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Hi, I'm Jonathon R. Oglesbee, and I'll show you some of the simple
"mysteries" of text-art. Just don't call me an "artist". I'm not. At
best, I have been a hack cartoonist in the past... among other
things. I make cartoons in ascii (pronounced ask-ee... or better yet,
ass-key) for fun. I started doing it as a lark, but so many people
took an interest, that the response I recieved left me
speechless. I've stuck with it, in present-day computer form, for a
few long, lineal, loafing, lolly- gagging years - (words with an "L",
this time), and derived many hours of entertainment from cartooning
gags, using nothing but text-art. I'm not an are-teest. But maybe you
WILL be. So, if you are still interested, read on.
____________________________________________________
|____________________________________________________|
| __ __ ____ ___ || ____ ____ _ __ |
|| |__ |--|_| || |_| |||_|**|*|__|+|+||___| || | |
||==|^^||--| |=||=| |=*=||| |~~|~| |=|=|| | |~||==| |
|| |##|| | | || | |JRO|||-| | |==|+|+||-|-|~||__| |
||__|__||__|_|_||_|_|___|||_|__|_|__|_|_||_|_|_||__|_|
||_______________________||__________________________|
| _____________________ || __ __ _ __ _ |
||=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=| __..\/ | |_| ||#||==| / /|
|| | | | | | | | | | | |/\ \ \\|++|=| || ||==| / / |
||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_/_/\_.___\__|_|__||_||__|/_/__|
|____________________ /\~()/()~//\ __________________|
| __ __ _ _ \_ (_ . _/ _ _ _____|
||~~|_|..|__| || |_ _ \ //\\ / |=|_ /) |___| | | |
||--|+|^^|==|1||2| | |__/\ __ /\__| |(\/((\ +|+|=|=|=|
||__|_|__|__|_||_|_| / \ \ / / \_|_\___/|_|_|_|_|_|
|_________________ _/ \/\/\/ \_ / /__________|
| _____ _ __ |/ \../ \/ / __ ___|
||_____|_| |_|##|_|| | \/ __\ /=|_|++|_|-|||
||______||=|#|--| |\ \ o \_____/ |~| | | |||
||______||_|_|__|_|_\ \ o | |_|_|__|_|__|_|_|||
|_________ __________\___\_______|____________ ______|
|__ _ / ________ ______ /| _ _ _|
|\ \ |=|/ // /| // / / / | / ||%|%|%|
| \/\ |*/ //____// // /__/__/ (_) / ||=|=|=|
__| \/\|/ /(____|/ // / /||~|~|~|__
|___\_/ /________// ________ / / ||_|_|_|
|___ / (|________/ |\_______\ / /| |______|
/ \|________) / / | |
First, you need to get ready. For that, you are going to need very
little. Since you're probably reading this on-line, we will assume
that you have a computer, with a keyboard at your disposal, and so we
can dispense with the typewriter lesson (re- member typewriters?).
Besides a keyboard, you will also need a monitor, and a simple
text-editing program or word-processor. The simpler, the better. I
generally use Windows Notepad, myself. If you are using something
else, then I'd best mention a word or two about fonts.
"Fonts" are your character, or letter sets. You will need to
"select" a font that will work well to make your text pictures with. A
mono-spaced font is really the only thing to use. Fixedsys, Courier
New, Topaz New, Lucinda Console - these are all mono-spaced
fonts. That means that each character takes up the same amount of
space. A font such as Garamond, Arial, or just plain Courier
doesn't. If you make a picture using that kind of font, then it will
appear skewed on any system that isn't displaying the same font you
used to make the picture. If you use a mono-spaced font, you won't
have these kinds of problems. So, if you are going to use a
text-editor that allows you to pick your font, pick one that will
work! If you're using something like Windows Notepad, it likely
already uses a mono-spaced font, and you won't have to worry about
this.
That's the main thing you need to know about fonts, but I better
mention one other tip you'll need to know. That's about which letters
and numbers are the good ones to use, for making ascii text-art. It's
best to just stick to those characters you probably see, right there
on the keys of your keyboard. There are some other interesting
characters, often called "alt" or "extended" characters, which are
usually made by holding down the "alt" key and typing in a
number. There are some really neat ones, but it's best if you steer
away from those things.
Now we'll begin, with a simple, step-by-step tutorial of how to
make a castle. Maybe you have seen some neat text pictures of castles
or buildings, and been impressed by them. Well, let's just see about
that...
| and _ <---- those are two useless-looking characters on
your keyboard, aren't they?
Here's a thing or two you can do with them. Let's make some of those
bottom-line things, three spaces apart...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
<---- they just don't look like
much, do they?
Well, let's make some |'s, with _'s between every other one...
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| <----- looks kind of like... nothing,
huh?
Now, let's put the two separate lines together, like this....
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _