallgromsm]
To start a picture, I look for the simplest or most prominent feature of
whatever I'm trying to draw. In Gromit's case, I reckon it's his nose. :-) I'll
try the 2 line circle and see where that takes me. After I've drawn his nose
I'll see if I can draw the shape of his head around it:
___
/ \
| |
/ _ \
| (_) |
\ /
`---'
Hmm.. don't like that - the top of his head isn't tall enough, but if I make it
any longer it looks too narrow. If I make it wider, then the nose looks too
small....
____
/ \
| |
| |
/ _ \
| (_) |
\ /
`----'
.... and to put the nose in the center, I'll have to make it yet another
character wider.......
_____
/ \
| |
| |
/ _ \
| (_) |
\ /
`-----'
.. and though it looks like it would make a nice dog, it's not Gromit, really
is it? So I'll make his nose a bit bigger; 3 lines this time, and try the face
shape again.
____
." ".
/ \
| |
| |
/ __ \
| / \ |
| \__/ |
\ /
`.____.'
Yep - that's more like it. :-) Next I usually try to fit the eyes in.
____
." ".
/ __ __ \
|/()\/()\|
|\__/\__/|
/ __ \
| / \ |
| \__/ |
\ /
`.____.'
Nope. Don't like those. Normally I like to make eyes complete circles, or just
use a couple of characters like "9 9" or "e e".But those would be too small.
And these eyes are too big and don't look round enough. I'll try two lines
instead.
____
." ".
/ \
| _ _ |
| (O)(O) |
/ __ \
| / \ |
| \__/ |
\ /
`.____.'
Much better.Now to add the ears.
.-""-. .-""-.
/ -.`. ____ .' _ \
\ .' \ `" "' ,' \ /
`-' / \ `-'
| _ _ |
| (O)(O) |
/ __ \
| / \ |
| \__/ |
\ /
`.____.' hjw
There are gaps left that look untidy though. This is where I couldn't get the
characters to fit together. Often you can solve this by using a letter. This is
about the only time I use letters and numbers apart from doing small details
like eyes. I'll mess around with my favourite 'connecting' characters like: "j"
"v" "V" "X" "x" "7" "i" "y" "Y". I'll use the "Y" I think, because it has the
right angles in the right places to connect the ears to the head. :-)
.-""-. .-""-.
/ -.`. ____ .' _ \
\ .' \ `" "' ,' \ /
`-' Y Y `-'
| _ _ |
| (O)(O) |
/ __ \
| / \ |
| \__/ |
\ /
`.____.' hjw
Last stage is to add the little details, and tidy up any messy or unclear bits.
I don't like that left ear at the minute, so I'll, change that. But in the
final version that goes on the web site I might decide to change it back. ;-)
Have a last check to make sure he actually looks like the picture I've been
working on, ask Robbie my fiance if he can tell what it is. If the Robbie test
succeeds, then I hit the save button, and start looking for something else to
draw. :-)
.-""-. .-""-.
/ ,.`. ____ .' _ \
\ / \ `" "' ,' \ /
`-' Y Y `-'
| _ _ |
| (O)(O) |
/ __ \ [wallgromsm]
| /# \ |
| \__/ |
\ /
`.____.'
--" "-- hjw
These are only the basics. There are other techniques such as shading, making
solid style ascii, anti-aliasing (making solid style ascii look smoother). But
I don't use those much so I'm not qualified to explain them. But this info
should be enough to get you started. :-)
If all else fails, you can always have a look at some of the other ascii art
tutorials and hints available. There are about 7 that I know of, but the
following three are the ones that I found useful and not too technical:
Daniel Au's
Rowan Crawford's
Joan Stark's
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
File: academy/tutorials/tut_haavisto.txt
https://www.ludd.ltu.se/~vk/pics/ascii/junkyard/techstuff/tutorials/Maija_Haavisto.html
This tutorial is written by Maija Haavisto (old homepage, and another homepage)
DiamonDie's ASCII art tutorial
Table of contents
1 Introduction
2 Types of ASCII art
2.1 Lineart
2.2 Solid
2.3 Grayscale
2.4 Camelized
2.5 Others
3 Drawing ASCII art
3.1 Starting out
3.2 Lineart
3.3 Solid art
3.4 Grayscale
3.5 Antialiasing
3.6 Tracing
3.7 Aspect ratio
3.8 Difficulties and limitations
3.9 Perspective, 3D and isometric ASCII
3.10 Textures and materials
3.11 Lighting and shadow
3.12 Uses for different characters
4 Fixed-width fonts
4.1 Courier New
4.2 DOS font
4.3 Topaz New
4.4 Lucida Console
4.5 Fixedsys
4.6 Arial Alternative
4.7 MS Gothic
4.8 Andale Mono (aka Monotype.com)
5 ASCII art software
5.1 JavE
5.2 FIGlet
5.3 TheDraw/Aciddraw
5.4 Acidview
5.5 PabloDraw
6 Other stuff
6.1 ASCII map
6.2 Displaying ASCII art on web pages
6.3 Coloring ASCII art
6.4 Demoscene ASCII art
6.5 ASCII art culture and etiquette
1 Introduction
ASCII is an acronym of "American Standard Code for Information Interchange".
ASCII art means art made out of different characters in the ASCII map and can
thus be represented in plain text format. It cannot include extended characters
or text formatting such as bold or italics. ASCII art is always done on a
fixed-width font like Courier New or Fixedsys, never on a proportional font
like Arial or Times New Roman. It can be made in Notepad or MS-DOS Edit, but
there are also some specific programs for making ASCII art. And no, I'm not
talking about ASCII converters.
People often comment on ASCII art by saying "Wow, that is so amazing, I'd never
have the patience to make something like that". I don't get it. Why do they
think ASCII art requires so much patience? I can make a decent fullscreen ASCII
in an hour (even if it sometimes takes ten hours). It takes me at least fifteen
hours to draw a decent fullscreen CG picture.
ASCII art isn't easy and it does require skill, but you don't have to care
about things like brush strokes or colors and usually not about shading either.
In a way it is a lot like pixel art. When I started pixeling it felt very
familiar due to my ASCII and ANSI experience. Pixel artists will probably
experience a similar reaction when they start drawing ASCII. You don't have to
have great drawing skills to be a good ASCII artist. I, for instance, suck at
drawing, I can paint but I can't do the sketch like thing at all. ASCII
sketching is practically something non-existant, but if this interests you,
nothing stops you from trying this new style.
Some people wonder what's the point. What's the point in making art in general?
I think limitations are what makes art interesting and feeds the creative mind.
ASCII art probably isn't something that you encounter in an art museum (which
is regrettable), it's more like everyday art. I guess it has something in
common with pop art. ASCII art can be sent via email or to Usenet newsgroups,
it can be used on IRC and many chatrooms (do that with caution, though). You
can include ASCII art in your signature or login screen or print it out with
your old matrix printer. It can be used for representing game situations,
graphs or molecular models.
I've heard opinions of ASCII art not being art but graphical design, but I
disagree with that. Design is usually considered to be something functional,
such as advertisements or interfaces, while visual art is something you can
hang on your walls. ASCII art usually isn't functional but aesthetical. I know
people who have ASCII pictures hanging on their walls.
There are other ASCII tutorials, but I decided there's still room for another
one. Many of the others are outdated, some are even more than 10 years old.
They also feature slightly different techniques and lack some of the parts that
my tutorial focuses on. This turned out perhaps more like a ASCII drawing/
culture FAQ than an actual tutorial, but I hope it will still be useful.
2 Types of ASCII art
2.1 Lineart
Lineart is just what its name implies, things are represented with (usually
thin) outlines, sometimes dotty, sometimes consisting mostly of slashes,
underscores and pipes. Lineart also includes most FIGlet fonts and demoscene
logos. Suitable for both huge images and tiny pictures.
.-"""-.
' \
|,. ,-. |
|()L( ()| |
|,' `".| |
|.___.',| `
.j `--"' ` `.
/ ' ' \
/ / ` `.
/ / ` .
/ / l |
. , | |
,"`. .| |
_.' ``. | `..-'l
| `.`, | `.
| `. __.j )
|__ |--""___| ,-'
`"--...,+"""" `._,.-' mh
Penguin by DiamonDie (2002?)
2.2 Solid
Solid art is the "opposite" of lineart, it's not outlined but filled and
flat-shaded. It's often best fit on mid-sized and large pictures, though it can
also work for small pieces, such as the heart here. Often it looks better than
lineart, simply for the fact that it's not as "thin". Solid art is often used
for logos, ornament designs and text, but it fits almost any kind of subject.
It's not very well suited for faces though.
,o8o, ,o8o,
,888888,888888,
888888888888888
888888888888888
`8888888888888'
`888888888'
`88888'
`8'
Heart by DiamonDie (1997)
2.3 Grayscale
Grayscale is like solid art, but it consists of many different characters that
are used to portrays lighter and darker areas, making it the most suitable kind
of ASCII for picturing faces. It is usually best viewed white on black, such as
the example below (people using most graphical browsers can select it with a
mouse or press Ctrl-A to see it in inverse color). Most converters create
grayscale art, though rather messy kind with often no antialiasing. Grayscale
could be considered the most difficult of all ASCII techniques.
.,,,yyyy@@yyyyy,,,
,ytS$$CCCCCCCCCCCCCCC?III;,.
.yt$$$$$$$$CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCIIIIII;.
,4$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC?IIIII;
y$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCIIII,
,$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCCCCCCCCCIIII:
l$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCCCCCCCIIIIi
t$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCCCCCCCIIII:
.l$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SCCCCCCCCCCCCCIIII, i
d$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SCCCCCCCCCCCCCIIIII. ;I,
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SSCCCCCCCCCCCCCIIIIIII .III
j$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SSCCCCCCCCCCCCCCIIIIIIIi.II;
]$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P"' `"^?CCCCCCCCCCIIIIIIIIIIIII
l$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P"'' .,.. `;?CCCCCCC?IIIIIIIIII; .y%*
l$$$$$$$$$$$$SP" ,yS$$$$$$Shy..`"IICCCCCCII: :: 4C7; \
$$$$$$$$$$$SP. .;;$$$SCCCCCSSCCCCSb: ICCCCCCCII; '' liC$ClCC;;l
$$$$$$$$$$$$I::lIIIICCSSSSSSCCCCCCCCCCIICCCCCCCI ICCC$lCC??;b
P"^^^48$$$$$$SSIII' `Ii : y,"ICCCS$SCCCCCCCCCCI ICl"l "7SSbl.
: l$$8888II66 ,?$b,yySIIICC$$$$$$$$SCCCCCCCI ?CCb l JCC$il
: . ,$$$$$$CCCC$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCI ICS$li$$SCC?l
`SS",+.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCI !?S$ ;I$$SCCP
"' : S$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCI ICSCS$$$$$I
;:6$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCI `?C$$$$P
`$$$$$$$$$$S$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCCI `""""'
j$$$$$$$$$SCCS$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$CCCCCI
$$$$$$$$$$$$$CI$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SCCCCCI;
j$$$$$$$$$$SS$CI$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SSCCCCCIi
7$$$$T7"`,yyiIIC$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SSSSCCCC?i
"4$SC**7"""-:47$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SSSSCCCCCI
7I . ,';' ";7ICS$$$$$$$$$C$S$$$$$CCCCl
: jy.,jyyjCCCCi ..i."7C$$$$$$C$CS$S$$$SCCC?' ;
: d$$$$CCC7?"""""?7CiiCS$$$$SCCCC$S$$$$CCCC; i,
.CC,]CCSSSCCSCCCIiIiICS$$$SSCCCCS$$$$SCC? .|
:`j$$$$$$$$SCCCC$$$CICS$$SCCCCCCCC$CC?; iI.
:l$$$$$$$CCCCCS$$$$C?iCCCCCCCCC7"'., .iII,
:C?"~~ ,CCC$$$IiIiCCCCCCC? ' ,IIIII
:$7 ,_,jS$$$$CIiIi?iCCC?? iI?CCCII
.; :;i:;;?S???iiIiIi?i' iII?CCCCCII.
; ';' ?lCi??i;i;; iI?CCCCCCCCIIi
: ;? ;I" iIIICCSCCCCCCCCIIl
; .,iiI?CCCC$$$$$SSCCCCCCIi I, II;
'. _,. ,i,IIII?CCCCCS$$$$$$SSSCCCCIIIIIIIII'
' ~ + =- - ' ~ ` SCCIIIIII???CCCCS$$$$$$$$$$$SCCCCCCC?I"
l$$CCCCCCCCCCCCS$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$SCCC"`
It Figures by `nemoorange
2.4 Camelized
Camelized ASCII art isn't very popular, even though it already appeared in the
book Alice in Wonderland. It is usually poetry (sometimes prose) made into the
shape of an object, often an animal. There are a couple of different techniques
for making the shapes. Some people use extra spacing to achieve lines of
required length, others wrap words from the middle or use extra characters.
JavE has a feature for camelized ASCII.
2.5 Others
There are variations of the previously listed styles, such as combination of
solid and lineart (my favorite type of ASCII), "solid lineart" (made out of
heavy outlines in solid style) and tiny ASCII, such as smileys and other very
small pictures. ASCII animations are made for terminals or nowadays usually in
JavaScript, they can be made in any of these styles, but are usually in
lineart. There are also ASCII stereograms and many other wicked things. Some
people list lettering, signature art, illustrated stories and 3D as their own
genres, but they're usually just variations of line art (sometimes solid or
grayscale).
Things that can be erroneously believed to be ASCII art include Shift_JIS art
(text art using Japanese characters), typographic pictures, AOL macros (made in
Arial font and often including extended characters), ANSI and most of demoscene
"ASCII art". Another thing that definitely isn't ASCII art is those horrid HTML
conversions that are usually composed of 1s and 0s and would have absolutely no
shape with the color removed. These are sometimes called "text art" or
"character art", even though both terms can be considered slightly misleading.
I don't believe using a converter without any editing is really creating ASCII
art. It's image manipulation.
People sometimes confuse ASCII and ANSI and call either of them "ANSII". What
ANSI really is could be described as an extension to ASCII, allowing the use of
extended MS-DOS characters (such as so called "raster blocks") and 16 colors.
It was commonly used in the BBS (Bulletin Board system) world, but many people
still keep drawing ANSI pictures, even though MS-DOS is hardly used any more
and the Internet has largely killed off BBSes.
3. Drawing ASCII art
3.1 Starting out
Start up JavE or your favorite text editor. Think about what you want to draw
and what could be a good subject for your first ASCII. Try not to pick anything
too difficult, such as celebrities. Many people choose a house as their first
picture, but I think it's a little boring subject. Others attempt a face, but
that's much harder. Animals, plants and household objects often turn out to be
a good choice. You can either draw a single object or a scene, like a house, a
tree and some birds.
A reference picture may be helpful. You could also use a technique called
tracing which is explained later. Looking at other people's ASCIIs is just as
important as drawing your own, because you'll learn a lot of different
techniques just by looking at ASCII art. How do people achieve slanted lines,
how do they make fur look like fur and what's the secret of smooth curves?
Also remember the rules of normal art, like that eyes are located in the middle
of the head, not on the top. People are about 7-8 heads tall, unless you're
drawing a comic character. Houses usually aren't placed on top of the ground,
but on the ground. Perspective really improves pictures of cubic objects. A
house or a box without a perspective is pretty much just a rectangle, not very
interesting.
3.2 Lineart
Lineart is a good choice for an ASCII beginner. It might be a good idea to do a
rough "sketch" first. Draw the outline of your object and see if it bears any
resemblance to your model. Try to avoid using only straight lines and slashes,
that makes your picture look dull and awkward. Instead try commas, periods,
hyphens and apostrophes. It might be a good idea to sketch with periods first
and then change some of them to colons or semicolons, some to apostrophes and
then extend that.
Forget about shading, reflections and stuff like that. Try using as many
different characters as you can without getting silly results. You can get more
detail with lineart than with solid technique, but you still might have to give
up some for a better result. If you're drawing a face, you don't have to draw
every single wrinkle and you might skip the eyelashes too.
3.3 Solid art
Not many people start out with solid ASCII, but nothing says you can't do that.
Filled pictures are no harder to make than outlined ones, it just doesn't fit
for houses and faces very well. It's usually a good idea not to use outlines
with solid art. Some people use a different character for every area of the
picture, but I think it's better to stick with one or a few filler characters.
Antialiasing is very important in solid art.
3.4 Grayscale
Grayscale ASCII is difficult to draw, not recommended for beginners, even
though I know people who have started off with it with fine results. You need a
good eye for light and shadow and a good reference photo is a must, you may
want to increase the contrast of it. Picking the right set of characters is
crucial, remember that the "lightness" of some characters varies greatly
between fonts. Take a look at existing grayscale ASCII art or even converted
pictures to get inspiration for good character sets. Don't start out too small,
80x25 is probably the minimum you want to attempt and 80x50 is better.
