This tutorial is written by Jonathon R. Oglesbee
___ _ _ _ _ _
/ _`\ ( ) ( ) ( ) _ ( ) ( )_
| (_ (_) _ \`\_/'/__ _ _ | | ( ) | | _ _ ___ | ,_)
`\__ \ /'_`\ `\ /' _ \( ) ( ) | | | | | |/'_` )' _ `\ |
(~)_) ( (_) )_ | ( (_) ) (_) | | (_/ \_) ( (_| | ( ) | |_
\____)\___/( ) (_)\___/ \___/ `\__/^\__/'\__,_|_)_(_)\__)
)/
_____ _
(_ _) /'\_/`\ (_)
| | _ | | _ _| |/') __
| |/'_`\ | /V\ |/'_" ) , < /'__`\
| ( (_) ) | | | ( (_| | |\`\( ___/
(_)\___/ (_) (_)\__,_|_) (_)\____)
_____ _ _____ _ ___
(_ _) (_)_ ( _ ) (_)_ /__ \
| | __ | ,_) ___ | (_) |_ __| ,_|(_) ) |
| |/'__`(`\/') | (___)| _ ( "__) | / /
| ( ___/> <| |_ | | | | | | |_ |_|
(_)\____|_/\_)\__) (_) (_|_) `\__) (_)...
Part Two of a tutorial about ascii text-art.
Now that we have delved into castle construction with text-art,
in Part One, how about looking at some other kinds of pictures?
Automobiles might be a good thing to roll on to. Let's race on down,
and look at a simple car, to see how it's made:
_____ ... line 1 = _
___/ \____ ... line 2 = _ and / and \
|______________| ... line 3 = _ and |
(o) (o) ... line 4 = ( and o and )
... yep, that's a basic car shape. It's probably won't turn a
fast quarter mile, but it's good enough for a starting point. The
only characters we didn't use in our castle exercises, are the
letter "o" and the parenthesis. Since I imagine you know your alphabet,
let's do a little more, shall we?
______
___/ /_|__\____
|____|__|__|____)
(o) (o)
That wasn't hard, at all. I have really done nothing except put
in the doors and windows, and substitute a paraenthesis instead
of the "|" character for the front end of this auto. It's hardly a
work of art, but it is recognizable as a car; a four-door sedan, at
that. Try making a two-door on your own, and don't forget that you
can lengthen or shorten the whole car, if need be.
Now, let's see what we can do about making some better autos...
_________
____/ |___||__\_______
[ __ |- ||- \ __ |]
(__/()\_|___||___|_/()\_)
'..' '..'
Okay, it's ugly, but it might pass for a taxi cab, huh? I used five
lines, this time, and two new characters (three, actually): the - minus
character, and the two [ and ] brackets. The tires, as you can see, were
done by using nothing more than apostrophes and periods. The crude
fender wells go a long way towards making it look a little more like a
real car, don't you think?
How about a truck, made the same way? You shouldn't have any trouble
with that. Here's one of my own...
_________________
| Joe's /"""\
| delivery |____\_____
| ___ |- |___ [|
[__/ o \_______|____/ o \__)
'._.' '._.'
It's very similar to the taxi cab. The new character, is the
quotation mark. See what differences you can find between this, and
the car up above. Could you make an even bigger truck, this way?
Try it! How about something smaller, like a sports car?
____.-.___\______
/ __ |- \ __ '.
(_/()\_|_____/_/()\__)
'..' '..'
Well... maybe it does look a little more like an old Jeepster. You
go ahead and make a better sports car, on your own. I never cared very
much for two-seaters, anyway.
Let's look at a couple of different views of automobiles. Examine
each, and see how they were made:
_____________________
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\
// \\
//_______________________\\
/' / \ `\
/ / \ \
/__/___________________________\__\
|/| ____ ||||||||||||||||||| ____ |\|
|/|______|||||||DODGE|||||||______|\|
|/ || ||||||||||||||||||||||| || \|
/-------------------------------------\
'-------------------------------------'
|\_________________________________/|
| | | |
|_____| |_____| jro
My car doesn't have a horn. It says
=DODGE= on the front.
