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THE.ASCII.ART.EMPORIUM

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it will look different. On the Mac, it will have a greater aspect
ratio. In other words, it will be displayed shorter top to bottom.
Even though it contains the same number of lines.
This is an Aspect Ratio Scale:
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
-+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---->
|
| |
| To get the aspect ratio of |
| the screen you are viewing: |
| |
| ______ Measure the vertical line (at |
| the left) on your screen. |
| |
| Read off the same distance on the horizontal
-+- scale (above). That number is the aspect ratio.
Back to Index
/
__ How can I learn to make ASCII art? , O/
/ /_ ______________________________________________________ \/|
| _ \ |
\___/ _/ \_
Unfortunately, there aren't many text books on the subject. :-)
A good way to learn is to look at how an artist has made a picture. See
what characters are chosen. How are the characters laid out? How is a
texture made? Study whatever ASCII art you see in the group (or in archives).
Another good way is to modify existing art. Take a piece of art you think
could be improved. Make a copy. Now work on it. If you ruin it, make
another copy and have another go.
When you are good at that, try to improve a really good pic. Diddle a GIF
conversion. Then see if you can fix a damaged file. Now take some small pics
and put them together into a big composite image.
If you're working from scratch, the following may help you:
o Decide what you want. Block it out, guessing roughly where everything
should go. Then work out the sizes and proportions. Now is the time to
do it, not after all the detailing and smoothing has been done.
o Start adding the details. Concentrate on the focal point and important
parts of your drawing. Because ASCII art is a low definition medium,
you have to make the pic big if you want to be able to really smooth
it out or have a lot of detail.
o Be careful how much detail you try to pack into a picture. Take a tip
from master artists of the cartoon world, and just try to suggest
things, don't try to replicate them. Too much detail can end up looking
confusing.
o One of the biggest helps is knowing how to shape things. For example,
you can curve a horizontal line with just: _ - "
_____-------"""""""--------_____-------"""""""
Here's a wavy line by MJ:
.-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-.
`._.' `._.' `._.' `._.' `._.' `._.' `._.' `._.'
Here's Richard Kirk's DNA-like version:
.-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-
/ / \ \ / / \ \ / / \ \ / / \ \ / / \ \ / / \ \ / / \ \ / / \
`-' `-`-' `-`-' `-`-' `-`-' `-`-' `-`-' `-`-'
o Slanting vertical lines is easy:
This slanted This second This one is This really slanted line
line is simply line is made made using is made with the five
made with the / with , and ' , and - and ' characters , _ - ' "
/ ,' ,-' ,_-'"
/ ,' ,-' ,_-'"
/ ,' ,-' ,_-'"
/ ,' ,-' ,_-'"
/ ,' ,-' ,_-'"
/ ,' ,-' ,_-'"
Felix Lee made the following lines, saying "Each of these conveys a
different style, a different mood."
/ _/ ./ ,/ /' .' ,'
/ _/ ./ ,/ /' .' ,'
/ _/ ./ ,/ /' .' ,'