Original Usenet thread from alt.ascii-art, started 18 Aug 1998.
Attn artists: help...
alt.ascii-art
· 8 messages · 18 Aug 1998 - 20 Aug 1998
I love the artwork that appears in this newsgroup... it's way kool... but what I would like to know is how.... how do you do what you do and how do I learn to do it too?? please help.
FrEdDo. wrote: > > I love the artwork that appears in this newsgroup... it's way kool... > but what I would like to know is how.... how do you do what you do and > how do I learn to do it too?? please help. The following is an extract from the ASCII ART Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). The FAQ is posted to this group weekly; whenever you visit a Usenet group for the first time it's a good idea to `lurk' for a while, just reading all the postings, and with luck you will get to see the FAQ for the group posted. The full ASCII ART FAQ can be found at http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/art/ascii/ ---- 5. How do I draw my own ASCII art? ----------------------------------- You don't need a special program to draw ASCII art with. It can be drawn using any text editor, such as SimpleText or BBEdit in MacOS, Notepad in Windows, nedit, vi, or pico in Unix, BEd or AZ in AmigaOS, edit in DOS, or any of the various Emacs editors. You can use a word processor to draw ASCII art, but remember: (1) use a fixed-width font [see Question 4]; and (2) using any special formatting (bold/italic/coloured etc) is a waste of time, as it will be lost when you post the picture. There are some features of editors and word processors which can help when drawing ASCII art. * Overtype, also known as overstrike: removes the need for you to constantly realign characters using the Backspace, Space, and Delete keys. Try the Insert key if there is one on your keyboard, or look in your program's Options or Preferences. * Rectangular copy and paste: allows you to select rectangular sections of text (not just rows or parts of rows). On programs which have this feature, it is usually done by holding down a key such as Ctrl while selecting text. * Find/Change: allows you to change all the characters of one value to another (eg change all the ~s to "s). But before you start, a word about fonts. For ASCII art you should use a fixed-width font [see Question 4], because every type of computer system is guaranteed to have one, and that after all is one of the main reasons ASCII art exists -- because everyone can view it. Different fixed- width fonts do vary slightly in the height of the characters, but for most drawings this doesn't matter that much. DON'T try to post pictures drawn in a proportional-width (ie non-fixed-width) font: even if you specify the exact font you used, the chances of other people being able to read it are pretty slim (even `standard' proportional fonts such as Times New Roman can vary in width from computer to computer). The other thing to be aware of with fonts is the difference between serif and sans serif. Here's roughly how an `m' looks in both: __ __ __ __ __ |/ \ / \ |/ \ / \ | | | | | | | | | | | | _|_ _|_ _|_ | | | Serif Sans serif The serif version has little strokes, or serifs, at the end of most of the main strokes, while the sans serif version doesn't (sans means `without'). For example, Courier is a serif font, and Monaco is sans serif. This isn't often important, but if you're using a sans serif font, just remember to use the vertical bar (|, above \ on most keyboards) to draw vertical lines, and not the capital i (I), otherwise it will look weird for people using serif fonts. It also means that you should think carefully before using characters like L and 7 for various corners -- they won't always look that good with a serif font. One way to make drawing ASCII art easier is to type a row of spaces for however wide you want your picture, and then copy this row and paste it for however many rows high you think your art will get. Then turn overtype on, stick your cursor somewhere in the middle, and you're ready to draw. If nothing springs to mind immediately, start with the ASCII art equivalent of the stick figure: O /H\ Person / \ Fiddle with it, and see what you can do ... A _ o _ O Person wearing O` _O_ (< = Person about /H\ a dunce's hat /H\ Professor XHX Angel /H-' to eat a / \ / \ / \ / \ sandwich...? Gradually you'll be able to add things like scenery around the person: ___ ,---. / __\/---. ._, / \@-. -(_)- @ ' ` Person playing a banjo ,P while sitting against a d'O_, palm tree ... ____@/|/________ ::::@\O_,::::::: ::::::::::::mt-3 Draw your cat, your toaster, your musical instruments, your partner, anything that will sit still long enough -- practice makes, if not perfect, then at least pretty good. Whether you do small drawings (less work involved) or large ones (easier to make a drawing recognizable) is up to you. The things which give beginning ASCII artists the most trouble are usually diagonal lines and circles. Here are some lines of various angles: | | / ,' ,-' _,-' | .' / ,' ,-' _,-' | | / ,' ,-' _,-' __..