3.5 Antialiasing
Antialiasing doesn't really apply for lineart the same way it applies for solid
and grayscale, but I think smooth edges are one of the most important things in
a solid ASCII picture (unless you're aiming for a different impression). Often
grayscale is drawn without any empty spaces in the picture, but sometimes
without a background and that's when you really need antialiasing.
Simple antialiasing is actually very easy to do and can often be achieved with
periods/commas and apostrophes/accents/quotation marks alone. Just add these
when there's a rough corner and it looks much better. Sometimes you may want to
use more characters. I use d, b and n (sometimes m) for the upper parts of
objects and + for lower parts, the plus doesn't look too good, but it's the
best I've found. q and p can be used to match d and b, but they hang lower. P
is better, but it has no equivalent for the left side. Demoscene artists often
use a wider variety of antialiasing characters, such as 7, 4, \, / and %.
88888
88888888888
8888888888888
8888888888888
8888888888888
88888888888
88888
A filled circle without antialiasing
.nd888bn.
.d888888888b.
8888888888888
8888888888888
8888888888888
`+888888888+'
`"+888+"'
The same circle with antialiasing
3.6 Tracing
In the ancient times, people sometimes drew/copied the picture on a
transparency first, which they taped on the screen to be able to trace the
image as well as possible. I used this technique once, when I needed to make an
ASCII out of a map and first I traced the picture from a book, but I didn't
have a transparency so I used a plastic bag, perhaps needless to say the
results weren't excellent.
When Netscape Composer came out, some people figured out that they could just
set the image file as the page background and draw over it. Now we have JavE,
which has a particular function just for this, you can set the display size and
aspect ratio of the image file and apply some brightness/contrast tweaks.
3.7 Aspect ratio
Aspect ratio is something to pay attention to, particularly because of the
differences between the fonts. Practically all fonts are taller than they're
wide, so a picture of 10 lines and 10 columns probably won't look rectangular.
Fixed-width fonts in general are of roughly the same width, but Topaz New is
considerably more narrow, while Courier and its descendants are very fat. Most
people have their web browsers set to use Courier, so some pictures may look
unneededly fat, but this is partly unavoidable. Just pay attention to this if
you're drawing ASCII for a particular purpose or if you're using Courier or
Topaz to draw. One way to solve this is not to draw pictures that are supposed
to be exactly circular or square and a different angle can help too. One of my
ASCII pictures looks just fine in both 80x25 and 80x50 fullscreen resolutions,
even though the 80x50 font is twice as wide.
3.8 Difficulties and limitations
Some things are very hard to do in ASCII, some of these are obvious and some
not so obvious. Slanted, almost vertical lines are very hard and usually end up
looking stupid, so it's a good idea to avoid them whenever possible. Completely
straight vertical lines are often better. The same problem doesn't apply for
slanted horizontal lines at all, those are very easy to do once you learn to
use different characters correctly.
Things with a high resolution/detail are also hard, things like small spirals.
That's why you sometimes need to drop the detail (or draw the picture in a
bigger resolution). You also can't properly represent blurriness or softness,
or at least that's extremely difficult. You can do some optical illusions in
ASCII, such as stereograms. Magic eye pictures are probably not possible,
excluding very high resolutions.
3.9 Perspective, 3D and isometric ASCII
Some ASCII pictures feature a perspective, but it's often a very simple one and
limited to lines. In a way, a lot of ASCII art could be called naivistic. Even
a simple perspective improves the picture, though. A good way for creating a
perspective is drawing the lines so that they would continue to this imaginary
perspective point, which can be located in the middle of the picture or
elsewhere. Isometric ASCII art exists too. JavE has a feature that can render
3D shapes in ASCII art, as wireframes or with a simple lighting.
.:.
.::'.
: : : '.
.' : : '.
.' : : '.
: : : '.
.: : : :
.' : : '.
.' : : :
: : : '.
.' : : '.
.' : ...:. '.
: ......::''''' '''... '.
':'' : '''... '.
'. : ''':.
'. : ...'''
'. : ...'''
'. : ...''''
'. : ...'''
':.'''
A wireframe pyramid by JavE
4.0 Textures and materials
Textures and materials aren't commonly seen in ASCII art, if you don't count
brick walls and hair. Plastic, metal, wood and skin all look alike in ASCII.
Hairy and spiky textures can be done and often artists use different kinds of
characters for different areas, like dots for clouds and lines for more solid
objects. Experimenting with textures can lead to interesting results.
4.1 Lighting and shadow
Light isn't usually present in ASCII pictures, with the exception of grayscale.
Reflections sometimes work, but normal shadows often end up looking clumsy.
Some artists use slight shading in their line art, usually with periods and
colons. It might a good idea to forget about highlights when drawing eyes (and
perhaps hair too). Just pretend that the ASCII world lives in ambient lighting
without separate light sources.
4.2 Uses for different characters
! used sometimes in lineart and solid style, but the character is very thin
in some fonts and fat in some others
> sometimes useful for lineart, but the angle varies
# used sometimes as the filler character in solid style, not often used in
lineart except for tiny images
$ a common filler character (especially in demoscene art) and common in
grayscale as well, but the brightness of this characters varies in different
fonts
% I've seen it used as a filler too, but the looks it vary a lot as well,
especially between DOS and Windows
& not commonly used due to its problematic shape
' used for all styles, the only problem is that sometimes it is a tiny
straight line, sometimes more like a little slash
( used for lineart, sometimes solid style too, the plumpiness varies a bit
) -"-
* used in line art and solid, but be wary as the size and placement of this
character varies a lot, so it's usually not a good filler
+ not so common in line art, but I love using it in solid art because it's
the only mid-sized character that doesn't reach to the bottom of the line
, used in all styles, sometimes located higher than the period, sometimes
not
- used in most styles, has no problems associated with it
. used in all styles
/ used mostly in lineart, the slantedness varies (especially between DOS and
Windows)
0 not commonly used, the problem is that sometimes it's struck through,
sometimes not, O is better
1 not commonly used
2 not commonly used
3 not commonly used
4 not commonly used
5 not commonly used
6 used in solid style, sometimes grayscale and lineart, useful for little
eyes
7 useful for some shapes of lineart, sometimes solid style too
8 a great filler for solid style, not much used in lineart
9 used in solid style, sometimes grayscale and lineart, useful for little
eyes
: useful for lineart and the edges of solid style
; useful for lineart and the edges of solid style
< sometimes useful for lineart, but the angle varies
= sometimes used for lines
> sometimes useful for lineart, but the angle varies
? mostly used in lineart
@ useful as a solid filler and often for lineart too, especially the eyes.
Shape varies, but usually that doesn't cause problems
A useful for angular shapes, sometimes has serif though
B not commonly used, sometimes seen as a solid filler
C useful for lineart in eyes, noses and stuff like that, sometimes seen as a
solid filler
D sometimes used in lineart
E not commonly used
F used in vertical lines in some line art styles
G not commonly used
H sometimes seen as a solid filler
I sometimes used for vertical lines, but remember that it may be serif and
thus look awkward
J used in slanted vertical lines in some line art styles
K used in slanted vertical lines in some line art styles
L used for angles and sometimes in vertical lines
M common solid style filler together with its lighter version N
N common solid style filler together with M
O usually the best choice for small round shapes, sometimes used in solid
style
P good for antialiasing solid style
Q sometimes used for eyes
R not commonly used
S sometimes used as a solid style filler
T sometimes used in lineart
U sometimes used in lineart
V used in connecting two diagonal lines, something that doesn't look too
good in all fonts
W common solid style filler
X sometimes used as a solid style filler or for connecting diagonal lines
Y used in connecting diagonal lines and in some styles also for vertical
lines and other things
Z not commonly used
a sometimes used as eyes or as a solid style antialiaser
b good for solid antialiasing (the pair is d)
c sometimes used as eyes/noses or as a solid style antialiaser
d a common solid style antialiaser
e sometimes used as eyes or as a solid style antialiaser
f sometimes used for slanted vertical lines
g not commonly used
h sometimes used as a solid style filler or antialiasing
i not commonly used
j useful for slanted vertical lines, sometimes antialiasing too
k used in slanted vertical lines in some line art styles
l for vertical lines in lineart, sometimes solid antialiasing too
m good for solid antialiasing
n good for solid antialiasing
o for lineart and solid antialiasing
p good for solid antialiasing (the pair is q), sometimes P is better even
though it doesn't have a symmetric pair
r sometimes used in lineart
s sometimes used for solid antialiasing
t sometimes used in lineart
u sometimes used in lineart
v sometimes used in lineart, though might suffer from the same problem as V
w sometimes used for solid antialiasing.
x for connecting lines in lineart
z not commonly used
4 Fixed-width fonts
ASCII art needs to be viewed on a fixed-width font. The fonts have differences,
so even though it's not a good idea to "optimize" your picture for a particular
font, it's completely ok to say "best viewed with a Lucida Console, preferably
a small font size and white on black". Most of the fonts I list are free of
cost and TrueType/OpenType, usable on eg. Windows, Linux and Macintosh. There
are also other choices for other operating systems, commercial font faces and
several fonts that can only be acquired with a particular piece of software.
4.1 Courier New
Courier New is the font that looks like a typewriter. It's very wide, which can
sometimes cause problems. It's not particularly aesthetical either. Most people
use it as their fixed-width font for web browsing.
4.2 MS-DOS font
The 80x25 DOS font is cool, especially for solid art, or maybe it's just the
white on black. The 80x50 one is less cool.
4.3 Topaz New
Topaz is the font used by the operating system of the Amiga computer and Topaz
New is a TrueType version of it. It's very narrow, but quite thick and well
suited for ASCII art. You can download it on the Internet.
4.4 Lucida Console
Lucida Console was introduced in Windows 98 and is nowadays the default font in
Notepad. It's an ordinary sans serif font, quite decent, but may have
unpleasant effects on some pictures (especially grayscale).
4.5 Fixedsys
Fixedsys is a nice sans serif font that used to be the default for Notepad.
Many people use it as their ASCII viewing font and it definitely isn't bad for
that. Fixedsys is a bitmap font so some Windows programs might not allow you
use it.
4.6 Arial Alternative
Arial Alternative looks like Courier bred with Arial, resulting in a wide,
relatively thick sans serif font, not exactly my cup of tea.
4.7 MS Gothic
MS Gothic has nothing to do with slitting wrists, it's actually meant for
displaying Japanese. It is sans serif and looks quite ok, but I'm not sure if
it's worth getting and installing just for ASCII art, as the file size is a
whopping four megabytes.
4.8 Andale Mono (aka Monotype.com)
Andale Mono is actually a commercial font, but it was apparently bundled with
some versions of Internet Explorer. This is a fixed-width font that actually
looks stylish, even though it might not be the best one for viewing ASCII art.
5 ASCII art software
5.1 JavE
Jave is the Photoshop of the ASCII world, but unlike Photoshop, it's free
software. It's also multiplatform because it runs on Java, so you need to
download the Java runtimes to get it to work. JavE offers many kinds of
painting modes, gradients, textures and brushes. Naturally it also gives you
the ability to copy and paste rectangles, flip and mirror pictures and. JavE
also contains a a watermark option, a picture to ASCII converter, camelizer, an
ASCII 3D modeller, FIGlet and many other features. You can even make ASCII
animations with it.
5.2 FIGlet
FIGlet is a derivative of the Unix program "banner" which was meant for the
automated creation of crude ASCII art text logos. There are hundreds of
different FIGlet fonts available, from handwriting to 3D letters. FIGlet files
are plain text with some special markup for the program, so they're quite easy
to make. You can also use JavE for creating FIGlet fonts.
88888888b oo dP dP
88 88 88
a88aaaa dP .d8888b. 88 .d8888b. d8888P
88 88 88' `88 88 88ooood8 88
88 88 88. .88 88 88. ... 88
dP dP `8888P88 dP `88888P' dP
.88
d8888P
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
/\ \ /\ \ /\ \ /\__\ /\ \ /\ \
/::\ \ _\:\ \ /::\ \ /:/ / /::\ \ \:\ \
/::\:\__\ /\/::\__\ /:/\:\__\ /:/__/ /::\:\__\ /::\__\
\/\:\/__/ \::/\/__/ \:\:\/__/ \:\ \ \:\:\/ / /:/\/__/
\/__/ \:\__\ \::/ / \:\__\ \:\/ / \/__/
\/__/ \/__/ \/__/ \/__/
Some examples of FIGlet fonts
5.3 TheDraw/ACiDDraw
TheDraw is an MS-DOS based application meant for drawing ASCII and ANSI,
originating from the mid-80s. It can be operated with a mouse, but the menus
and commands are executed with the keyboard. It's fairly easy to use once you
learn it and you probably won't forget them any time soon. It also features a
VGA mode where you can zoom out your picture.
ACiDDraw is an improved version by TheDraw made by the legendary artgroup ACiD.
I drew ASCII and ANSI with it for years and occasionally still do. Some
computers have problems with running ACiDDraw, which can cause runtime errors
or freezing of the program. In Windows tweaking the settings of the program
often help.
5.4 ACiDView
ACiDView is a freeware Windows program, also by ACiD. It's used for viewing
ASCII and ANSI files in several resolutions and can also save them as PNG,
which comes in handy. There are no drawing functions.
5.5 PabloDraw
PabloDraw is another popular ANSI/ASCII editor for MS-DOS Windows, somewhat
similar to ACiDDraw. I personally have no experience using it, but PabloDraw's
support for multiuser drawing on the Internet is definitely an interesting
feature. There's also a viewer companion to it, known as PabloView.
6 Other stuff
6.1 ASCII map
032 [space] 048 0 064 @ 080 P 096 ` 112 p
033 ! 049 1 065 A 081 Q 097 a 113 q
034 " 050 2 066 B 082 R 098 b 114 r
035 # 051 3 067 C 083 S 099 c 115 s
036 $ 052 4 068 D 084 T 100 d 116 t
037 % 053 5 069 E 085 U 101 e 117 u
038 & 054 6 070 F 086 V 102 f 118 v
039 ' 055 7 071 G 087 W 103 g 119 w
040 ( 056 8 072 H 088 X 104 h 120 x
041 ) 057 9 073 I 089 Y 105 i 121 y
042 * 058 : 074 J 090 Z 106 j 122 z
043 + 059 ; 075 K 091 [ 107 k 123 {
044 , 060 < 076 L 092 \ 108 l 124 |
045 - 061 = 077 M 093 ] 109 m 125 }
6.2 Displaying ASCII art on web pages
If you want to showcase ASCII art on your web page, you can just save the
images as text files and link to them. The problem with this is that if you
draw loads of small pictures, you will have hundreds of files as well. Some
older versions of Internet Explorer (and possibly some other browsers) might
show your art in proportional font.
When embedding your art into HTML pages, always remember the <pre> tags, which
tell the browser that the text is already formatted and should be displayed in
a fixed-width font. You can use CSS to determine the particular font, provided
that the viewer has it.
6.3 Coloring ASCII art
With HTML you can also color your ASCII pictures, but this is a tedious job to
do by hand and you can use an HTML editor for it.
Other ways for coloring ASCII art include ANSI colors and mIRC colors. Both of
these contain 16 foreground colors. MIRC also has as many background colors,
while ANSI only offers 8. ANSI can be viewed in DOS or the DOS prompt of
Windows if you have a driver called ansi.sys loaded. Alternatively you can use
an ANSI viewer like ACiDView or save the pictures as GIF/PNG.
MIRC colors can only be used on IRC and not all clients support them - and some
networks have a channel mode that forbids you from using colors. Some IRC
clients (including mIRC) also support ANSI color, but you may have to turn on
that option first.
6.4 Demoscene ASCII art
Demoscene is an underground culture based mostly on demos, which are multimedia
presentations a lot like animations, but calculated in real time. They evolved
from cracktros (tiny applications included with cracked software) which had
mostly scrollers and some background music. Nowadays demos often look like
music videos or professional 3D animations. Demoscene is also much more than
that, including national and international gatherings, demoparties.
Like the infofiles of pirated software, demoscene productions (demos and
intros) often have an ASCII logo in their infofile. Generally they're either so
called "oldskool" ASCII or "block ASCII". Oldskool ASCII consists of logos made
mostly out of slashes, pipes, hyphens and underscores. The logos appear very
similar in style and hard to read for many people. They may look very easy to
draw, but are more difficult than they seem.
.
_ ____:____
__ _ | (_ _ __
_\ ___ __ ___ | / ___ aBHO ____ /_
/ _(___ _/ /__ _/__/__ | _ /_/__/__ __/ _ (_
__ ___/ \ (_/ / \_/ _) (_| /// _) (_/ l/ _/_ ___
\ \_ _/ / _/ ` _/ / ` _/ ___\ / /
\ /________\ ______\ ______\ _/_________\ / /_____\ /
<--\/----------\/-------\/-------\/-----------\/---------\/-->
Clever by aBHO
Some oldskool ASCIIs are made on the Amiga and contain extended characters,
they're known as Amiga ASCII (compared to PC ASCII) "Block ASCII" is not
technically ASCII at all, as it utilizes extended characters, "raster blocks",
as does ANSI art. There's another type of demoscene ASCII, known as "newskool
ASCII". It's practically a solid style, often used in graffiti-like logos and
usually uses extended DOS characters.
