how do I learn

How does one learn to produce ascii art  (ie what font to use, what
size, etc..)  Just the basics to get started

Thanks

In alt.ascii-art, John Reich  <jre...@cisco.com> wrote:
> How does one learn to produce ascii art  (ie what font to use, what
> size, etc..)  Just the basics to get started

You can find some good stuff by doing a google search for 'ascii art FAQ'.

In general, unless you use a fixed width font things will only look
good for you. After that the only significant choice is serifed versus
san-serif. Fonts like "Courier" have heavy serifs which can change
the shade a character looks. Definitely a problem if you try to do
grayscaled images. For line drawing in ascii, it is less of an issue.

The best way to start, I think, is to do ascii art like bitmaps or
counted-cross-stitch: start out with a blank box and fill it in with
Xs where ever you want a mark. From there start considering how
character shapes influence things:

        XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX        P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7
        X                 X        [                 ]
        X    DRAFT   1    X        [   DRAFT   2     ]
        X       BOX       X        [      BOX        ]
        X                 X        [                 ]
        XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX        L_________________J

Elijah
------
can encode bitmaps to hex in his head

Look at the ascii art you like and take note of how the artists used
characters. Then find a very simple line drawing and see what you can
do with it. You can even start with your name, just see how you can
create it using characters on the keyboard. 

I prefer the Fixedsys font for all my ascii. I work with it and I use
it to show the art on my webpages. Its a heavy font but tends to work
well. I think its the most commonly used font for ascii. 

I started making ascii on on the sig-list. The people on the list were
very helpful and encouraging. You can find it at Yahoo Groups now.
http://www.yahoogroups.com/list/sig-list

Good luck and give yourself a chance to make a few duds before you
like what you create. :)

Laura
http://www.geocities.com/theshedragon/

On Tue, 03 Apr 2001 09:33:35 -0800, John Reich <jre...@cisco.com>
wrote:

>How does one learn to produce ascii art  (ie what font to use, what
>size, etc..)  Just the basics to get started
>
>Thanks
>

  ------------------------------------------------
                        |>          ...for you are
                       /_\       crunchy and taste
  (        |\/|    ._._|_|_._.      good dipped in
   ) .---._(qp)    |_|_|#|_|_|          chocolate.
  (_(_,_(_,-^^         ((
  ______________________))_____________________ldb

> The best way to start, I think, is to do ascii art like bitmaps or
> counted-cross-stitch: start out with a blank box and fill it in with
> Xs where ever you want a mark. From there start considering how
> character shapes influence things:
>
>         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX        P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7
>         X                 X        [                 ]
>         X    DRAFT   1    X        [   DRAFT   2     ]
>         X       BOX       X        [      BOX        ]
>         X                 X        [                 ]
>         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX        L_________________J

And everybody consider that using the ~ char produces very different results
in different fonts.
Some fonts show the ~ near the top in a row like f.x. the " char , while
others show it in the middle of the row like the - char.

Some of the ascii's on the webpage that Henry Segerman mentioned in the post
"Classsic ascii pics" are all shown on my computer with ~ in the center of the
row like - , but were clearly designed to be displayed near the top.

This is very obvious on the map of the world - ascii.

I tend to avoid using ~ or I only use it in situations were either way ( top
or center placement ) would look fine.

- CJ

--
Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes. :)