--"" | .' / ,' ,-' _,-' __..--"" | | / ,' ,-' ,-' __..--"" _______________ And here are a few circular shapes: _____ __ .-' `-. ,dP""Yb, .' `. ,d" "b, / \ d' _ `Y, _ ; ; 8 8 `b __ ,'" "`. | | `b,_,aP P __ ,' `. / \ ; ; """" d' .' `. / | | | \ / ,P" _ | | | / \ / `. .' a,.__,aP" o (_) `.__.' `.__.' `.___.' `-._____.-' `"""'' The spiral is a good example of *anti-aliasing* -- using the particular shape of some characters (especially b, d, and P) to smooth the edge of a solid shape. A final point: don't use the Tab key. Pressing Tab will go along a certain number of spaces in your editor/word processor -- but that `certain number' is different for different newsreaders, editors, and so on, so your picture may suffer from what is known as `tab damage' when other people try to view it. Just use spaces instead. ---- And here's where you can find some tutorials: ---- 12. Where can I find more ASCII art? ------------------------------------ Lots of ASCII artists put up libraries of their own and others' ASCII art on their Web sites, as well as tutorials on how to draw ASCII art. Allen Mullen has links to many of these sites at http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2695/links.htm. ---- Hope this helps. -- .._o Matthew Thomas (mpt26 @ student . canterbury . ac . nz) ..://\/ http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/ (Site for sore eyes) ..:_/\ <-- If this looks a mess, change your font to Courier ..:/ PS: `Cool' does not have a `k' in it.
"FrEdDo." <hor...@mailcity.com> writes: >I love the artwork that appears in this newsgroup... it's way kool... >but what I would like to know is how.... how do you do what you do and >how do I learn to do it too?? please help. There are quite a few tutorials around on the web which will show you how slme people make their art. I'll post mine. And Someone will prolly post some more. :-) _____________How To Make Your Own Ascii Art_____________ 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. See "fonts.html" on my website for a page will tell you what they are, or ask me for the text version of the page via e-mail. Or if you can't wait that long, here's a quick test to see if you're using the right sort of font: Cut and paste the following two lines into wherever you intend to make your ascii: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm| iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii| If you're using the right sort of font, both the lines will be exactly the same length as each other. The '|' will line up with each other to form a vertical line. If the lines are different lengths you have the wrong font - play about with your font list until they look right. 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: - + Bottom: _ . , 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 ""^^``''**==--~~++,,.. /|\ flu...@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 from Nick Park and Ardman Animation's "Wallace and Gromit" is made up of very simple shapes - just ovals and circles, so I'll use him as an example. 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) | / __ \ | /# \ | | \__/ | \ / `.____.' --" "-- hjw oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo 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 http://users.inetw.net/~mullen/auteach.htm Rowan Crawford's http://users.inetw.net/~mullen/crateach.htm Joan Stark's http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/howto.htm -- _ _ _ _ _ _ (o\---/o) (o\-~-/o) (o\~~~/o) ( 6 6 ) ( , , ) ( 9 9 ) ____,~~.(_(T)_),~~.__,--.{_(Y)_},--.__,--.(_(T)_),--.____ | "--" "--" "--" "--" "~~" "~~" | |Hayley J. Wakenshaw (flump AT quadrant DOT xs4all DOT nl)| | Flump's Ascii Collection: http://www.xs4all.nl/~klr | | _,-. ,-._ _,-. ,-._ _,-. ,-._ | |__(ooO )__( Ooo)_____(ooO )__( Ooo)______(ooO )__( Ooo)__| ((_) ) ( (_)) ((_) ) ( (_)) ((_) ) ( (_)) "--" "--" "~~" "~~" "-~" "~-" i liked things better when i didn't understand them. - Calvin & Hobbes
