| 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".
.-. .-.
.--' / \ '--.
'--. \ _______ / .--'
\ \ .-" "-. / /
\ \ / \ / /
\ / \ /
\| .--. .--. |/
| )/ | | \( |
|/ \__/ \__/ \|
/ /^\ \
\__ '=' __/
|\ /|
|\'"VUUUV"'/|
\ `"""""""` /
`-._____.-'
jgs / / \ \
/ / \ \
/ / \ \
,-' ( ) `-,
`-'._) (_.'-`
|
. .
..###' '###,.
'####; .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`
88'"88888"'88
8 `"""""""` 8
`8ooooooo8`
,##' '##,
,##' '##,
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 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 computer. Really!
|
_ _
hehehehe (.)(.)
\ / () \
_ \ '--' / _
{ '-`""""`-' }
`"/ \"`
\ /
_/ /\ \_
j { / \ }
`"` `"`
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.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.
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