What new characters can you find in the above picture? Notice how I
used the slash characters, with ever widening spacing on each
consecutive line, to give the appearance of looking "up" the hood. It's
really no different from how we made the "road" leading up to the castle
in our first exercise, right?
Here's a better picture of a favorite old car of mine:
___ __
/ _ )__ ___________ ______ _____/ /_ _
/ _ (/ _`´/ __/ __/ _`´/ __/ |/ / _ / _`´/
/____)\___/_/ /_/ \___/\__/\___/\___/\___/
Built in Detroit. By heretics.
______________________
.'______________________'.
//| \_______ _|_ ______/ |\\
// /________ [___] _______\ \\
.-.//_/_________________.-""-._\_\\.-.
'.//______________________________\\.'
/ / |||| \ \
/ / |||| \ \
/ / |||| \ \
/ / |||| \ \
/___/________________||||________________\___\
/|__________________ |||| __________________|\
| .' `. ____ \ |||| / ____ .' `. |
| : : \__/ >||||< \__/ : : |
.\`.__.'_____________/______\_____________`.__.'/.
'__________________________________________________'
'.______________________________________________.'
|\ \______________/ \_______________/ /|
| '------------------------------------------' |
|______| |______| jro
Sorry, but I couldn't help re-creating the old ad-logo,
at the top. This car introduces some more new characters.
Did you find the ~ and the ` character in the Dodge above
it? They're in this one, too, along with the < and >
characters.
How about some rear views?
____ _______ __
/ ___|_ _\ \/ /
| | _ | | \ /
| |_| | | | / \
\____| |_| /_/\_\
.
________________________ |
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\|
()//________________________\\()
/_/________________________\_\
|| _______ GTX _______ ||
|||_______|_____.____|_______|||
|\______________________________/|
| |(_)----\____/----(_)| |
| |/ \| |
____|_____|____________________|_____|_____jro
____ _ _
/ ___| _ __ ___| | |___
\___ \| '_ \ / _ \ | / __|
___) | |_) | __/ | \__ \_ _ _ _ _ _
|____/| .__/ \___|_|_|___(_|_|_|_|_|_)
|_|
.
________________________ |
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\|
()//________________________\\()
/_/________________________\_\
|| _______ GTX _______ ||
|||_______|_____.____|_______|||
|\______________________________/|
(| |(_)----\____/----(_)|( |))
((|)) ))|/ \| )) | ))
__((|((_(_|))________________(_|_)_)_|)____jro
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
( | )/ \ _ _ __| (_) ___ __( | )
V V/ _ \| | | |/ _` | |/ _ \/ __| V
/ ___ \ |_| | (_| | | (_) \__ \
/_/ \_\__,_|\__,_|_|\___/|___/
____
_____( - )__
____( . ) )(( )_
__( ( . ( () ))) )__
(_. ( ((( ) . )) __)
(__ (- ()- ((( )__)
__( )) . (( - )_
__( ((. ((-. )) ) )_
(__ ( ( " .' ( ()__) ) )___
__( (. ( " ; . )) _--) ))))
(__(( (). (( () ) )__ " ) ___)
__( ( -; ) __( ((. ) - . )_
______(______(_______(___________)________)____jro
I guess you can color that car gone. Ever drive one?... nevermind.
Ignore the big, ascii letters for now - we'll get into those, later.
Look how I used the same basic clouds we discussed earlier, to make
that cloud of smoke. It's been spruced-up a bit, with some periods and
minus signs, but it's nothing more than a giant version of the same
clouds we used in the castle picture.