Besides info files, demoscene ASCII can also appear elsewhere. Some demoparties
have ASCII and ANSI competitions and there are ASCII logo compos held on some
IRC channels regularly. ASCII pictures are also released in "collies"
(collections) and artpacks. A colly is usually just a text file with lot of
logos by the same artist. An artpack is usually released by an artgroup and can
have ASCII, ANSI, Ripscript and hires pictures.
6.5 ASCII art culture and etiquette
The people who belong in the demoscene related art scene often regard their
scene as the "real" ASCII scene, though it's much newer and much less popular
than the mainstream ASCII scene. The alt.ascii-art Usenet newsgroup has existed
for a long time and is still rather active for posting ASCII pictures and
requesting them. There are other newsgroups, but they receive hardly any
traffic.
Usually people sign their ASCII pictures with their initials or with a short
nickname. You're usually free to use ASCII art for non-commercial purposes as
long as you keep those initials - it's the artist's signature. In
alt.ascii-art, people often diddle each other's pictures. That means altering
the picture slightly so that it looks better - or like something totally
different. Usually that means including initials from every person who has
participated in the picture.
There's a certain individual in the newsgroup that makes "ASCII art farts" of
other people's images - he has done that every day for several years. Don't be
too offended if Tran takes a picture of yours and adds a lame joke to it.
File: academy/tutorials/tut_oglesbee.txt
http://www.ascii-art.de/info/tut_jro.txt
So, You Want To Make Text Art?
___ _ _ _ _ _
/ _`\ ( ) ( ) ( ) _ ( ) ( )_
| (_ (_) _ \`\_/'/__ _ _ | | ( ) | | _ _ ___ | ,_)
`\__ \ /'_`\ `\ /' _ \( ) ( ) | | | | | |/'_` )' _ `\ |
(~)_) ( (_) )_ | ( (_) ) (_) | | (_/ \_) ( (_| | ( ) | |_
\____)\___/( ) (_)\___/ \___/ `\__/^\__/'\__,_|_)_(_)\__)
)/
_____ _
(_ _) /'\_/`\ (_)
| | _ | | _ _| |/') __
| |/'_`\ | /V\ |/'_" ) , < /'__`\
| ( (_) ) | | | ( (_| | |\`\( ___/
(_)\___/ (_) (_)\__,_|_) (_)\____)
_____ _ _____ _ ___
(_ _) (_)_ ( _ ) (_)_ /__ \
| | __ | ,_) ___ | (_) |_ __| ,_|(_) ) |
| |/'__`(`\/') | (___)| _ ( "__) | / /
| ( ___/> <| |_ | | | | | | |_ |_|
(_)\____|_/\_)\__) (_) (_|_) `\__) (_)...
...That's NO problem, believe me. If you can't paint like
Remington, Picasso, or Chester Scott, or sketch a square circle with a
pencil, or even smear "wash me" on a dirty windshield with your
finger, then text art is for you! Truth is, just about anybody can
make a text picutre; so don't say that you CAN'T. You can. It's easy!
It really is. It doesn't take a lot of practice, and it doesn't take a
lot of "artistic ability". I can have you making your own, unique
text-art, in no time at all.
Hi, I'm Jonathon R. Oglesbee, and I'll show you some of the simple
"mysteries" of text-art. Just don't call me an "artist". I'm not. At
best, I have been a hack cartoonist in the past... among other
things. I make cartoons in ascii (pronounced ask-ee... or better yet,
ass-key) for fun. I started doing it as a lark, but so many people
took an interest, that the response I recieved left me
speechless. I've stuck with it, in present-day computer form, for a
few long, lineal, loafing, lolly- gagging years - (words with an "L",
this time), and derived many hours of entertainment from cartooning
gags, using nothing but text-art. I'm not an are-teest. But maybe you
WILL be. So, if you are still interested, read on.
____________________________________________________
|____________________________________________________|
| __ __ ____ ___ || ____ ____ _ __ |
|| |__ |--|_| || |_| |||_|**|*|__|+|+||___| || | |
||==|^^||--| |=||=| |=*=||| |~~|~| |=|=|| | |~||==| |
|| |##|| | | || | |JRO|||-| | |==|+|+||-|-|~||__| |
||__|__||__|_|_||_|_|___|||_|__|_|__|_|_||_|_|_||__|_|
||_______________________||__________________________|
| _____________________ || __ __ _ __ _ |
||=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=| __..\/ | |_| ||#||==| / /|
|| | | | | | | | | | | |/\ \ \\|++|=| || ||==| / / |
||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_/_/\_.___\__|_|__||_||__|/_/__|
|____________________ /\~()/()~//\ __________________|
| __ __ _ _ \_ (_ . _/ _ _ _____|
||~~|_|..|__| || |_ _ \ //\\ / |=|_ /) |___| | | |
||--|+|^^|==|1||2| | |__/\ __ /\__| |(\/((\ +|+|=|=|=|
||__|_|__|__|_||_|_| / \ \ / / \_|_\___/|_|_|_|_|_|
|_________________ _/ \/\/\/ \_ / /__________|
| _____ _ __ |/ \../ \/ / __ ___|
||_____|_| |_|##|_|| | \/ __\ /=|_|++|_|-|||
||______||=|#|--| |\ \ o \_____/ |~| | | |||
||______||_|_|__|_|_\ \ o | |_|_|__|_|__|_|_|||
|_________ __________\___\_______|____________ ______|
|__ _ / ________ ______ /| _ _ _|
|\ \ |=|/ // /| // / / / | / ||%|%|%|
| \/\ |*/ //____// // /__/__/ (_) / ||=|=|=|
__| \/\|/ /(____|/ // / /||~|~|~|__
|___\_/ /________// ________ / / ||_|_|_|
|___ / (|________/ |\_______\ / /| |______|
/ \|________) / / | |
First, you need to get ready. For that, you are going to need very
little. Since you're probably reading this on-line, we will assume
that you have a computer, with a keyboard at your disposal, and so we
can dispense with the typewriter lesson (re- member typewriters?).
Besides a keyboard, you will also need a monitor, and a simple
text-editing program or word-processor. The simpler, the better. I
generally use Windows Notepad, myself. If you are using something
else, then I'd best mention a word or two about fonts.
"Fonts" are your character, or letter sets. You will need to
"select" a font that will work well to make your text pictures with. A
mono-spaced font is really the only thing to use. Fixedsys, Courier
New, Topaz New, Lucinda Console - these are all mono-spaced
fonts. That means that each character takes up the same amount of
space. A font such as Garamond, Arial, or just plain Courier
doesn't. If you make a picture using that kind of font, then it will
appear skewed on any system that isn't displaying the same font you
used to make the picture. If you use a mono-spaced font, you won't
have these kinds of problems. So, if you are going to use a
text-editor that allows you to pick your font, pick one that will
work! If you're using something like Windows Notepad, it likely
already uses a mono-spaced font, and you won't have to worry about
this.
That's the main thing you need to know about fonts, but I better
mention one other tip you'll need to know. That's about which letters
and numbers are the good ones to use, for making ascii text-art. It's
best to just stick to those characters you probably see, right there
on the keys of your keyboard. There are some other interesting
characters, often called "alt" or "extended" characters, which are
usually made by holding down the "alt" key and typing in a
number. There are some really neat ones, but it's best if you steer
away from those things.
Now we'll begin, with a simple, step-by-step tutorial of how to
make a castle. Maybe you have seen some neat text pictures of castles
or buildings, and been impressed by them. Well, let's just see about
that...
| and _ <---- those are two useless-looking characters on
your keyboard, aren't they?
Here's a thing or two you can do with them. Let's make some of those
bottom-line things, three spaces apart...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
<---- they just don't look like
much, do they?
Well, let's make some |'s, with _'s between every other one...
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| <----- looks kind of like... nothing,
huh?
Now, let's put the two separate lines together, like this....
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| | <--- it looks a little like a
parapet.
Next, let's continue with the |'s and _'s, on the third line, but
let's add an extra _ between our |'s. One | and then two _'s, over
and over...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| <--- it IS starting to look like
something... just a little
bit.
Continue this, but offset the |'s on at least every other line, so
all your "blocks" aren't lined up the same. I'm certain you can see
how I do this...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| <---- keep going...
|_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__||
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| <---- and keep going...
|_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__||
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| <---- And now look!
|_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__||
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
||__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
|_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__||
You could easily keep going, until you created the Great Wall of
China. If I were you, though, I'd stop before I made 4,000 miles of
this. Why not just settle for a simple castle wall?
Of course, you don't have to make your blocks just like I did mine.
You could make them longer, shorter, twice as big, or even completely
different, by doing some things like this:
________
_________ ___________________ [__]__]__]
|____|____| | | | | | _____ _________
_____ |____|____|____|____| |_|_|_| {_}_}_}_}_}
/_\_/_\
... That's all up to you. I'm sure you've got blocks all figured
out by now, anyway. Make your own, using whatever dimensions you
like. Or use the same ones I have; I won't mind.
Using nothing more than the two characters we started with, you
should have no trouble making a basic castle wall, like this one:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
||__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|__|__|__|__|__|| ||__|__|__|__|__|
|_|__|__|__|__||| ||_|__|__|__|__||
|__|__|__|__|__|| ||__|__|__|__|__|
...As you can see, that entire castle is constucted using nothing more
than the "_" and "|" characters. Soon, you'll be making much better
ones than this, but I'm going to use it for demonstration purposes,
okay?
Can you see how I have made the door? It was really no trick. If
you're supple- minded, you could just count over to where you want
your doorway, and remember not to brick it in. If you're lazy, like
me, you could just put your cursor about where you want the right edge
of your door to be, and backspace to where you want the left edge of
your door, and then start making it. Easy.
That door looks a little plain, though. Still using only the same
two characters, we'll just spruce it up a little:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
||__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|__|__|__|__|__||_ | _||__|__|__|__|__|
|_|__|__|__|__|||_ ||| _||_|__|__|__|__||
|__|__|__|__|__||____|____||__|__|__|__|__|
...There you go. You have now mastered the art of mediveal
construction, using text from your keyboard.
Next, let's see about making a little fancier castle, and put it
into a complete picture....
Well, here is another castle that I started for a cartoon I never
finished. It's very similar to the one above, and since it's not
doing anything else, I'll just use it here. Take a look:
|
|
/^\
/^^^\
/^^^^^\
/_______\
| ___ |
| | | |
| |___| |
| |
_ _ _ _ | _ _ | _ _ _ _
| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|_|__|__|__|__|__|...|_|__|__|__|__|__|
|__|__|__|__|__|." ".|_|__|__|__|__||
|_|__|__|__|__||| ||__|__|__|__|__|
||__|__|__|__|_|| ||_|__|__|__|__||
|__|__|__|__|__||_____||__|__|__|__|__|
...I never really finished this picture, as you can see. We'll take
care of that, but first, I want you to notice that the additional
characters I have used in this castle:
/ \ ^ . "
Find them on your keyboard, and get ready to use 'em.
Now, you might think that curve above the door is simple. It is.
It's made on two lines, like this:
line 1 ... three periods
line 2 ." ". a period and a quotation mark, followed by three
spaces, and then a quotation mark and another period.
Together, lines 1+2 look like this:
...
." ". ... a simple arch.
Let's finish this picture, now...
|>>>>
|
/ \
/ \
/ \
/_______\
|__|_|__|
|_| |_|
|_|___|_|
|__|__|_|
_ _ _ _ |_|__|__| _ _ _ _
| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|_|__|__|__|__|__|...|_|__|__|__|__|__|
|__|__|__|__|__|." | ".|_|__|__|__|__||
|_|__|__|__|__||| | ||__|__|__|__|__|
||__|__|__|__|_|| | ||_|__|__|__|__||
|__|__|__|__|__||__|__||__|__|__|__|__|
All I have done here, is brick in the tower, add a midline to the
door, and add a little flag at the top. I didn't really care for the
"shingles" I had on the roof, so I deleted them. If you liked them,
you can keep them in, of course.
That "flag" looks cute, but it is really nothing except the <
character... Oh my, my; I mean the > character, entered a few times,
until it looks like a flag.
Next, let's add a line to give it a little dimension, just like
with a drawn picture on a sketchpad. We won't really need anything
except the "_" character again....
|>>>>
|
/ \
/ \
/ \
/_______\
|__|_|__|
|_| |_|
|_|___|_|
|__|__|_|
_ _ _ _ |_|__|__| _ _ _ _
| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
|_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_|
_________ |_|__|__|__|__|__|...|_|__|__|__|__|__| _____________
|__|__|__|__|__|." | ".|_|__|__|__|__||
|_|__|__|__|__||| | ||__|__|__|__|__|
|__|__|__|__|__|| | ||_|__|__|__|__||
|_|__|__|__|__|||__|__||__|__|__|__|__|
That's much better, isn't it? But this picture still lacks an
element or two... I think what this picture really needs, is a tree or
two. Trees are really simple to make. We will look at two easy ones,
made with the characters:
/ | \ @
And here they are:
@@@@@@
/\ @@@@@@@@@
//\\ @@@@@@@@@@
///\\\ @@@@@@@@@
////\\\\ @@@@@@
/////\\\\\ | |
|| | |
Pretty simple to make an evergreen and a deciduous tree, isn't it?
I could have made some fancier ones, but I will leave that for your
imagination to come up with. Anyway, let's add these to the
picture....
|>>>>
|
/ \
/ \
/ \
/_______\
|__|_|__|
|_| |_|
|_|___|_|
|__|__|_|
/\ _ _ _ _ |_|__|__| _ _ _ _
//\\ | |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| | @@@@@@
///\\\ |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
////\\\\ |_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| @@@@@@@@@@
/////\\\\\|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
___||___ |_|__|__|__|__|__|...|_|__|__|__|__|__| _ @@@@@@ ____
|__|__|__|__|__|." | ".|_|__|__|__|__|| | |
|_|__|__|__|__||| | ||__|__|__|__|__| | |
|__|__|__|__|__|| | ||_|__|__|__|__||
|_|__|__|__|__|||__|__||__|__|__|__|__|
That still doesn't look like quite enough foliage to me, so let's
look at some ways to make some flowers and things...
@
\|/ <---- nothing new here, is there?
%
\|/ <------ I didn't do anything here, except
subtitute a percent character.
Now, let's add 'em in quantity....
|>>>>
|
/ \
/ \
/ \
/_______\
|__|_|__|
|_| |_|
|_|___|_|
|__|__|_|
/\ _ _ _ _ |_|__|__| _ _ _ _
//\\ | |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| | @@@@@@
///\\\ |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
////\\\\ |_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| @@@@@@@@@@
/////\\\\\|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
___||___ |_|__|__|__|__|__|...|_|__|__|__|__|__| _ @@@@@@ ____
|__|__|__|__|__|." | ".||__|__|__|__|_| | |
@ @ @ |_|__|__|__|__||| | ||_|__|__|__|__|| % | %| %
\|/\|/\|/|_@|__@__|_@|__|| | |||__|_%_|_%_|_%| \|/ \|/\|/
@ @ @ |\|/_\|/_|\|/__||__|__||__|_\|/_\|/|\|/ % % %
\|/ \|/\|/
Notice that I put some of the flowers directly "in front" of our
castle. I knew where I wanted them to go, placed the cursor there,
backspaced, and entered the new character I wanted to use - simple. If
it had looked misplaced, well... that's a lot easier to fix, than
going back and erasing a "real" line on a piece of paper, or finding
some way to incorporate a mistake into an actual painting. About the
only "trick" you see me doing in this picture, is with the
background. I have intentionally left out a space between the
background line, and the castle and tree element. This preserves the
perspective of the text picture, by keeping the background line from
running into the foreground elements, which may confuse the eye into
thinking they are all connected. With a text picture, this can often
be a problem. Some text artists don't do this, because they may have
other ways of keeping the perspective constant. Then again, some just
forget, but don't tell them I said so.
This picture looks almost done, but I think it needs a road up to the
front door...
|>>>>
|
/ \
/ \
/ \
/_______\
|__|_|__|
|_| |_|
|_|___|_|
|__|__|_|
/\ _ _ _ _ |_|__|__| _ _ _ _
//\\ | |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| | @@@@@@
///\\\ |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
////\\\\ |_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| @@@@@@@@@@
/////\\\\\|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
___||___ |_|__|__|__|__|__|...|_|__|__|__|__|__| _ @@@@@@ ____
|__|__|__|__|__|." | ".||__|__|__|__|_| | |
@ @ @ |_|__|__|__|__||| | ||_|__|__|__|__|| % | %| %
\|/\|/\|/|_@|__@__|_@|__|| | |||__|_%_|_%_|_%| \|/ \|/\|/
@ @ @ |\|/_\|/_|\|/__||__|__||__|_\|/_\|/|\|/ % % %
\|/\|/\|/ .' '. \|/ \|/\|/
.' '.
.' '.
.' '.
...Nothing more than periods and appostrophes were used to make that
road, by using an ever-widening space between them on the following
lines. Hey, how about a cloud or two?...
________
_( ( __ )_
__( __ ) __)
(____ ( _)
(_____)
Parenthesis and the bottom-line character make good, easy clouds.
Let's put some in the picture...
________ __
_( ( __ )_ _(( )_
__( __ ) __) __( ) )
(____ ( _) (_ ( _ __ )_
(_____) _( __ __)
(__(_ ( _)
|>>>> (___)
|
/ \
/ \
/ \
/_______\
|__|_|__|
|_| |_|
|_|___|_|
|__|__|_|
/\ _ _ _ _ |_|__|__| _ _ _ _
//\\ | |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| | @@@@@@
///\\\ |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
////\\\\ |_|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| @@@@@@@@@@
/////\\\\\|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|_| @@@@@@@@@
___||___ |_|__|__|__|__|__|...|_|__|__|__|__|__| _ @@@@@@ ____
|__|__|__|__|__|." | ".||__|__|__|__|_| | | JRO
@ @ @ |_|__|__|__|__||| | ||_|__|__|__|__|| % | %| %
\|/\|/\|/|_@|__@__|_@|__|| | |||__|_%_|_%_|_%| \|/ \|/\|/
@ @ @ |\|/_\|/_|\|/__||__|__||__|_\|/_\|/|\|/ % % %
\|/\|/\|/ .' '. \|/ \|/\|/
.' '.
.' '.
.' '.
There you go. One completed picture of a castle, that looks like
it's doing something besides hanging there on an empty page. Be sure
and sign your picture, so folks will know who made it!
By now, I am sure you have dozens of ideas for improving that
picture, and for making better ones of your own. Try them all! There
is really no mystery to making good text-art. Play around with it, in
your spare time. You'll most likely impress yourself with the
results. Drop me a line, if you come up with any that you'd like to
show me, or need some help:
oglesbee@
mail.fullnet.net
We'll be continuing this series of tutorials, later. I'll try to cover
other topics, from people to perspective. Watch for more, later.
__..\/
/\ \ \\ Good Luck!
/_/\_.___\ JRO
/\\~()\()~/\
\_ _) _/ __
\ //\\/ (((\
__/\ __ /\__ /)////
/ \ \ / / \ \___/
/ \/\/\/ \/ /
| \../ / /
| | \/ __ \ /
| | o |\__/
| | o |
| | o |
--
Jonathon R. Oglesbee
File: academy/tutorials/tut_oglesbee2.txt
https://www.ludd.ltu.se/~vk/pics/ascii/junkyard/techstuff/tutorials/JRO2.html
___ _ _ _ _ _
/ _`\ ( ) ( ) ( ) _ ( ) ( )_
| (_ (_) _ \`\_/'/__ _ _ | | ( ) | | _ _ ___ | ,_)
`\__ \ /'_`\ `\ /' _ \( ) ( ) | | | | | |/'_` )' _ `\ |
(~)_) ( (_) )_ | ( (_) ) (_) | | (_/ \_) ( (_| | ( ) | |_
\____)\___/( ) (_)\___/ \___/ `\__/^\__/'\__,_|_)_(_)\__)
)/
_____ _
(_ _) /'\_/`\ (_)
| | _ | | _ _| |/') __
| |/'_`\ | /V\ |/'_" ) , < /'__`\
| ( (_) ) | | | ( (_| | |\`\( ___/
(_)\___/ (_) (_)\__,_|_) (_)\____)
_____ _ _____ _ ___
(_ _) (_)_ ( _ ) (_)_ /__ \
| | __ | ,_) ___ | (_) |_ __| ,_|(_) ) |
| |/'__`(`\/') | (___)| _ ( "__) | / /
| ( ___/> <| |_ | | | | | | |_ |_|
(_)\____|_/\_)\__) (_) (_|_) `\__) (_)...
Part Two of a tutorial about ascii text-art.
Now that we have delved into castle construction with text-art,
in Part One, how about looking at some other kinds of pictures?
Automobiles might be a good thing to roll on to. Let's race on down,
and look at a simple car, to see how it's made:
_____ ... line 1 = _
___/ \____ ... line 2 = _ and / and \
|______________| ... line 3 = _ and |
(o) (o) ... line 4 = ( and o and )
... yep, that's a basic car shape. It's probably won't turn a
fast quarter mile, but it's good enough for a starting point. The
only characters we didn't use in our castle exercises, are the
letter "o" and the parenthesis. Since I imagine you know your alphabet,
let's do a little more, shall we?
______
___/ /_|__\____
|____|__|__|____)
(o) (o)
That wasn't hard, at all. I have really done nothing except put
in the doors and windows, and substitute a paraenthesis instead
of the "|" character for the front end of this auto. It's hardly a
work of art, but it is recognizable as a car; a four-door sedan, at
that. Try making a two-door on your own, and don't forget that you
can lengthen or shorten the whole car, if need be.
Now, let's see what we can do about making some better autos...
_________
____/ |___||__\_______
[ __ |- ||- \ __ |]
(__/()\_|___||___|_/()\_)
'..' '..'
Okay, it's ugly, but it might pass for a taxi cab, huh? I used five
lines, this time, and two new characters (three, actually): the - minus
character, and the two [ and ] brackets. The tires, as you can see, were
done by using nothing more than apostrophes and periods. The crude
fender wells go a long way towards making it look a little more like a
real car, don't you think?
How about a truck, made the same way? You shouldn't have any trouble
with that. Here's one of my own...
_________________
| Joe's /"""\
| delivery |____\_____
| ___ |- |___ [|
[__/ o \_______|____/ o \__)
'._.' '._.'
It's very similar to the taxi cab. The new character, is the
quotation mark. See what differences you can find between this, and
the car up above. Could you make an even bigger truck, this way?
Try it! How about something smaller, like a sports car?
____.-.___\______
/ __ |- \ __ '.
(_/()\_|_____/_/()\__)
'..' '..'
Well... maybe it does look a little more like an old Jeepster. You
go ahead and make a better sports car, on your own. I never cared very
much for two-seaters, anyway.
Let's look at a couple of different views of automobiles. Examine
each, and see how they were made:
_____________________
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\
// \\
//_______________________\\
/' / \ `\
/ / \ \
/__/___________________________\__\
|/| ____ ||||||||||||||||||| ____ |\|
|/|______|||||||DODGE|||||||______|\|
|/ || ||||||||||||||||||||||| || \|
/-------------------------------------\
'-------------------------------------'
|\_________________________________/|
| | | |
|_____| |_____| jro
My car doesn't have a horn. It says
=DODGE= on the front.
What new characters can you find in the above picture? Notice how I
used the slash characters, with ever widening spacing on each
consecutive line, to give the appearance of looking "up" the hood. It's
really no different from how we made the "road" leading up to the castle
in our first exercise, right?
Here's a better picture of a favorite old car of mine:
___ __
/ _ )__ ___________ ______ _____/ /_ _
/ _ (/ _`´/ __/ __/ _`´/ __/ |/ / _ / _`´/
/____)\___/_/ /_/ \___/\__/\___/\___/\___/
Built in Detroit. By heretics.
______________________
.'______________________'.
//| \_______ _|_ ______/ |\\
// /________ [___] _______\ \\
.-.//_/_________________.-""-._\_\\.-.
'.//______________________________\\.'
/ / |||| \ \
/ / |||| \ \
/ / |||| \ \
/ / |||| \ \
/___/________________||||________________\___\
/|__________________ |||| __________________|\
| .' `. ____ \ |||| / ____ .' `. |
| : : \__/ >||||< \__/ : : |
.\`.__.'_____________/______\_____________`.__.'/.
'__________________________________________________'
'.______________________________________________.'
|\ \______________/ \_______________/ /|
| '------------------------------------------' |
|______| |______| jro
Sorry, but I couldn't help re-creating the old ad-logo,
at the top. This car introduces some more new characters.
Did you find the ~ and the ` character in the Dodge above
it? They're in this one, too, along with the < and >
characters.
How about some rear views?
____ _______ __
/ ___|_ _\ \/ /
| | _ | | \ /
| |_| | | | / \
\____| |_| /_/\_\
.
________________________ |
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\|
()//________________________\\()
/_/________________________\_\
|| _______ GTX _______ ||
|||_______|_____.____|_______|||
|\______________________________/|
| |(_)----\____/----(_)| |
| |/ \| |
____|_____|____________________|_____|_____jro
____ _ _
/ ___| _ __ ___| | |___
\___ \| '_ \ / _ \ | / __|
___) | |_) | __/ | \__ \_ _ _ _ _ _
|____/| .__/ \___|_|_|___(_|_|_|_|_|_)
|_|
.
________________________ |
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\|
()//________________________\\()
/_/________________________\_\
|| _______ GTX _______ ||
|||_______|_____.____|_______|||
|\______________________________/|
(| |(_)----\____/----(_)|( |))
((|)) ))|/ \| )) | ))
__((|((_(_|))________________(_|_)_)_|)____jro
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
( | )/ \ _ _ __| (_) ___ __( | )
V V/ _ \| | | |/ _` | |/ _ \/ __| V
/ ___ \ |_| | (_| | | (_) \__ \
/_/ \_\__,_|\__,_|_|\___/|___/
____
_____( - )__
____( . ) )(( )_
__( ( . ( () ))) )__
(_. ( ((( ) . )) __)
(__ (- ()- ((( )__)
__( )) . (( - )_
__( ((. ((-. )) ) )_
(__ ( ( " .' ( ()__) ) )___
__( (. ( " ; . )) _--) ))))
(__(( (). (( () ) )__ " ) ___)
__( ( -; ) __( ((. ) - . )_
______(______(_______(___________)________)____jro
I guess you can color that car gone. Ever drive one?... nevermind.
Ignore the big, ascii letters for now - we'll get into those, later.
Look how I used the same basic clouds we discussed earlier, to make
that cloud of smoke. It's been spruced-up a bit, with some periods and
minus signs, but it's nothing more than a giant version of the same
clouds we used in the castle picture.
__
_( _)
(__)
__
_( _)
(___)
________________ ||
/________________\ ||
/__________________\||
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||
| | //\\\ | || ____
| |________( o_o )| || _____/TAXI\_____
|___________\ - /___|| //~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\
|__________/_\_/_\__|| // ))))) \\
/===================\| //_____ ___[|o o|]__\\
|___________________|/ //_/____\__/).-'-.(\__\\
| _ _ METRO _ _ | /_/__________@_________\_\
|(_)(_)|||||||(_)(_)| |(__) |||||||||||||||| (__)|
|[__] ||||||| [__]| |(__)[]__\||||||||/__[](__)|
(____________________) (____________________________)
| | | | | | | |
|__| |__| |__| |__|
Here's a taxi and a truck, taken from another cartoon of mine.
They aren't very realistic-appearing, but then they weren't supposed
to be. They're supposed to look silly, like the people in them.
Here's some other simple cars. Try making and improving some like
these, working up to larger and more detailed ones:
_______
/~~//~~||
____/__//___||_____________
()_() ____ | ____ |
<<<<|/.--.\ | /.--.\ =|
[___]| () |___|____/| () |\(]
`..`.__.' `..`.__.'
__ __ __
)(_)(_)(
/ .' __ '._()_\__ ___
||: / \ : """----...' _ `.__
\: \__/ :_______________| (_) |__>
`.____.' `.___.'
____ _
.' __ '._(_)__\ ___
: / \ : """----...' _ `.__
: \__/ :_______________| (_) |__>
`.____.' `.___.'
______
_____/o/____\_________
[ | \ __ \
(_______|______|__/ \__)
\__/ \__/
_
___________|_\_________
/ ____ |- \ ____ \
\_/ () \_|_____/_/ () \_/
`.__.' `.__.'
Try putting some of your new cars in a picture, as we
did with the castle in the previous tutorial...
/\ /\ /\ /\ /\
//\\ //\\ //\\ //\\ //\\
///\\\ ///\\\ ///\\\ ///\\\ ///\\\
|| || || || ||
@ @ @ @ @ @
\|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/
____________________________________________
.-----.
______/ |____\_________
[| ____ |- \ ____ |)
(__/ () \__|______|/ () \__)
'.__.' '.__.'
_____________________________________________
Cars and trucks are good practice for any text-artist.
They range from the simple, to the complex. I reccomend
you start small, and let your imagination make them grow
from there.
Now how about some common objects? Let's look at a few
of those...
_____________ .
/ / . |
/ /| |/|
/ /|| ___| |
/ / || / |/|
/____________/| /____|/|
|| || || ||__||||
|| || || ||||
|| || || ||
table and chair
(
(
)(
______________)
(__((_________()
smoke
_____.
~(_]---'
/_(U
six-shooter
___________________
/__________________/\
/ _______________ \|
|.' \ 12 '.||
|| 11\ / 1 |||
|| 10 \_/ 2 |||
|| 9 (_) 3 |||
|| 8 4 |||
|| 7 6 5 |||
|'._______________.'||
\___________________//
alarm
clock
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
| | | |
| | | |
| | [ ] ______________ [ ] | |
____ | | | | | | ____
|| | | | ________ | | | ||
|| | | | | | | | | ||
|| | | | |________| | | | ||
__|| | | | | | | ||___
|| | | | ________ |{o} | | ||
|| | | | | |()| | | ||
|| | | | |________| | | | ||
__|| | | | | | | ||___
| | | ________ | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | |________| | | |
______| |____________|______________|_____________| |________
| | / W E L C O M E\ | |
| | /________________\ | |
______|_|_________________________________________|_|________
@ /__________________\ @
________@_\|/@_____|__________________|__@\|/_@______
\|/ \|/ /____________________\\|/ \|/
|____________________|
front door
Perhaps you are wondering what's going on here, with all these
new and different pictures I am throwing at you. Just what is it
that I am doing, and how am I making all of these?
I'm really not doing anything except "outlining" simple objects
with text. Try this: look at an object in the room. A clock, a book;
even your computer screen. Outline the thing. You probably won't need
more than the _ and | characters, to start with. Once you have the
basic shape, you can go back and add other details; if you think it
needs them. Often, your first text-art picture of something may look
too simple, or just plain bad. Don't give up on it! All that it may need
is just a detail or two. Imagine that front door above, without the knob
or inset panels. It would be nothing but a box, right? But by filling in
those details, it looks like a door. Let's make a new one, together...
_____________
| |
| |
| |
| | Okay, we're calling it a door,
| | but it doesn't really look like
| | anything except a rectangle,
| | right?
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|_____________|
_____________
| _____ |
| |__|__| |
| |__|__| |
| | We'll add a little window, and
| | now it's beginning to look like
| | something...
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|_____________|
_____________
| _____ |
| |__|__| |
| |__|__| |
| | The addition of two panels
| _________ | makes it look more like a door,
| | | | indeed...
| |_________| |
| |
| _________ |
| | | |
| |_________| |
| |
|_____________|
_____________
| _____ |
| |__|__| |
| |__|__| | Add a knob...
| |
| _________ |
| | |O|
| |_________| |
| |
| _________ |
| | | |
| |_________| |
| |
|_____________|
_______________
| _____________ |
|| _____ ||
|| |__|__| ||
|| |__|__| || And a frame, and wallah! You
|| || have a door.
|| _________ ||
|| | |O||
|| |_________| ||
|| ||
|| _________ ||
|| | | ||
|| |_________| ||
|| ||
||_____________||
Nothing to it, see? It really does look like a door. Just don't
try to open it, or you'll smear fingerprints on your monitor.
Don't feel obligated to use the same characters I do. Could you
think of ones that might make suitable replacements? Or ones that
might work better? Look at these versions of the same door:
...............
H.............H
H .. .. H
H l..l..l H
H l..l..l H
H H
H ......... H
H l lOH
H l.........l H
H H
H ......... H
H l l H
H l.........l H
H H
H_____________H
_______________
: _____________ :
:: _____ ::
:: :__:__: ::
:: :__:__: ::
:: ::
:: _________ ::
:: : :Q::
:: :_________: ::
:: ::
:: _________ ::
:: : : ::
:: :_________: ::
:: ::
::_____________::
_______________
I _____________ I
II _____ II
II I__I__I II
II I__I__I II
II II
II _________ II
II I I0II
II I_________I II
II II
II _________ II
II I I II
II I_________I II
II II
II_____________II
Point here being, there is always more than one way to
make a door, or anything else. Use whatever you find most
asthetically pleasing, and don't be afraid to experiment.
Believe me, you WILL discover new ways of making things!
We started out with simple automobiles, tossing in a few
more complicated ones. None of them were terribly difficult,
however. Neither are any of the other objects we moved along
to. You don't need to be an artist to draw with text-art, as
I'm sure you're beginning to realize.
So far, however, all these pictures are reasonably angular.
