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TUTORIAL - ASCII ART


Don't forget to try our new Animated ASCII Art (beta)

From: cfbd@southern.co.nz (Colin Douthwaite)

PLEASE NOTE:  Questions should be addressed to the original author,
              Daniel Au, whose address is included below:


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                      Make a Start in Ascii Art

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From: dcau@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Daniel Au)
Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art,rec.arts.ascii
Subject: Talk/Line: How to begin doing ASCII artwork
Date: 4 Oct 1995 15:47:46 -0500
Message-ID: <44urti$ng8@miso.wwa.com>


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>            | |------------,
    |  ||_  Subject: FAQ - ASCII Art Questions & Answers

Subject: FAQ - ASCII Art Questions & Answers (4.9.2 - 58 K)

Summary: what ASCII art is - why and what it's used for - types of
         ASCII art how to use FTP, Gopher, WWW - how to save,
         'uudecode' and uncompress copyright info - how to make big
         letters and gray scale pictures how to put an animation in
         your .plan - info on posting ASCII art how to make sigs -
         how to automatically add a sig to posts and email how to
         make and view ASCII art - where to get art and tools - more



26  Where is this FAQ available?
--------------------------------


o FTP Sites:


->  Host: rtfm.mit.edu
    Path: pub/usenet-by-group/rec.arts.ascii
    File: FAQ_-_ASCII_Art_Questions_&_Answers_(*.*_-_*_K)
     URL: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/rec.arts.ascii

->  Host: src.doc.ic.ac.uk
    Path: pub/usenet/news.answers/rec.arts.ascii
    File: FAQ_-_ASCII_Art_Questions_&_Answers_(*.*_-_*_K)
     URL: ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/usenet/news.answers/rec.arts.ascii


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tutorial.ascii.uk
888           888                  d8b        888 
888           888                  Y8P        888 
888           888                             888 
888888888  888888888 .d88b. 888d888888 8888b. 888 
888   888  888888   d88""88b888P"  888    "88b888 
888   888  888888   888  888888    888.d888888888 
Y88b. Y88b 888Y88b. Y88..88P888    888888  888888 
 "Y888 "Y88888 "Y888 "Y88P" 888    888"Y888888888 
                                                  
                                                  
                                                  
 _         _             _       _ 
| |       | |           (_)     | |
| |_ _   _| |_ ___  _ __ _  __ _| |
| __| | | | __/ _ \| '__| |/ _` | |
| |_| |_| | || (_) | |  | | (_| | |
 \__|\__,_|\__\___/|_|  |_|\__,_|_|
                                   
                                   
                                                                    
                                                  88            88  
  ,d                  ,d                          ""            88  
  88                  88                                        88  
MM88MMM 88       88 MM88MMM ,adPPYba,  8b,dPPYba, 88 ,adPPYYba, 88  
  88    88       88   88   a8"     "8a 88P'   "Y8 88 ""     `Y8 88  
  88    88       88   88   8b       d8 88         88 ,adPPPPP88 88  
  88,   "8a,   ,a88   88,  "8a,   ,a8" 88         88 88,    ,88 88  
  "Y888  `"YbbdP'Y8   "Y888 `"YbbdP"'  88         88 `"8bbdP"Y8 88  
                                                                    
                                                                    

		

ASCII Character Codes:

t = ASCII 116

u = ASCII 117

t = ASCII 116

o = ASCII 111

r = ASCII 114

i = ASCII 105

a = ASCII 97

l = ASCII 108

Capitalised:

T = ASCII 84

U = ASCII 85

T = ASCII 84

O = ASCII 79

R = ASCII 82

I = ASCII 73

A = ASCII 65

L = ASCII 76