__
_( _)
(__)
__
_( _)
(___)
________________ ||
/________________\ ||
/__________________\||
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||
| | //\\\ | || ____
| |________( o_o )| || _____/TAXI\_____
|___________\ - /___|| //~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\
|__________/_\_/_\__|| // ))))) \\
/===================\| //_____ ___[|o o|]__\\
|___________________|/ //_/____\__/).-'-.(\__\\
| _ _ METRO _ _ | /_/__________@_________\_\
|(_)(_)|||||||(_)(_)| |(__) |||||||||||||||| (__)|
|[__] ||||||| [__]| |(__)[]__\||||||||/__[](__)|
(____________________) (____________________________)
| | | | | | | |
|__| |__| |__| |__|
Here's a taxi and a truck, taken from another cartoon of mine.
They aren't very realistic-appearing, but then they weren't supposed
to be. They're supposed to look silly, like the people in them.
Here's some other simple cars. Try making and improving some like
these, working up to larger and more detailed ones:
_______
/~~//~~||
____/__//___||_____________
()_() ____ | ____ |
<<<<|/.--.\ | /.--.\ =|
[___]| () |___|____/| () |\(]
`..`.__.' `..`.__.'
__ __ __
)(_)(_)(
/ .' __ '._()_\__ ___
||: / \ : """----...' _ `.__
\: \__/ :_______________| (_) |__>
`.____.' `.___.'
____ _
.' __ '._(_)__\ ___
: / \ : """----...' _ `.__
: \__/ :_______________| (_) |__>
`.____.' `.___.'
______
_____/o/____\_________
[ | \ __ \
(_______|______|__/ \__)
\__/ \__/
_
___________|_\_________
/ ____ |- \ ____ \
\_/ () \_|_____/_/ () \_/
`.__.' `.__.'
Try putting some of your new cars in a picture, as we
did with the castle in the previous tutorial...
/\ /\ /\ /\ /\
//\\ //\\ //\\ //\\ //\\
///\\\ ///\\\ ///\\\ ///\\\ ///\\\
|| || || || ||
@ @ @ @ @ @
\|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/ \|/
____________________________________________
.-----.
______/ |____\_________
[| ____ |- \ ____ |)
(__/ () \__|______|/ () \__)
'.__.' '.__.'
_____________________________________________
Cars and trucks are good practice for any text-artist.
They range from the simple, to the complex. I reccomend
you start small, and let your imagination make them grow
from there.
Now how about some common objects? Let's look at a few
of those...
_____________ .
/ / . |
/ /| |/|
/ /|| ___| |
/ / || / |/|
/____________/| /____|/|
|| || || ||__||||
|| || || ||||
|| || || ||
table and chair
(
(
)(
______________)
(__((_________()
smoke
_____.
~(_]---'
/_(U
six-shooter
___________________
/__________________/\
/ _______________ \|
|.' \ 12 '.||
|| 11\ / 1 |||
|| 10 \_/ 2 |||
|| 9 (_) 3 |||
|| 8 4 |||
|| 7 6 5 |||
|'._______________.'||
\___________________//
alarm
clock
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
| | | |
| | | |
| | [ ] ______________ [ ] | |
____ | | | | | | ____
|| | | | ________ | | | ||
|| | | | | | | | | ||
|| | | | |________| | | | ||
__|| | | | | | | ||___
|| | | | ________ |{o} | | ||
|| | | | | |()| | | ||
|| | | | |________| | | | ||
__|| | | | | | | ||___
| | | ________ | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | |________| | | |
______| |____________|______________|_____________| |________
| | / W E L C O M E\ | |
| | /________________\ | |
______|_|_________________________________________|_|________
@ /__________________\ @
________@_\|/@_____|__________________|__@\|/_@______
\|/ \|/ /____________________\\|/ \|/
|____________________|
front door
Perhaps you are wondering what's going on here, with all these
new and different pictures I am throwing at you. Just what is it
that I am doing, and how am I making all of these?
I'm really not doing anything except "outlining" simple objects
with text. Try this: look at an object in the room. A clock, a book;
even your computer screen. Outline the thing. You probably won't need
more than the _ and | characters, to start with. Once you have the
basic shape, you can go back and add other details; if you think it
needs them. Often, your first text-art picture of something may look
too simple, or just plain bad. Don't give up on it! All that it may need
is just a detail or two. Imagine that front door above, without the knob
or inset panels. It would be nothing but a box, right? But by filling in
those details, it looks like a door. Let's make a new one, together...