Here's an example of the kind of picture that often confuses
beginner text-artists:
Northrop
XP-56
_
/ |
/ |`'.
.~~~\--.../_ |_-~'
/_\_.- ~-._.--~`-.
.-`. __..--~~` _.-~._~-.
( . :~(__) _.-~ : ~-.~.
.-~` '-.__ ~-------~_|~=,; ~
_~_.`~~~~ ~~--~~~~~~\ |.-`
~ jro \_|
There's a lot of little curves and angled lines in this picture
of an old experimental plane, isn't there? Don't dispair; here's a
few tried-and-true examples of lines and cirles, sent to me by a pal.
I think you'll find them useful when you want to make a picture that
needs curves and obliques in it:
: 6/1 3/1 2/1 1/1 2/3 1/2
: | J J J / .' .'
: | J | F / / .'
: | | F J / .' .' 1/3
: | | J F / / .' .-'
: | F | J / .' .' .-'
: | F F F / / .' .-' 1/4
: | J J J / .' .' .-' _.-'
: | J | F / / .' .-' _.-' 1/5
: | | F J / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--'
: | | J F / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' 1/6
: | F | J / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' 1/7
: | F F F / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' __..--'
: _.-' _.--' __.--' __..--' 1/8
: _.--' __.--' __..--' __..--''
: __.--' __..--' __..--''
: __..--' __..--''
: __..--''
: -------------------------- 0
_____ __
.-' `-. ,dP""Yb,
.' `. ,d" "b,
/ \ d' _ `Y,
_ ; ; 8 8 `b
__ ,'" "`. | | `b,_,aP P
__ ,' `. / \ ; ; """" d'
.' `. / | | | \ / ,P"
_ | | | / \ / `. .' a,.__,aP"
o (_) `.__.' `.__.' `.___.' `-._____.-' `"""''
And a few others I also use, although I'm sure a hundred other
people do, too:
_.-~
_.-~
_.-~ __..--""
__..--""
__..--"" ___...---~~~
___...---~~~
___...---~~~
____
." ". ____
/ \ _____ .' '.
| | __ / \ : :
\ / / \ | | : :
'.____.' \__/ \_____/ '. .'
'----'
____
."_ _".
/ (_)(_) \
| . . |
\ \____/ /
'.____.'
Here's a thing or two you can do with them...
\ | /
'. ____ .'
"-.." "..-~
~~--../ \..--~~
------| __..--""-._--- __.--""--..__
___...---~~~ ~-._ .'
_.-~ `. _.-~
__..--~~ `.__..--~~
Sunset on the prairie... Look how many combinations of the
sample lines above, that I used to make the horizon.
."".
' ;
.''..' .' Silly shape... A kidney bean, perhaps?
. .'
'...'
The Martians_____________________________________
|* . . * _______________________ |
| . / To Antares with the \ . |
| * ' * / "mission", Base. Those \ *|
| | Earth Beings abducted | |
| * . ' | Zompflitz, and tried to | . |
| \ have SEX with him!!! / |
| ' . \_________ _____________/ . * |
| _.-'~~~~'-._ |/ |
| . _.-~\__/ \__/~-. . |
| .-~ (oo) (oo) ~-. |
| (______//~~\\__//~~\\_____) |
| _.-~` `~-._ |
| /O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O\ * |
| \___________________________________/. |
| \x x x x x x x/ `. |
| . * \x_x_x_x_x_x/. ' . ___ . |
| `. `. .'| \'. |
| `. . `. | \ / | |
| ' . * '.___.' |
|_________________________________________by_JRO__|
And an early text-art cartoon of mine. Not too good
a "Planet Earth", but the Martians' flying saucer is
acceptable, yes? In any cartoon, of course, it's mostly
the gag that counts, anyway.
I'm sure you can now see how easily I handled the lines
and curves in that small airplane picture I first showed you.
Cirles, curves, and obliques are no big deal. After looking
at a few examples, and giving it a try or two, I'm sure you'll
have it mastered.
Well, this about wraps it up for this second instalment.
I hope I've given you some new ideas, a few tools to work
with, and an increasing interest in making text-art. Practice
simple exercises, and work up from there. Soon, you'll find
yourself able to make a text-art picture of almost anything
you've seen or imagined. Remember - it's never as hard as it
looks!
__..\/
/\ \ \\ Keep typing!
/_/\_.___\ JRO
/\\~()\()~/\
\_ _) _/
\ //\\/ (((\
__/\ __ /\__ (\||||
/ \ \ / / \ \___/
/ \/\/\/ \ / /
| \ / \/ /
| | \/ __\ /
| | o \ /
| | o |\___/
| | o |
. . .
. . . .' .--.
'. . . . .' ________.'_.'_____.--.___
'. . . . .' ()_() ooo ~/ -.| "-._
'. . . . .' ((((<____ | | ____ = )
'. . . . .' .-' (__)/ () \___\_____|_/ () \__/)
. ' ______ .' .-' ___'.'.__.'_________'.'.__.'____
'-. .-~ ~-. .-' /
'-. .' '. .-' __/
_ . . _./
'-._ . . _.-' |
: : /
.-' . . '- .'
-' . . . .'
.' '. .' _.'
.' .' '__________'.-'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ /jro
~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~/
--
Jonathon R. Oglesbee
File: academy/tutorials/tut_oviatt.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/20071029164837/http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/soviatt.htm
1. What is ASCII art? or "ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI."
What is ASCII art? Basically, it's creating pictures using the
letters and symbols found on a regular keyboard or typewriter. Trust
me, the computer keyboard is MUCH easier to use than a typewriter.
Related art can be done with ANSI (sometimes known as "higher ASCII")
characters, but since those don't show up on Aladdin or GEnie, I've
never played with them. Most everyone has seen some sort of ASCII
art, either in regular ASCII Art topics, (such as in the Family RT),
as part of the opening screen for various RoundTables, or as part of a
cute little signature by the members themselves. This is a sample of
a signature ASCII art:
_
('v')
( ) "Birdie"
~/'~'~~
My pictures are done for the computer screen, and look best on a
screen that is set for a dark background and light letters. Viewing
the pictures on a light background with dark letters (either on the
screen or on paper, printed up) makes them look a little like photo
negatives, light where it's supposed to be dark, and dark where it's
supposed to be light. Just keep in mind how your pictures will be
viewed, while you're creating them. Some of the pictures I've done
will "translate" just fine to a different setup, some don't do nearly
as well.
2. The CANVAS, or "Targon's secret."
One of the very first ASCII artists on GEnie, TARGON, came up with the
idea of creating a "canvas." To make it easier to put your characters
where they need to go, start with a blank canvas. In most word
processing programs, (including Aladdin's text editor), the cursor
can't be moved somewhere it's never been before. That's fine if you
know exactly where you want each character, and can type it in
perfectly the first time, but if you need to experiment, like I do,
you'll want to move that cursor around with your arrow keys.
The canvas consists of a screen full of lines, and the lines consist
of nothing but spaces you've tapped in with your spacebar. This is
the way I made mine:
First, go to the program you plan to use to make your pictures. Since
I use Aladdin, I'll describe the procedure I use. While offline, go
to a reply screen, such as the ASCII Art topic in the FAMILY BB.
(Category 3, topic 18.) Hit "r" for "reply." When the screen comes
up, draw a line of dashes across the top, and then hit the enter key
oh... about twenty times or so. At the end of the screen, draw
another line of dashes across the bottom.
Go back to the top of the screen, press the down arrow once, and start
hitting the space bar. When you get to the end of the line, use the
down arrow to get to the next line. Do not hit "enter" again, and do
not let the line of spaces wrap around. Hit the space bar again,
filling the next line with spaces, and again when you get to the end
of the line, use the down arrow key to get to the next line. Continue
doing this till you've filled all 20 lines with blank spaces.
At this point, it would be wise to "save" the "canvas" so that you
don't have to go through this every time you want to do a picture. To
save a file on Aladdin, you hold down the control key and tap the K,
then the W. A little screen will pop up, asking for a name. I chose
the name "canvas," but then, I'm an original thinker. :) From then
on, when you want to create a new picture, you can "recall" the canvas
by going to a reply screen. To recall the canvas using Aladdin, hold
down the control key and tap the K then the R. You'll see that little
window come up, asking for a file name, and you type in the name you
gave your canvas. Then hit enter, and the canvas will be on the
screen. For those who would rather skip this step, I've included a
canvas at the end of the file. Since most of my pictures are rather
large, the canvas is larger than I've specified here.
3. How to start, or "Whaddaya mean, just start tapping keys?"
Now you're ready to begin creating your picture. The first thing you
need to do is make sure your text editor is in "overwrite" mode. In
Aladdin's default setting, that means you'll need to hit the "insert"
key one time. This way, each character you tap into place will
overwrite the blank space. If you do not have your text editor in
overwrite mode, each character you tap in will be inserted between
your spaces, and the lines will begin to wrap almost immediately. If
that happens, don't panic, just delete the extra keys, press the
"insert" key and start again. I guarantee you, you'll notice quickly.
Another pointer to remember: If you've tapped something in and you
don't like it, or if you've made a mistake, do NOT erase it using the
backspace key. The backspace key will delete that space, and it'll
offset the rest of that line by one. You may not notice that if
you've only backspaced once, but if you've backspaced a dozen
characters out of the way, you'll have a line that's shorter than the
rest by that many spaces.
If you want to correct a mistake, just use your arrow keys till the
cursor is on the space you want to change, and tap in the character
you want. (Again, make sure you are in overwrite mode.) If you
forget and backspace an error away, hit the insert key again, then hit
the spacebar till you've added back in the spaces you accidentally
deleted, then hit the insert key again to go back to overwrite mode.
Oh, one more thing... For some reason, it's best to leave the first
space on each line blank. Your art will look fine while you're
creating it, but when it gets uploaded to GEnie a character on the
very first space of the line will cause the following lines get
shifted over one space, and that's enough to mess up a picture. This
is especially true if you have used any asterisks (*) as first
characters on the line. The asterisk is used on GEnie to say, "The
following is a command, not part of the text." People viewing your
work won't even see that line.
4. Sources, or "Where do I find pictures to try?"
Most of us have some little doodle we've done for years... I've always
drawn little elephant fannies all over papers and scraps. I'd suggest
that you translate YOUR doodle to ASCII art as your first piece. It's
familiar, and you'll know if it doesn't look quite right. Play with
it till you're satisfied with it.
For your next piece, choose something simple. You'll have an easier
time, and you'll build your confidence. Children's coloring books are
a great place to find simple pictures to try. While you're finding
the sorts of pictures you enjoy doing, you'll be developing your very
own style of ASCII art.
One of the greatest things about this particular art form is that each
style is so distinctively different. Once an artist has the basics
down, you can almost tell WHO did a picture before you see their name
at the bottom of the screen. Some of the ASCII Artists you've
probably seen at one time or another here on GEnie are TARGON,
PHOENIX, TSUEX, and RIKROK. All of these people have very individual
styles. Some pictures look like drawings with ASCII characters, some
look more like paintings. They're all delightful.
Holiday pictures are my favorites. I can find samples from
newspapers, comic books, coloring books, art books, and sometimes from
my own imagination. Most of the time I need a pattern, even if the
finished product doesn't look anything like the original. It gives me
an idea of where to go first. :)
5. Choosing Characters, or "Which characters do I want to use?"
First of all, your choice of characters depends on what effect you're
looking for. If you are "sketching" with ASCII characters, you'll
want to pay special attention to the following keys:
/ ` " ' \ , . _ - = ~ ^ ; |
Notice that all of these characters have been entered on the same
line, but many are in different positions on that line. The
apostrophy is higher on the line than the comma, for instance. Keep
this in mind as you "sketch" because sometimes that small difference
is enough to make or break your picture.
If you are going for a more filled in look, such as I do in my
pictures, you will also want to keep in mind the relative value of the
characters as far as light and shade go. Look at the following
characters:
@ # $ & X % > / ; :
Notice that when you are using a dark background, light letters, that
the @ and # keys provide a lot of light. You would use these
characters to highlight your work. The : and ; let much less light
through, so those would be the characters you shade with. If you are
working on a reverse screen, with a light background/dark characters,
the opposite would hold true.
Keep in mind, too, that for detail work there are several characters
that are very similar, but subtly different, and can add just the
right amount of contrast to get the effect that you want. For
instance:
S $ : ; % X 0 O
One more thing that will help you get the look you want is the
relative height of capital and lower case letters. When you need a
line to taper a bit, using a lower case letter is sometimes the
perfect "bridge" between high and low characters. For instance:
S s X x O o @ a
To taper these lines even further, when a very gradual decrease is
wanted, use both of these methods, somtimes using them more than once.
For instance:
Ss,..,sS or -=*@*=- or .,%,.
SSss,,..,,ssSS or ..,,;;|;;,,..
Also remember that what is low on one line can be the perfect bridge
for something high on the line directly under. This is especially
helpful when you're creating signatures of some kind... For instance:
,;;;,
;; .;' ;;
`;,
. `';,. .;. ;. ,;;;, .;. .;;;.
';. ;; ;; ;; ',,. ;; ;; ;;
,;;;.;; ;; ;; ;; . ;; ;; ;;''
;; ';;;;' `;;';;' ';;;' ';. `;;;'
`;;;;'
6. Small pictures, or "Good things come in small packages."
VERY small pictures can be a lot of fun to do. Just remember that
with those tiny ASCII pictures, a LOT is left to the imagination.
Sometimes a suggestion of what you're looking for is the best you can
do. For instance, the following was done on only two lines:
~|_
(_)\_
It's certainly no photograph, but most people will recognize this as a
wheelchair. Another fun use for tiny ASCII graphics are for signing
off e-mail, especially during the holidays. For instance, during the
Christmas season, I like to sign letters off with one of the
following:
<\oOo/>
### ###
### ###
/\
//\\
///\\\
][
It's important to remember that many RoundTables on GEnie (Such as the
FAMILY and Personal Growth RoundTable) frown on the use of excessive
ASCII art in regular topics. This is due to the fact that users who
are visually impaired and use voice synthesizers have a heck of a time
with this stuff... For instance, a blind user coming across the top
Christmas miniature would hear, "lesser than, backslash, o, O, o,
slash, greater than..." And that's only the FIRST ROW! Can you
imagine how irritating that would be?
Some voice synthesizers do not "pronounce" punctuation, but they do
pause for many punctuation marks. For instance, if your little ASCII
picture consists of a lot of periods and commas, the voice synthesizer
will pause for each. If there's enough there, the user may think that
he or she was discontinued.
If you are on a RoundTable and you don't know what their policy is,
it's best to preface any ASCII art with a warning phrase, placed a
line above the actual art: "WARNING: ASCII Art to follow." And
don't be offended if it's returned to you. There are many ASCII Art
topics on GEnie, and your work is VERY welcome there. :)
7. Big pictures, or "Bigger is better, right?"
Though a large picture can be a little intimidating, it is often
easier to do than a small picture. Large pictures give you room to
add detail. If you are doing a picture on, say, ten lines, you don't
have as much room to develop curves and angles. Your work has to be
much more precise, and it's not always possible. On the other hand,
on a large picture, you have much more room to develop not only curves
and angles, but also shading and highlighting.
Where do you start on a large picture? Well, first of all you'll
probably want more than one "canvas" to work on. Just add another
canvas or two on the end of the previous one so that you have plenty
of room. Get rid of the excess lines between them with the
"control-y" keysequence.
Some ASCII artists consistently start with the eyes, if the picture
HAS eyes. Personally, I start in a different place each time, but
most often I start on what will give me the most problems. For
instance, on the tiger I started with the nose. I'm not exactly sure
WHY that nose was such a bugger (sorry, couldn't resist... :) but once
I got that done, I figured I could finish the rest of the picture.
Other times, when there isn't an area that I feel I need to start on,
I might start at the very top, so that I can get a relative feel for
the width and length of the picture.
Once I've started the picture, I will most of the time go ahead and
tap in the rest of the basic shape. Afterwards I'll go through and
add the highlighting, shading, and other detail work that I want.
Sometimes when you're sitting so close to the screen, tapping in the
pictures, NOTHING you do looks right. If that's the case, stand back
from the screen.... Or squint your eyes. Or if you wear glasses, take
them off for a moment. Many times you'll see the picture "come
together" when you try one of these little tricks.
When you're finished, make sure you save your picture. You save your
picture the same way you saved the canvas; hold down the control key,
hit the K and then the W. When the screen comes up, give your picture
a name. That way you can bring it up again whenever you'd like.
8. ASCII Art protocol, or "Gee, this is neat, can I show my friends?"
ASCII art IS neat, and it's great to get it in the mail. Kids (and
the kid in all of us) enjoy watching it download, as the picture takes
shape right before our eyes. Though I can only speak for myself, I
don't mind at all when pictures are "shared" with others. Some of my
pictures have been to many different countries, on many other
continents, and that tickles me. Though tastes differ, appreciation
of art is something everyone has in common, especially in such a fun,
unexpected form as ASCII art. What I do ask, though, is that my name
be left on the picture. If you KNOW the source of the art, include
the artist's name. It's not enough to put in a line that says, "yes,
it's stolen."
