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.
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   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
oglesbee@
      mail.fullnet.net


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
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