_____________
| |
| |
| |
| | Okay, we're calling it a door,
| | but it doesn't really look like
| | anything except a rectangle,
| | right?
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|_____________|
_____________
| _____ |
| |__|__| |
| |__|__| |
| | We'll add a little window, and
| | now it's beginning to look like
| | something...
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|_____________|
_____________
| _____ |
| |__|__| |
| |__|__| |
| | The addition of two panels
| _________ | makes it look more like a door,
| | | | indeed...
| |_________| |
| |
| _________ |
| | | |
| |_________| |
| |
|_____________|
_____________
| _____ |
| |__|__| |
| |__|__| | Add a knob...
| |
| _________ |
| | |O|
| |_________| |
| |
| _________ |
| | | |
| |_________| |
| |
|_____________|
_______________
| _____________ |
|| _____ ||
|| |__|__| ||
|| |__|__| || And a frame, and wallah! You
|| || have a door.
|| _________ ||
|| | |O||
|| |_________| ||
|| ||
|| _________ ||
|| | | ||
|| |_________| ||
|| ||
||_____________||
Nothing to it, see? It really does look like a door. Just don't
try to open it, or you'll smear fingerprints on your monitor.
Don't feel obligated to use the same characters I do. Could you
think of ones that might make suitable replacements? Or ones that
might work better? Look at these versions of the same door:
...............
H.............H
H .. .. H
H l..l..l H
H l..l..l H
H H
H ......... H
H l lOH
H l.........l H
H H
H ......... H
H l l H
H l.........l H
H H
H_____________H
_______________
: _____________ :
:: _____ ::
:: :__:__: ::
:: :__:__: ::
:: ::
:: _________ ::
:: : :Q::
:: :_________: ::
:: ::
:: _________ ::
:: : : ::
:: :_________: ::
:: ::
::_____________::
_______________
I _____________ I
II _____ II
II I__I__I II
II I__I__I II
II II
II _________ II
II I I0II
II I_________I II
II II
II _________ II
II I I II
II I_________I II
II II
II_____________II
Point here being, there is always more than one way to
make a door, or anything else. Use whatever you find most
asthetically pleasing, and don't be afraid to experiment.
Believe me, you WILL discover new ways of making things!
We started out with simple automobiles, tossing in a few
more complicated ones. None of them were terribly difficult,
however. Neither are any of the other objects we moved along
to. You don't need to be an artist to draw with text-art, as
I'm sure you're beginning to realize.
So far, however, all these pictures are reasonably angular.
Here's an example of the kind of picture that often confuses
beginner text-artists:
Northrop
XP-56
_
/ |
/ |`'.
.~~~\--.../_ |_-~'
/_\_.- ~-._.--~`-.
.-`. __..--~~` _.-~._~-.
( . :~(__) _.-~ : ~-.~.
.-~` '-.__ ~-------~_|~=,; ~
_~_.`~~~~ ~~--~~~~~~\ |.-`
~ jro \_|
There's a lot of little curves and angled lines in this picture
of an old experimental plane, isn't there? Don't dispair; here's a
few tried-and-true examples of lines and cirles, sent to me by a pal.
I think you'll find them useful when you want to make a picture that
needs curves and obliques in it:
: 6/1 3/1 2/1 1/1 2/3 1/2
: | J J J / .' .'
: | J | F / / .'