There have been times in the past that I've received my OWN artwork
back in e-mail to me, along with a note that says, "See, you're not
the only one who can do this stuff..." Even more irritating is seeing
my own picture with credit given to someone else. This stuff may not
be as "important" as some great literary work, but ASCII artists DO
spend an hour or more on each picture to make something that will give
others pleasure. Give them credit.
9. Printing up ASCII Art -- or "Eww. Why does this look so bad on paper?"
Why is it when we print up this ASCII art it looks sort of squatty?
One reason is that the "characters per inch" is different on the paper
than it is on the screen. In old "typewriting" terms, "Pica" print is
ten characters to the inch. "Elite" print is twelve characters to the
inch. The screen is fairly close to "elite," the default pitch of
many printers is closer to "pica." The printer will print the
line character by character rather than inch at a time. The
difference isn't much, but when the picture is six inches wide, that
means when it's printed, it'll be seven and a half inches wide. Thus,
the "squatty" look. To correct it, when you print out the work,
change the default pitch to something that is closer to the size on
the screen. If you play with it enough, it'll work out.
The second reason ASCII art may look a little strange on paper is that
it may have been created for a dark rather than a light background.
(Paper is light. :) For instance, if I create a picture, using the
@##@ characters as highlights, it's easy for you to see that on a
white piece of paper, those characters are actually DARK, not light.
The solution is to either 1) keep in mind HOW the picture will be
seen. If your picture will be seen mostly printed up, work on a light
background with dark characters while you're creating it. 2) Hand
the picture to a child to color. They can fix anything. :)
My canvas... (I put a + in the center):
=====================================+====================================
=====================================+====================================
File: academy/tutorials/tut_quinn.txt
https://www.ludd.ltu.se/~vk/pics/ascii/junkyard/techstuff/tutorials/Shawn_Quinn.html
From: skquinn@brokersys.com (Shawn K. Quinn)
Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art
Subject: GIFSCII.EXE for DOS
Date: 31 May 1996 13:01:26 GMT
In message <Ds7Dnr.9E8@sig.net> - Shane Hall <browpin-shane@web-access.net> wri
tes:
:>Does anyone have any tips or tricks for using GIFSCII? It has no docs and
:>no built-in help. It offers 3 prompts: name of gif, columns and lines.
:>The author told me to hit ENTER at the last 2 prompts and then I will get
:>a menu to View, Save and other things. I never get this menu.
The way I remember it, it goes like this:
Start the program, give it the name of a GIF. It will then prompt you for
number of columns and rows, and should give you this table:
Lines Columns Lines Columns
Spec. Spec. Output Output
----- ----- ----- -----
0 0 GH/10 GW/6
0 C C*GH/GW*.6 C
L 0 L L*GW/GH/.6
L C L C
This means (1) Gifscii will default to giving you one ASCII row for each 10
GIF rows, and one ASCII column for each 6 GIF columns, (2) if you specify
only a number of columns or rows, it will default to keeping the same aspect
ratio when figuring out the other value, and (3) if you specify both it will
make an ASCII picture of exactly that size.
NOTE: any GIF wider than 480 columns or taller than 240 rows WILL NOT FIT on
an 80x24 screen if you accept both defaults! This includes ANY 256-COLOR GIF
that fills the screen or comes close in SVGA resolutions! Whip out your
calculator if needed to figure out what to tell the program.
Then comes the tricky part. You'll get this prompt:
(v)iew (zZ)oom (s)ave (lrud)=Pan (i)nvert (h)elp (cC)cont (bB)bright:
These describe the options. These do pretty much the same as ASCGIF,
unfortunately, I don't think that came with docs either. Typing in an "h"
will show a help screen. Most of the options let you tweak the way the
conversion is done so it will hopefully show up better. Be prepared to alter
the GIF after conversion in case it doesn't quite look the way you had hoped.
I really wish the authors would not rely on the source code comments to
effectively document the program the way some do. Some people don't even
download the source code. I do if there's no doc file, because I know better.
Of course if there are no comments in the source code, that's a problem too...
SKQ
File: academy/tutorials/tut_stark.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/20071028135413/http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/howto.htm#programs
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
How I Make these ASCII Pictures
and Links to Other Tutorials
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
FAQ's About Creating ASCII Art:
1) Do you need any special programs or software to make ASCII Art?
2) You've heard of programs that make ASCII art- do they work?
3) How long have I been creating ASCII Art images?
4) What were my first ASCII art creations?
5) How much time do I spend on making just one ASCII art picture?
6) How do I make the characters "fit together"?
7) Aren't ALL keyboard characters "ASCII"?
8) Are there other ASCII Art tutorials online?
9) What suggestions do I have for aspiring ASCII Artists?
10) Do I have too much free time on my hands?
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
1) Do you need any special programs or software to make ASCII Art?
The answer is "NO". All you need is a text editor with a fixed-width font.
Examples of fixed-width fonts are: Courier, FixedSys, and any others where
the following two lines of letters are the same length:
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
I don't have any "secret programs" or "magic software". I've created
these ASCII pictures by using Windows notepad, my keyboard ( and monitor
obviously ), my imagination, and plenty of inspiration. That's it. I
create these pictures by free-hand.
Essentially I sit at the keyboard and type. The more I do, the faster and
easier it becomes. Some images come from models (usually one of my kids'
toys), pictures in books and magazines, or from my imagination. I can only
make a picture when I feel inspired to do so. Not every day is a creative
day.
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
2) You've heard of programs that make ASCII art- do they work?
As you may have noticed, there are different styles of the ASCII art. I
typically make the "line-ASCII art". Others, like Allen Mullen and The
Dutch Dude make "solid-style ASCII art".
.-. .-. . .
.--' / \ '--. ..###' '###,.
'--. \ _______ / .--' '####; .ooooo. ;####'
\ \ .-" "-. / / '##, .o8P"""""Y8o. ,##'
\ \ / \ / / '##, 88' '88 ,##'
\ / \ / '##8' '8##'
\| .--. .--. |/ '#8 ,o. .o, 8#'
| )/ | | \( | 8 8 888; :888 8 8
|/ \__/ \__/ \| 8P '88' '88' Y8
/ /^\ \ P 8 'Y
\__ '=' __/ b 888 d
|\ /| `8b d8`
|\'"VUUUV"'/| 88'"88888"'88
\ `"""""""` / 8 `"""""""` 8
`-._____.-' `8ooooooo8`
jgs / / \ \ ,##' '##,
/ / \ \ ,##' '##,
/ / \ \ jgs ,##' '##,
,-' ( ) `-, .#####, ,#####.
`-'._) (_.'-` `##' '##`
LINE STYLE SOLID STYLE
There are converters available to turn GIF and JPG files into ASCII art.
The results are usually solid-style --but even so, you still have to do
quite a bit of work with them to make them look good. If you want to give
it a go anyways, check out conversion programs.
There is a PicText Service online that will convert GIF images into
ASCII... results are OK-- not ideal. As example, see an ASCII image of me
in comparison to the original GIF graphic---> jgs
There is *ONE* conversion program that works well-- that is FIGlet! If
you want to write your name in a fancy ASCII'fied font, this is the place
to go: FIGlet Service. Also, check the alt.ascii-art FAQ for Internet
locations to download your own copy of the program.
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
3) How long have I been creating ASCII Art images?
I've been around the USENET's <alt.ascii-art> newsgroup since November '95
and I've been making the ASCII pictures since July '96.
I first saw ASCII art in the summer of 1995 and was intrigued by it. My
immediate thought was that there were people in this world who had too much
time on their hands! Nonetheless, I was amazed at what I saw. I tried
to collect as much of the ASCII art as I could. Then when I found
Scarecrow's archive, and saw the immensity of it, I gave up and decided to
try to make the ASCII images instead.
I had been lurking on the alt.ascii-art newsgroup and saw many
requests--most which were never filled. At that point I chose to create
the ASCII art pictures to respond to the requests.
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
4) What were my first ASCII art creations?
My first ASCII Art creations were letters that spelled out my screen name
-- and I added a little fish and a swimmer.... Here it is:
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooojgs
__~~ _- ~~ -~~~-_/\O_~~ ~~__~~ _-~_ __
/ \ ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo| | / /
/ /\_\ | _ \ | | | | | \ | | | | / / /
\ \_ | | \ \ | | | | | \ | | | |/ / <')=<
\_ \ | |_/ | | | | | | | \| | | < \`
__ \ \ | __/ | | | | | |\ | | | |\ \ Spunk1111
\ \/ / | | | |__| | | | \ | | | \ \@juno.com
\__/ |_| \______/ |_| \_| |_| \_\@aol.com
It's not very good, IMO -- but it was a start. Playing around with making
letters helped me to figure out how the ASCII characters fit together. I
don't remember how long it took to make.
I stopped making the letters once I found out about "FIGlet". FIGlet is a
program that creates the ASCII art letters for you -- all with a click of a
button! Try it yourself! FIGlet Service
The first big picture I made was of a dragon-- it took about a week to
complete- When it was finished, I sent it to the alt.dragons ASCII art
page (http://www.dragonfire.org/) - and they put it at the top! I was
"published"! From then on, I was hooked on the ASCII art!
~ Fire-Breathing Dragon ~ 7/96
___
.~))>>
.~)>>
.~))))>>>
.~))>> ___
.~))>>)))>> .-~))>>
.~)))))>> .-~))>>)>
.~)))>>))))>> .-~)>>)>
) .~))>>))))>> .-~)))))>>)>
( )@@*) //)>)))))) .-~))))>>)>
).@(@@ //))>>))) .-~))>>)))))>>)>
(( @.@). //))))) .-~)>>)))))>>)>
)) )@@*.@@ ) //)>))) //))))))>>))))>>)>
(( ((@@@.@@ |/))))) //)))))>>)))>>)>
)) @@*. )@@ ) (\_(\-\b |))>)) //)))>>)))))))>>)>
(( @@@(.@(@ . _/`-` ~|b |>))) //)>>)))))))>>)>
)* @@@ )@* (@) (@) /\b|))) //))))))>>))))>>
(( @. )@( @ . _/ / \b)) //))>>)))))>>>_._
)@@ (@@*)@@. (6, 6) / ^ \b)//))))))>>)))>> ~~-.
( @jgs@@. @@@.*@_ ~^~^~, /\ ^ \b/)>>))))>> _. `,
((@@ @@@*.(@@ . \^^^/' ( ^ \b)))>> .' `,
((@@).*@@ )@ ) `-' (( ^ ~)_ / `,
(@@. (@@ ). ((( ^ `\ | `.
(*.@* / (((( \ \ . `.
/ ((((( \ \ _.-~\ Y, ;
/ / (((((( \ \.-~ _.`" _.-~`, ;
/ / `(((((() ) (((((~ `, ;
_/ _/ `"""/ /' ; ;
_.-~_.-~ / /' _.-~ _.'
((((~~ / /' _.-~ __.--~
(((( __.-~ _.-~
.' .~~
: ,'
~~~~~
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
5) How much time is spent on making just one ASCII art picture?
That first large dragon picture took a week to make-- However, as I create
more ASCII art graphics, they take less time to make... Usually, I spend
about 20 minutes on each... a little longer for larger ASCII art, less time
for smaller ones. I can create the picture quickly if I can envision the
image beforehand, . At times, I see lots of things in "ASCII"--- it's at
those instances that I have a creative spurt!
Remember that this website has been a labour of love which has lasted
several years-- there is no way that I could create all of these pictures
in one sitting!
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
6) How do I make the characters "fit together"?
Playing around with the characters on the keyboard really helps...
For instance, the following characters can create a gradual slope:
_,.-'"^`
To change the degree of the slope, you can either add more characters, or
delete... of course keeping in mind the "look" of whatever it is that you
are trying to create.
a more gradual slope: __,,..--""^^^
a steeper slope: _.-"
.-"
Look at the individual ASCII characters-- you'll notice that they are
located in various typographical locations. The periods, commas, and
underscores are at the bottom of the character space. The hyphen, equal
sign, and the plus sign are found in the middle of the space. The
apostrophe, quotation marks, and caret sign are located at the top portion
of the character space. The asterick and the tilde characters are either
in the middle or the top of the space-- depending upon which fixed-width
font you use.
Deciding which character to use often depends upon the desired 'feel' of a
picture. However, I've found that some of the characters are
"inter-changeable", such as:
" and '
. and ,
- and =
Sometimes it is very helpful to look at the ASCII art pictures created by
the different artists. You'll be able to see just how that person handled
curves, lines, slopes, and details.
I've added a really neat online ASCII art experience. If you have Internet
Explorer 4+, you can give this a try. The text characters can be dragged
onto a grid in order to create an ASCII art image. There is template to
follow if you wish-- or just go freestyle!
ASCII ART HOW-TO --- GRID
:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
7) Aren't ALL keyboard characters "ASCII"?
No-- ASCII is an acronym for American Standard Code for Information
Interchange. There are only 94 ASCII characters (95, if you include the
space)-- these are the ones that are typically found on the standard
American keyboard:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789
< > [ ] { } ( ) ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * _ + | - = ; : " ' ` ? \ / . ,
(space)
It is possible to make non-ASCII characters with your computer. Some
examples of non-ASCII characters are the British pound-sterling, the
copyright symbol, fractions, and the accented characters. These should NOT
be included in ASCII art images because they are not standard from one
computer system to another. One computer may interpret the character code
accurately-- another computer may not. Believe me, it can make for a
pretty bad ASCII art image!
I know that America Online users have "macros"-- proportional-font text
art. These macros often contain non-ASCII characters. This will work on
AOL because AOL users are all using the same America Online network. mIRC
often uses the non-ASCII characters too (fixed-width fonts though) This
works on mIRC because that is how the system is designed. Presently, the
Internet is not as standardized. In conclusion, it is best not to use the
non-ASCII characters in any international email/USENET posting.
If you have any questions about font, characters, or ASCII/non-ASCII,
please refer to the alt.ascii-art FAQ or my 'What is ASCII Art?' webpage
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
8) Are there other ASCII Art tutorials online?
There are several ASCII Art tutorials available... but, IMO, they don't
help unless you've tried your hand at it first. Keep in mind that ASCII
artists have their own 'style'. Accordingly, the tutorials differ in
regard to the type of ASCII drawings.
Daniel Au's Tutorial
Susie Oviatt's Tutorial
Rowan Crawford's Tutorial
Normand Veilleux's Tutorial
Targon (Ed Wisniewski)'s Tutorial
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
9) What suggestions do I have for aspiring ASCII Artists?
My suggestions for budding ASCII artists are the following:
look at as many ASCII pictures that you can
identify how the characters are used in those pictures
duplicate an "already-made" picture -
copy it line by line or section by section
modify an existing picture
start small- perhaps doodle and see what it looks like,
and go from there
use a model or picture as a guideline
read the tutorials and the FAQs
post your pictures for critique
(or send them to a friend for critique)
keep at it and have fun... <--- most important!
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
10) Do I have too much free time on my hands?
Too much free time on my hands?? That's a funny one! _ _
As a mother of four kids, I can testify that I hehehehe (.)(.)
don't have excess time! However, I will confess that \ / () \
my laundry pile is larger than it ought to be! _ \ '--' / _
Laundry time has taken a backseat to ASCII art { '-`""""`-' }
time. ASCII art is a hobby-- most people have `"/ \"`
hobbies. ASCII art is mine. Usually I create this \ /
ASCII art late at night when the kids have gone to _/ /\ \_
bed. I try not to spend my life in front of the j { / \ }
computer. Really! `"` `"`
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
[Guidelines For Using this ASCII Art ][-=[ GO ]=-]
to main pageSearch this site
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
File: academy/tutorials/tut_targon.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/19990501044414/http://users.inetw.net/~mullen/tarteach.htm
Note: some of the directions apply only to the GEnie computer service.
Punch Art is not as hard as you would think if you prepare your canvas
first. Here are some tips that might help.
1. I start my canvas by selecting this topic from aladdins j
screen and selecting R to reply.
2. When the reply screen is open I draw a line from the left
boarder to one space from the right boarder.
3. Then I hit return 20 times and draw another line at the
bottem of the screen.
(like so)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(press return) { use the space bar to move the cursor to here !)
(press return)
(repeat above 20 times) (you are doing this because the cursor
can not be moved where it has never
been before.)
(bottom line)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Then I return the cursor to the first line and use the
space bar to move the cursor to one space from the end of the line.
5. I use the arrow key to move the cursor down to the next
line. It will automatically go to the beginning of the line. I then
use the space bar to move it to one space from the end of the line.
6. I repeat this until I reach the line I drew at the bottom
of the canvas.
Once this is done your canvas is ready. You can now use the arrow
keys to move your cursor anywhere you want and you are ready to
begin your drawing.