Matthew Thomas <mpt...@spamfree.land> writes: >Hayley Jane Wakenshaw wrote: >> >>... [an ASCII art tutorial] >> > >By crikey, Hayley, your tutorial seems quite familiar ... can't think >where I might have read (or written) quite a lot of it before ... > >LOL :-) I *swear* didn't pinch any of it from your tutorial. In fact I don't think I'd even seen yours before I wrote mine! So if I _have_ plagiarised it wasn't on puropse! Eek! Which bits do you have a problem with anyway? >Don't worry, I'm not calling my lawyers :-). But you have made me think >about the FAQ version; perhaps it is a bit too technical-sounding. Maybe >I should `dumb down' the next version a bit ... although even 100 or so >kilometres away, I can hear Colin Douthwaite groaning at the very >thought. :-) When I was writing mine I had in my head all the time "would your average AOLer understand this?" If the answer was no I simplified what I was writing even more! ;-) /me is now off to read Matthew's tutorial to see which bits she might have (subconsciously I swear!) copied! -Hayley
Matthew Thomas <mpt...@spamfree.land> wrote: >Hayley Jane Wakenshaw wrote: >> >>... [an ASCII art tutorial] >> >By crikey, Hayley, your tutorial seems quite familiar ... can't think >where I might have read (or written) quite a lot of it before ... >LOL :-) >Don't worry, I'm not calling my lawyers :-). But you have made me think >about the FAQ version; perhaps it is a bit too technical-sounding. Maybe >I should `dumb down' the next version a bit ... although even 100 or so >kilometres away, I can hear Colin Douthwaite groaning at the very >thought. :-) Try 5 kilometres or so not 100...unless you are travelling the following route: Christchurch NZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** You are here + +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | + + + + +--+ + +--+ + + + + + +--+--+ + + + +--+ + +--+ + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +--+--+ +--+ + + +--+ + + + + +--+ + +--+ + + + +--+ + +--+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + + +--+ + + + + +--+ + + + +--+ + + +--+ + +--+ + +--+ + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + +--+ + + + + +--+--+--+--+ +--+ + + + + +--+--+ + + + +--+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + + +--+--+--+--+--+ + + + +--+ + + +--+ +--+ + +--+--+--+--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+ + +--+--+ + | | | | | | | | | | | | | + + + + + + + + + + +--+--+ + + + + +--+ +--+ +--+--+--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +--+--+ + +--+--+ + + + + +--+--+ +--+--+--+ +--+ + + +--+--+ + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + +--+--+ + +--+--+ + + +--+--+--+--+ + +--+--+ + +--+--+ +--+--+ | | | | | | | | +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ + I am here ** Bye,
Colin Douthwaite wrote: > > Matthew Thomas <mpt...@spamfree.land> wrote: > >... > > Don't worry, I'm not calling my lawyers :-). But you have made me > > think about the FAQ version; perhaps it is a bit too > > technical-sounding. Maybe I should `dumb down' the next version a > > bit ... although even 100 or so kilometres away, I can hear Colin > > Douthwaite groaning at the very thought. :-) > > Try 5 kilometres or so not 100...unless you are travelling the > following route: > > Christchurch NZ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >... Ah, well, i just assumed that @southern.co.nz meant Dunedin or Invercargill ... but now I see their office is in Christchurch. Oh well, I guess I'm even more likely to hear your groans then :-) -- .._o Matthew Thomas ..://\/ http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/ (Site for sore eyes) ..:_/\ <-- If this looks a mess, change your font to Courier ..:/ Linux. Because life is too short to reboot.
Wow! That's not just a tutorial on how to DRAW ascii art - it's a tutorial on
how to LOOK at ASCII art as well!
That's really great, Hayley!
-Shane
Hayley Jane Wakenshaw wrote: > >... [an ASCII art tutorial] > By crikey, Hayley, your tutorial seems quite familiar ... can't think where I might have read (or written) quite a lot of it before ... LOL :-) Don't worry, I'm not calling my lawyers :-). But you have made me think about the FAQ version; perhaps it is a bit too technical-sounding. Maybe I should `dumb down' the next version a bit ... although even 100 or so kilometres away, I can hear Colin Douthwaite groaning at the very thought. :-) -- .._o Matthew Thomas (mpt26 @ student . canterbury . ac . nz) ..://\/ http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/ (Site for sore eyes) ..:_/\ ASCII ART FAQ: http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~mpt26/art/ascii/ ..:/ Linux. Because life is too short to reboot.
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