: | | F J / .' .' 1/3
: | | J F / / .' .-'
: | F | J / .' .' .-'
: | F F F / / .' .-' 1/4
: | J J J / .' .' .-' _.-'
: | J | F / / .' .-' _.-' 1/5
: | | F J / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--'
: | | J F / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' 1/6
: | F | J / .' .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' 1/7
: | F F F / / .' .-' _.-' _.--' __.--' __..--'
: _.-' _.--' __.--' __..--' 1/8
: _.--' __.--' __..--' __..--''
: __.--' __..--' __..--''
: __..--' __..--''
: __..--''
: -------------------------- 0
_____ __
.-' `-. ,dP""Yb,
.' `. ,d" "b,
/ \ d' _ `Y,
_ ; ; 8 8 `b
__ ,'" "`. | | `b,_,aP P
__ ,' `. / \ ; ; """" d'
.' `. / | | | \ / ,P"
_ | | | / \ / `. .' a,.__,aP"
o (_) `.__.' `.__.' `.___.' `-._____.-' `"""''
And a few others I also use, although I'm sure a hundred other
people do, too:
_.-~
_.-~
_.-~ __..--""
__..--""
__..--"" ___...---~~~
___...---~~~
___...---~~~
____
." ". ____
/ \ _____ .' '.
| | __ / \ : :
\ / / \ | | : :
'.____.' \__/ \_____/ '. .'
'----'
____
."_ _".
/ (_)(_) \
| . . |
\ \____/ /
'.____.'
Here's a thing or two you can do with them...
\ | /
'. ____ .'
"-.." "..-~
~~--../ \..--~~
------| __..--""-._--- __.--""--..__
___...---~~~ ~-._ .'
_.-~ `. _.-~
__..--~~ `.__..--~~
Sunset on the prairie... Look how many combinations of the
sample lines above, that I used to make the horizon.
."".
' ;
.''..' .' Silly shape... A kidney bean, perhaps?
. .'
'...'
The Martians_____________________________________
|* . . * _______________________ |
| . / To Antares with the \ . |
| * ' * / "mission", Base. Those \ *|
| | Earth Beings abducted | |
| * . ' | Zompflitz, and tried to | . |
| \ have SEX with him!!! / |
| ' . \_________ _____________/ . * |
| _.-'~~~~'-._ |/ |
| . _.-~\__/ \__/~-. . |
| .-~ (oo) (oo) ~-. |
| (______//~~\\__//~~\\_____) |
| _.-~` `~-._ |
| /O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O\ * |
| \___________________________________/. |
| \x x x x x x x/ `. |
| . * \x_x_x_x_x_x/. ' . ___ . |
| `. `. .'| \'. |
| `. . `. | \ / | |
| ' . * '.___.' |
|_________________________________________by_JRO__|
And an early text-art cartoon of mine. Not too good
a "Planet Earth", but the Martians' flying saucer is
acceptable, yes? In any cartoon, of course, it's mostly
the gag that counts, anyway.
I'm sure you can now see how easily I handled the lines
and curves in that small airplane picture I first showed you.
Cirles, curves, and obliques are no big deal. After looking
at a few examples, and giving it a try or two, I'm sure you'll
have it mastered.
Well, this about wraps it up for this second instalment.
I hope I've given you some new ideas, a few tools to work
with, and an increasing interest in making text-art. Practice
simple exercises, and work up from there. Soon, you'll find
yourself able to make a text-art picture of almost anything
you've seen or imagined. Remember - it's never as hard as it
looks!
__..\/
/\ \ \\ Keep typing!
/_/\_.___\ JRO
/\\~()\()~/\
\_ _) _/
\ //\\/ (((\
__/\ __ /\__ (\||||
/ \ \ / / \ \___/
/ \/\/\/ \ / /
| \ / \/ /
| | \/ __\ /
| | o \ /
| | o |\___/
| | o |
. . .
. . . .' .--.
'. . . . .' ________.'_.'_____.--.___
'. . . . .' ()_() ooo ~/ -.| "-._
'. . . . .' ((((<____ | | ____ = )
'. . . . .' .-' (__)/ () \___\_____|_/ () \__/)
. ' ______ .' .-' ___'.'.__.'_________'.'.__.'____
'-. .-~ ~-. .-' /
'-. .' '. .-' __/
_ . . _./
'-._ . . _.-' |
: : /
.-' . . '- .'
-' . . . .'
.' '. .' _.'
.' .' '__________'.-'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ /jro
~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~/
--
Jonathon R. Oglesbee