7. To draw on the canvas, I press the insert key to go into
typeover mode. This is important so that when you enter characters,
your cusor does not insert spaces.
8. If you make a mistake and want to erase a character just
use the arrow key to move the cursor back to the character and use
your space bar to erase it. (Do not use the backspace key or the
delete key to correct mistakes. They will change the spacing)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
TIPS
If you are drawing an animal or a person, start with the eyes then
the nose and the mouth. Then draw the head. You will be able to
judge the size the body needs to be from the head.
Get familiar with the position of the following keys on the screen.
[ ] ( ) . ` , ' ; : \ / | " ^ < > - _ = ! ~
Notice that they have all been typed on the same line, however they
are positioned at different hights. You can use combinations of
these keys to draw angles, slants, and sometimes circles.
\ / \_ `-._ (increasing the
\ / \_ `-._ amount of the _
\ / \ can change the
angle.)
`----.______
`------
,----.
," ",
" "
" "
`. ,'
`----'
The following keys make good eyes, fingers, or toes.
o O 0 ( ) c C
eyes ----> 0 0 or (0) (0) or o o or (o) (o)
toes -----> Oooo or Cooo
If you get to the bottom line of your canvas and your picture is not
finished, you can expand the canvas by hitting enter as many times
as you need and using the space bar to prepare the canvas as you did
when setting it up.
If you cannot complete your drawing in one setting, type control k
and then w. A window will open and ask you for a file name. Name the
file. Then type ctrl a to abort the reply.
When you're ready to resume the drawing, open the reply window from
the j screen, then type control k and then r. When prompted for a
file name, enter the name of your picture. It will be loaded back
into the reply screen and you can continue.
You can also use the above method to save a blank canvas after you
prepare one. Then you don't have to make a new canvas for every
drawing.
Remember that every key on the key board can be used. Some of them
make good shading keys. Such as @@@@@@@@@ or ######
@@@@@@@@@ #####
@@@@@@@ #####
Don't be afraid to try different key combinations. If they don't
work, experiment.
Don't worry about pictures that don't work. I have many failures. It
dosn't take long to realize you can't make a drawing work. I just
give up on them.
File: academy/tutorials/tut_veilleux.txt
http://www.ascii-art.de/info/tut_veilleux.txt
Normand Veilleux's ASCII Art Tutorial
From: Normand Veilleux <nveilleu@emr1.emr.ca>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 12:18:52 -0500 (EST)
Several people have asked me how I do what I do (smoothing out
pictures, etc.) First, I would like to say that I am a complete
beginner myself. I had no drawing experience before Dec 11, 1993.
At that time someone posted an ascii picture of Meriday (a
professionally drawn nude, I think). I found that picture a lot
more appealing than the GIFs I have seen or the mainframe pictures
from my University years. Those tend to be hard the eyes from
close up.
Anyway, when someone else posted another nude that (I'm guessing
here) was a cleaned up GIF. I immediately saw there was lots of
room for improvement and I decided to give it a try. The only
tools I had at my disposal were a PC with WordPerfect. The big
advantage I saw with WP was that I could toggle between a normal
view of the picture and a reduced version since WP allowed me to
view a full page of text at once on the screen.
In reduced format the text is actually transferred in graphics so
that an '8' would actually appear as a black square. This gave the
picture a rough look; the edges were all jagged. But, by
experimenting with various character changes I soon realized that
I could smooth out those jagged edges. I spent a lot of time
flipping back and forth between the normal and the reduced views.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. When I changed the font from
"Courrier 10" to "Line Printer 16.67 cpi" for the LaserJet printer,
I noticed that the jagged flaws appeared even more pronounced.
This is why you'll see me mention once in a while that "the
drawings I post are at their best when printed with 'Line Printer
16.67 cpi' font or equivalent." They were worked on using that
font. They still look very good in a regular font
though. That's the beauty of it all.
I still do the same thing now, only a little faster. It is a time
consuming process and I see potential to automate some, if not a
large portion of it. I have asked a few people on the NET if they
knew of any software that could lighten or darken an ascii picture,
reduce or enlarge it, etc. So far, no luck.
I took a 15 hour bus ride (double it for the return trip) during
the Christmas holidays up to Kapuskasing where my parents live. So
I had some time to think about things. I came up with pseudocode
for a program to lighten and darken a picture automatically. That
is, if the picture is dark, it will lighten it and vice versa
without any cumbersome parameters of any sort. It's extremely
simple when you think about it for 3 to 4 hours. I haven't had the
chance to program any of it yet but given a week or two it will be
implemented.
I also wrote pseudocode for flipping a picture horizontally, and
for reducing and enlarging one. These were not quite as simple but
it looks like it can work. If any of you out there know of
programs that do just that already please let me know ASAP. You'll
save me a lot of time.
Thank's a million.
I hope these "tips" have entertained as much as enlightened you.
Like a person I use to listen to on radio often said "When I learn
something during the day I go to bed at night less ignorant."
And so it has been for me a joy to learn how to draw.
From: Nveilleu@emr1.emr.ca (Normand Veilleux)
Date: Sat Jan 08 16:08:26 CST 1994
I have received a few requests to explain the "logic" behind the
smoothing. So far I have only explained what tools I use to create
it (flipping back and forth from normal to reduced view in
WordPerfect). I will try to give here the same explanation I gave
the first student who asked. Since I did not save that discussion
this one will be slightly different.
The whole thing is visual as you could have guessed. So, the best
way I know to show you what I mean is by giving an example:
Take this Doesn't this
for example look smoother?
8 8
88 Yb
88 Yb
888 Y8a,
88888 `"Y888
BTW, that reminds me of a quote I saw not too long ago: "A truly
wise person does not play leapfrog with a rhinoceros" :-)
I consider the "smoothing problem" as nothing more than a "weight
distribution problem". By shifting up the pixel density of an 8
with characters such as P, Y, ", etc., where necessary, and by
shifting down the pixel density of an 8 with characters such as b,
d, a, etc., where necessary, the graphic takes on a smoother look.
May sound simple when it's explained like that but I don't know
where to start to program it. I'll start with easier stuff first,
like flipping a picture horizontally. That's kids stuff. I used
a semi-manual technique when I had to flip my ascii face around.
The picture I had drawn was a mirror image, so it had to be flipped
to look right. I created two small macros (less than 10 commands
each) in WordPerfect which did the bulk of the work. After that
all I needed to do was about 20 global search and replaces. It
took about 5 - 10 minutes total. It would have taken hours to
retype it in reverse or to write a program to do it.
Since I don't have access to a scanner, but I sometimes want to
take a picture from paper and draw it in ascii I developed a GRID
technique to help me out. Anyone who wants to give it a try needs
to create the grid electronically and then print it. Here is how
it works. Start with the following grid:
1.2.3.4.5.
2.A.B.C.D.
3.E.F.G.H.
4.I.J.K.L.
5.M.N.O.P.
The dots can actually be replaced by spaces, so create the grid
using your preference.
Then, copy the whole grid horizontally until you fill all the width
of the paper size you want to use. And then, copy this new grid as
many times as needed to fill the length of the page. You will end
up with something along these lines (with spaces):
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D
3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H
4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L
5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D
3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H
4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L
5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P
Now, get a printed copy of that grid and put it aside for a bit.
BTW, this technique works best with pictures that are about 1/4 of
an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. Larger pictures can also be done but
are cumbersome and time consuming. That is how I created three
ascii pictures so far: the hand that showed "that close", the ying
yang, and my own face. The toughest thing about the face was to
draw it on paper first.
At this stage you need to find a picture that is reasonably simple
in terms of complexity :-) In other words not too detailed; the
coarser the better. Something taken from a colouring book would
probably be an excellent choice (although I have not used any
myself yet). You may need to "modify" the picture so that it will
also "cooperate" to the process (especially if taken from a
photograph or other source).
With a photocopier, enlarge or reduce the picture so that it is
close to the best size (as stated above). Then, use a wide black
marker to "highlight" the lines and contours (this may not be
necessary if the picture came from a colouring book). If there is
a background image that you want to remove, just cut and tape white
paper over those areas or just cut out the undesired areas. This
is important since the "junk" you would otherwise leave in would
eventually interfere with the grid.
When the lines are all really dark and just about all the
background has been removed you can photocopy the new picture on
the grid. You may have to experiment a few times to get the
picture to come out the same as the original on an upside up grid.
When you have such an image you can now bring up the electronic
grid. Work at it from left to right and from top to bottom. Put
your word processor on typeover and space over the characters of
the first line until you get to a character that is partially or
completely covered by a dark line on the paper grid. Use the 1 to
5 and the A to P to locate the correct position. When you get to
such a character, try to find a character that resembles the shape
of the line and type that in. Ex: '8' for a character that is
totally covered, 'a' for a character that has the bottom half
covered, etc. This is actually starting the smoothing process at
the same time you are converting from paper to screen. Remember
that shading complicates things unnecessarily, so ignore it
completely.
Repeat this process for all the lines of the grid until the picture
is completely transferred to electronic form. You don't need to be
an artist do this. You just need to have some time on your hands.
Of course at this point the ascii picture is still slightly rough,
but at least you have the right proportions, etc. Now you could
try to smooth it out by using the "weight distribution" technique
described above and perhaps a printed version of one of the ascii
pictures I have smoothed (for concrete examples).
It may sound very complicated at first, but just to give you an
example, the ying yang I did (a few people informed me that I had
forgotten the eyes):
.,ad88888888baa,
,d8P""" ""9888ba.
.a8" ,ad88888888888a
aP' ,88888888888888888a
,8" ,88888888888888888888,
,8' (888888888( )888888888,
,8' `8888888888888888888888
8) `888888888888888888888,
8 "8888888888888888888)
8 `888888888888888888)
8) "8888888888888888
(b "88888888888888'
`8, (8) 8888888888888)
"8a ,888888888888)
V8, d88888888888"
`8b, ,d8888888888P'
`V8a, ,ad8888888888P' Normand
""88888888888888888P" Veilleux
""""""""""""
took just over half an hour using that technique. I hope a few of
you will be interested enough to try it out. If you do, let us
know how it goes.
EXPERIMENT: Would someone with access to a scanner and the
GIF2ASC program (or an OCR) try the following:
take a picture from a colouring book, scan it and
then convert it to ascii. Alternatively, tell your
scanner that what you are scanning is text, if you
have an OCR. I am under the impression that the
results would be quite presentable. Of course,
sometimes theory and practice differ considerably.
Please post your findings.
From: Normand Veilleux <nveilleu@emr1.emr.ca>
Date: 27 Jun 1994 20:26:35 -0500
I have seen several ascii versions of the Mona Lisa circulating in
alt.ascii-art but I was not happy with any of them. They all
appeared to be converted GIFs and even the best one, which was
distinctly superior to all the others, only looked decent when I
stood back at least 5 feet from it. It also had the drawback of
being stretched vertically. So I decided to make my own.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to give a concrete example
of how the special grid technique that I use, accelerates and
simplifies the creation of many ASCII drawings. I wanted to
explain, as much as possible, what was involved in drawing by
"hand" the ASCII version of a relatively complex picture while
starting from scratch.
I have described the grid technique in a previous post (in Jan.
'94), but a recapitulation is necessary before going any further.
Basically, the grid was nothing more than a series of characters
that filled up the area taken by the drawing. I realized that the
characters composing the grid would be more useful if they were
chosen to help pinpoint where a particular portion of the drawing
was located within the grid.
There was many ways of doing this, but I opted for the following
rectangle (10 x 5 characters):
1.2.3.4.5.
2.A.B.C.D.
3.E.F.G.H.
4.I.J.K.L.
5.M.N.O.P.
This rectangle was then replicated horizontally and vertically
until an area the size of an 8.5" x 11" page was filled up. I
later decided to replace the periods by spaces to "lighten" the
grid. This created an electronic grid which looked like this:
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4
2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C
3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G
4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K
5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4
2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C
3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G
4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K
5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O
The characters 1 to 5 produced horizontal and vertical guidelines.
With these guidelines, I could quickly locate the approximate area
of the grid that I wanted to work on. To pinpoint the exact
location, I relied on the letters A to P which appeared only once
inside each rectangle.
Of course, the electronic grid alone was not very useful until I
could somehow relate it to the drawing. To do so, I printed out
the grid and then photocopied it on an acetate for reusability.
Then, whenever I wanted to work on a picture, I taped a photocopy
of it to the back of the acetate and brought up the electronic grid
on the screen. By the intermediary of the grid, I automatically
had a relationship between the picture on paper and the screen.
TIP: If you ever print a grid on an acetate, make sure to cover the
acetate with clear tape afterwards to prevent your fingers
from eroding the toner. I learned the hard way.
Now, back to Mona. You may find the discussion a little difficult
to follow at times without a picture, so either find a copy of the
Mona Lisa or print out this file.
In search of a decent reproduction of the Mona Lisa I went to the
closest library and found an excellent example on page 25 of the
book "Leonard de Vinci" published by McGraw-Hill in 1974. The
picture measured about 9.5" x 12" and was in full colour.
Next, I photocopied the picture. The lowest darkness setting gave
the best result, but was still a little bit too dark in certain
areas to distinguish some of the lines. Before addressing that
problem, I decided to cut the photocopy so that the resulting
picture could fit in 55 lines by 78 columns. This was
approximately double the height of the head and was wide enough to
show a large portion of both shoulders.
To make the barely discernable lines more visible, I highlighted
them with a blue pen. I made sure to draw those lines about one
sixteenth of an inch thick so they would be clearly visible.
Experience had taught me that very fine lines were often too
difficult to distinguish from a dark background once the grid was
superimposed on the picture. The affected lines were: the lines
between veil and hair, hair and background, chin and throat, and
the lines on each side of the face and on each side of the arched
garment extending to her left shoulder (referred to as the shawl in
the rest of this document). While I was at it, I also highlighted
the contours of the lips, nose and eyes in the same manner. I then
taped the touched up photocopy behind the acetate which had the
grid.
The next step was to load the electronic version of the grid in my
favourite word processor (WordPerfect). Before starting work, I
decided to represent the dark areas of the picture with an "8" (I'm
sure you guessed that), the shawl with an "I" and the veil with an
"8" if it was covering any hair and with an "I" if it was not (or
to show its border in the hair). I chose those characters since
they contrasted very well: it was easy to distinguish a line of
I's in an area filled with 8's.
Then, I determined which character of the acetate corresponded to
the top of her left shoulder and located that character on the
electronic grid. While holding the acetate in my left hand and
marking my position on it with my thumb, I delimited the contour
(only one character wide) around the bottom of the picture (counter
clockwise) up to her right shoulder by replacing the characters of
the grid with 8's except for the ends of the shawl which needed
I's.
I then continued up the picture, line by line, while overwriting
the grid's characters with spaces until I got to the first
character delimiting the border of Mona's hair or veil, as
determined from the acetate. At that point, I typed one of four
characters: "8", "d", "`" or "," depending on which one
corresponded best to the dark portion of the picture at that
location on the acetate. I then typed two more 8's and a space;
just enough to define the contour. Of course, when I was in the
area where the veil was the first thing to be reached I used I's
instead of 8's.
I repeated that process for each line until I reached the top of
the head. There, I decided to follow the inside line of the hair
while going down the right side of the picture. So, I first
started by defining the hair line on the forehead and filling the
top of the head with 8's. Then, starting at the inside line for
the hair I typed 8's until I reached the other side of the hair and
then added a "b" or a "," if necessary. I also made sure to drop
an "I" along the way at the exact location where I had shown the
veil to start covering the hair (it was a blue line on the
photocopy). I continued this, line by line, until I reached the
top of the shawl.
So, half an hour after loading the grid I was at this stage:
_______
_,,ad8888888888bba,_
,8888888888888888888888888,
,888888888888888888888888888888,
,8888888888888888888888888888888888,
d88888PP"""""""YY888888888888888888888,
,88 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 ""Y8888888888888,
,II 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E IIII8888888888,
,II 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J `888III8888888,
,II P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N `888888I888888,
,II 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 `888888I8888b
,II C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 8888888I8888,
II8 G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H `8888888I888b
II8 K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 88888888I888
II8 O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 88888888I888,
II8 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 ,888888888I88b
,II B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 8888888888I888
II8 F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 8888888888I888,
,II J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 8888888888I888b
II8 N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 88888888888I888
II8 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 88888888888I888,
II8 B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 88888888888I888b
II8 F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 88888888888I8888,
II8 J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 88888888888I8888b
II8 N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 88888888888I88888
II8 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 88888888888I88888
`II B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 88888888888I88888
II8 F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 8888888888I888888,
`II J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 8888888888I888888b
`II O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 8888888888I8888888
`II 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 `888888888I8888888,
II8 D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 888888888I88888888,
,II G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H `88888888I888888888,
II8 K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 88888888I8888888888,
II8 O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 88888888I888888888888,
,II 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 `8888888I88888888888888,
II8 C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 8888888I888888888888888b
,II F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 ,8888888I8888888888888888
,88 J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J I
,88 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N I
,88 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 I
,88 C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B I
,88 G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F I
d88 J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J I
8 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N 8
8 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 8
8 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B 8
8 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F 8
8 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J 8
8 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N 8
8 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 8
8 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B 8
8 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F 8
8 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J 8
8888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII88888888888888888888888888888888
Here, it seemed appropriate to fill in the shawl with I's which
automatically led to filling in the bottom right corner with 8's
and adding my name. I then completed the small portion of hair at
the top of the shawl. Then, I defined the upper portion of the
garment, beside the veil, and filled in the section below that with
8's. Next, I filled the rest of the hair (on the left side of the
picture) with 8's while defining the hair's inside line. I also
filled in, with spaces, the area of skin from the top of the
garment up to the throat. Next, I drew the veil on the forehead
and filled in the rest of the forehead with spaces. And finally I
smoothed all the lines drawn so far, leaving the face for last.
