From: cfbd@southern.co.nz (Colin Douthwaite) PLEASE NOTE: Questions should be addressed to the original author, Daniel Au, whose address is included below: ==================================================================== Make a Start in Ascii Art ==================================================================== 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 ========================================================================