So, after one hour of work I was at this stage:
_______
_,,ad8888888888bba,_
,ad88888I888888888888888ba,
,88888888I88888888888888888888a,
,d888888888I8888888888888888888888b,
d88888PP"""" ""YY88888888888888888888b,
,d88"'__,,--------,,,,._ ""Y8888888888888,
,8II-'" "```IIII8888888888,
,I88' `Y88III8888888,
,II88I `Y88888I888888,
,II888' `888888I8888b
,II8888 Y888888I8888,
II88888 `8888888I888b
II88888, 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 88888888I888
II88888I 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 88888888I888,
II88888' 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 ,888888888I88I
,II88888 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D d888888888I888
III88888, 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 8888888888I888,
,III88888I 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 8888888888I888I
III888888I 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 88888888888I888
II88888888, 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 88888888888I888,
II88888888I A B C D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 88888888888I888b
]I888888888, E F G H 3 E F G H 3 E F G H 88888888888I8888,
II888888888I I J K L 4 I J K L 4 I J K L 88888888888I8888I
II8888888888b N O P 5 M N O P 5 M N O P 88888888888I88888
II888888888888a 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 88888888888I88888
`II8888888888888b, D 2 A B C D 2 A B C D 88888888888I88888
II888888888888888ba,_ E F G H 3 E F G H 8888888888I888888,
`II88888888888888888b I J K L 4 I J K L I888888888I888888b
`II88888888888888888 M N O P 5 M N O P I888888888I8888888
`II8888888888888888 `888888888I8888888,
II8888888888888888, Y88888888I8888888b,
,II8888888888888888b `88888888I88888888b,
II888888888888888P"I 88888888I8888888888,
II888888888888P" ` Y8888888I88888888888b,
,II888888888P" `8888888I8888888888888b,
II888888888' 8888888I888888888888888b
,II888888888 ,8888888I8888888888888888
,d88888888888 d888888I8888888888IIIIIII
,ad888888888888I 8888888I8888IIIIIIIIIIIII
,d888888888888888' 888888IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
,d888888888888P'8P' Y888IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
,8888888888888, " ,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
d888888888888888, ,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
888888888888888888a, _ ,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII888888888
888888888888888888888ba,_d' ,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII88888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888bbbaaa,,,______,IIIIIIIIIIIIIII888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIIII888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII88888888888888888888888
888888888888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII88888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII8888888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII88888888888888888 Normand 88
88888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII8888888888888888888 Veilleux 88
8888888888888888888888888888888IIIIIIIIIIIIII88888888888888888888888888888888
I found the shawl to be much too pale in comparison to the rest of
the garment, so I tried replacing the I's with darker characters
such as M, H, A, etc. Unfortunately, even though I could see the
difference on the screen reasonably well, I could not see any
difference between those characters and the surrounding 8's when I
used the reduced view feature of WordPerfect. I have been using
this feature to view an entire page at a time on the screen. It's
only when I tried a 'Z' that I was able to distinguish between the
two characters in the reduced view. So, 'Z' had my vote.
I then worked on the face for about half an hour, defining the
mouth, nose, eyes, etc. I tried my preferred style first, but it
looked awful so I tried line draw instead without any more success.
Nothing seemed to work, so I reverted back to my preferred style of
ASCII drawing and to be true to it I did not add any shading to the
face.
This was how the picture looked at that stage:
_______
_,,ad8888888888bba,_
,ad88888I888888888888888ba,
,88888888I88888888888888888888a,
,d888888888I8888888888888888888888b,
d88888PP"""" ""YY88888888888888888888b,
,d88"'__,,--------,,,,._ ""Y8888888888888,
,8II-'" "```IIII8888888888,
,I88' `Y88III8888888,
,II88I `Y88888I888888,
,II888' `888888I8888b
,II8888 Y888888I8888,
II88888 `8888888I888b
II88888, .aag, ,gaaP"" 88888888I888
II88888I ___"b d" ____ 88888888I888,
II88888' <^I88>I I <^I888' ,888888888I88I
,II88888 . `""" I I `""" . d888888888I888
III88888, ```` b '''' 8888888888I888,
,III88888I 8888888888I888I
III888888I , \, 88888888888I888
II88888888, I' "I 88888888888I888,
II88888888I `"baad"' ,88888888888I888b
]I888888888, ,P88888888888I8888,
II888888888I "Y88bd888P" ,d" 88888888888I8888I
II8888888888b `""""" _,8" ,88888888888I88888
II888888888888a _,P"' ,d88888888888I88888
`II8888888888888b, _,d"' ,aP"88888888888I88888
II888888888888888ba,__,,ad"" _,aP" 8888888888I888888,
`II88888888888888888b"ba,,,,aadP"' I888888888I888888b
`II88888888888888888 `""""' I888888888I8888888
`II8888888888888888 `888888888I8888888,
II8888888888888888, Y88888888I8888888b,
,II8888888888888888b `88888888I88888888b,
II888888888888888P"I 88888888I8888888888,
II888888888888P" ` Y8888888I88888888888b,
,II888888888P" `8888888I8888888888888b,
II888888888' 8888888I888888888888888b
,II888888888 ,8888888I8888888888888888
,d88888888888 d888888I8888888888ZZZZZZZ
,ad888888888888I 8888888I8888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,d888888888888888' 888888IZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,d888888888888P'8P' Y888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,8888888888888, " ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
d888888888888888, ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
888888888888888888a, _ ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888
888888888888888888888ba,_d' ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888bbbaaa,,,______,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888
888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ8888888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888 Normand 88
88888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ8888888888888888888 Veilleux 88
8888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888888888888
Since I could not seem to improve the face, I decided to try and
experiment with shading to see if that could help. Well, it did
not turn out the way I thought it would: the shading was too pale.
So I ended up losing half an hour to get to this stage:
_______
_,,ad8888888888bba,_
,ad88888I888888888888888ba,
,88888888I88888888888888888888a,
,d88888888I88888888888888888888888b,
d88888PP""" """YY88888888888888888888b,
,d88"'__,,--------,,,;:::""Y8888888888888,
,8II:'" .,:.":::IIII8888888888,
,I88:. ...::::::Y88III8888888,
,II88I:. :..:::::Y88888I888888,
,II888'.. :.:...:::::888888I8888b
,II8888. .::::::Y888888I8888,
II88888: .:::::::8888888I888b
II88888; .aag, ,gaaP""... .:.::::::88888888I888
II88888I:::::::"b d":::::;;::, :..:::::88888888I888,
II88888'::<^I88>I I::.<^I888' ..:.::;888888888I88I
,II88888 . `""" I I:.. `""" . ..:.::d888888888I888
III88888, ```` b;. '''' ..:.:::8888888888I888,
,III88888I :. ..:.::::8888888888I888I
III888888I , :, :::.::::88888888888I888
II88888888;: I' "I :.:.:::::88888888888I888,
II88888888I:. `"baad": .:::.::::88888888888I888b
]I888888888;:.:. :.:..:.:: ..:.:.:::::88888888888I8888,
II888888888I:. ."Y88bd888P" ..::.::::::88888888888I8888I
II8888888888b::. `""""'.:.:.:.::.::::::;88888888888I88888
II888888888888a:. :::::.:. .:,aP:::::;d88888888888I88888
`II8888888888888b;. ..::.;aP":::::;aP:88888888888I88888
II888888888888888ba,__,,aP"::::::;aP::::8888888888I888888,
`II88888888888888888b"ba;;;;aadP":::::::I888888888I888888b
`II88888888888888888 .:::::::::::::::::I888888888I8888888
`II8888888888888888 .::::::::::::::..`888888888I8888888,
II8888888888888888, ..::.:::::.:.. Y88888888I8888888b,
,II8888888888888888b .::..:.. `88888888I88888888b,
II888888888888888P"I ..:. 88888888I8888888888,
II888888888888P"::.` Y8888888I88888888888b,
,II888888888P".::: `8888888I8888888888888b,
II888888888' 8888888I888888888888888b
Later, I decided to give line drawing another chance and started
working on the face with no shading. I managed to get a decent
looking nose in about 5 minutes so I continued and slowly but
surely the rest of the face took on a new look that was much better
than anything obtained so far. It took about half an hour of trial
and error to get to this:
_______
_,,ad8888888888bba,_
,ad88888I888888888888888ba,
,88888888I88888888888888888888a,
,d888888888I8888888888888888888888b,
d88888PP"""" ""YY88888888888888888888b,
,d88"'__,,--------,,,,._ ""Y8888888888888,
,8II-'" "```IIII8888888888,
,I88' `Y88III8888888,
,II88I `Y88888I888888,
,II888' `888888I8888b
,II8888 Y888888I8888,
II88888 `8888888I888b
II88888, ---. ..----- 88888888I888
II88888I _,,_ `. .' _,,_ 88888888I888,
II88888' <'(@@> | | <'(@@> ,888888888I88I
,II88888 `""" | | `""" d888888888I888
III88888, ` 8888888888I888,
,III88888I 8888888888I888I
III888888I , ', 88888888888I888
II88888888, (_ _) 88888888888I888,
II88888888I `--' ,88888888888I888b
]I888888888, ,P88888888888I8888,
II888888888I "Y88bd888P" ,d" 88888888888I8888I
II8888888888b `""""" _,8" ,88888888888I88888
II888888888888a _,P"' ,d88888888888I88888
`II8888888888888b, _,d"' ,aP"88888888888I88888
II888888888888888ba,__,,ad"" _,aP" 8888888888I888888,
`II88888888888888888b"ba,,,,aadP"' I888888888I888888b
`II88888888888888888 `""""' I888888888I8888888
`II8888888888888888 `888888888I8888888,
II8888888888888888, Y88888888I8888888b,
,II8888888888888888b `88888888I88888888b,
II888888888888888P"I 88888888I8888888888,
II888888888888P" ` Y8888888I88888888888b,
,II888888888P" `8888888I8888888888888b,
II888888888' 888888I8888888888888888b
,II888888888 ,888888I88888888888888888
,d88888888888 d888888I8888888888ZZZZZZZ
,ad888888888888I 8888888I8888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,d888888888888888' 888888IZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,d888888888888P'8P' Y888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,8888888888888, " ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
d888888888888888, ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
888888888888888888a, _ ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888
888888888888888888888ba,_d' ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888bbbaaa,,,______,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888
888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ8888888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888 Normand 88
88888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ8888888888888888888 Veilleux 88
8888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888888888888
I decided to consider this the final unshaded version.
Now, the question remained: would it be worthwhile to add in the
shading? I showed the unshaded version of the picture to a friend
who is a graphic designer. It didn't take him long to mention
shading as the next step. I showed him the first attempt
(displayed above) and admitted that I had no idea how to improve
it. He suggested using a printed copy of my unshaded picture and
drawing the shading on it first, before attempting to draw it on
the computer.
Well, that almost discouraged me right there. Drawing simple stuff
on paper was not a problem, but when it came to shading I didn't
have a clue how it could be done. He helped by pointing out that
I could start by drawing the outer edge of the faintest shading as
though it were a regular object. I could then define another line
that would represent the "middle ground" of the shading. He
suggested not to use more than 2 or 3 different levels of shading.
So off to the drawing board I went.
I did not keep all the stages of the shading, but suffice to say
that it took about twice as much time then all the rest of the
picture. This was the final result of the shaded version:
_______
_,,ad8888888888bba,_
,ad88888I888888888888888ba,
,88888888I88888888888888888888a,
,d888888888I8888888888888888888888b,
d88888PP"""" ""YY88888888888888888888b,
,d88"'__,,--------,,,,.;ZZZY8888888888888,
,8IIl'" ;;l"ZZZIII8888888888,
,I88l;' ;lZZZZZ888III8888888,
,II88Zl;. ;llZZZZZ888888I888888,
,II888Zl;. .;;;;;lllZZZ888888I8888b
,II8888Z;; `;;;;;''llZZ8888888I8888,
II88888Z;' .;lZZZ8888888I888b
II88888Z; _,aaa, .,aaaaa,__.l;llZZZ88888888I888
II88888IZZZZZZZZZ, .ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ;llZZ88888888I888,
II88888IZZ<'(@@>Z| |ZZZ<'(@@>ZZZZ;;llZZ888888888I88I
,II88888; `""" ;| |ZZ; `""" ;;llZ8888888888I888
II888888l `;; .;llZZ8888888888I888,
,II888888Z; ;;; .;;llZZZ8888888888I888I
III888888Zl; .., `;; ,;;lllZZZ88888888888I888
II88888888Z;;...;(_ _) ,;;;llZZZZ88888888888I888,
II88888888Zl;;;;;' `--'Z;. .,;;;;llZZZZ88888888888I888b
]I888888888Z;;;;' ";llllll;..;;;lllZZZZ88888888888I8888,
II888888888Zl.;;"Y88bd888P";;,..;lllZZZZZ88888888888I8888I
II8888888888Zl;.; `"PPP";;;,..;lllZZZZZZZ88888888888I88888
II888888888888Zl;;. `;;;l;;;;lllZZZZZZZZW88888888888I88888
`II8888888888888Zl;. ,;;lllZZZZZZZZWMZ88888888888I88888
II8888888888888888ZbaalllZZZZZZZZZWWMZZZ8888888888I888888,
`II88888888888888888b"WWZZZZZWWWMMZZZZZZI888888888I888888b
`II88888888888888888;ZZMMMMMMZZZZZZZZllI888888888I8888888
`II8888888888888888 `;lZZZZZZZZZZZlllll888888888I8888888,
II8888888888888888, `;lllZZZZllllll;;.Y88888888I8888888b,
,II8888888888888888b .;;lllllll;;;.;..88888888I88888888b,
II888888888888888PZI;. .`;;;.;;;..; ...88888888I8888888888,
II888888888888PZ;;';;. ;. .;. .;. .. Y8888888I88888888888b,
,II888888888PZ;;' `8888888I8888888888888b,
II888888888' 888888I8888888888888888b
,II888888888 ,888888I88888888888888888
,d88888888888 d888888I8888888888ZZZZZZZ
,ad888888888888I 8888888I8888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,d888888888888888' 888888IZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,d888888888888P'8P' Y888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
,8888888888888, " ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
d888888888888888, ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
888888888888888888a, _ ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888
888888888888888888888ba,_d' ,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888bbbaaa,,,______,ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888
888888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ8888888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888 Normand 88
88888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ8888888888888888888 Veilleux 88
8888888888888888888888888888888ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ88888888888888888888888888888888
As you can see, the grid system that I have been working with since
January '94 allows to very quickly transfer the large details from
paper to screen while keeping the proportions of the original
picture. This eliminates a lot of the time-consuming
experimentation otherwise required to get the right proportions.
You can't go wrong with the grid: the characters that compose it
allow you to "see" where you should start and where you should
stop. The skills required to use it are fairly simple as well,
although they do need to be practiced. One thing the grid cannot
do though, is eliminate the experimentation needed for the
finishing touch: the smaller details, the smoothing, the shading,
etc.
---<-<@ ---<-<@ ---<-<@ ---<-<@ ---<-<@
A big thank you goes to Rowan Crawford who spent time revising an
earlier draft of this document and who provided many useful
suggestions to improve its contents.
The pictures I post are at their best when printed with a
'Line Printer 16.67 cpi' font or equivalent.
___ _______
,88888, ,d88888888a
,88" `Y8, ,88"' `"Y8i ,ggggg, ,ggggg, ,ggg,,ggg,,ggg,
I8b, `8b ,88' d8I dP" "Y8ggg8""""8I ,8" "8P" "8P" "8,
`Y8P 88.88' ,88' i8' ,8I 8I I8 8I 8I 8I
(8V8' d8P I8, ,d8' Y8,,dP 8I 8I Yb,
(88P ,8P `Y8888P" `Y88P' 8I 8I `Y8ba
d88 d8'
,88' ,8P _,,ggdd888bbgg,,_
d8P I8I _,gd8888P"""""""""Y8888bg,_
,88 I8b _,gd88P"""' `"""Y88bg,_
88' `Y8b,__,gd8P""' Normand Veilleux `""Y8bg,_
d8P `Y88888P"' nveilleu@emr1.emr.ca `"Y88ba
|