You can see my first try at making an ASCII Art garden gnome. That beard is a trial. Each time I try another idea he starts to look too much like an elf or Santa.
At first I had given him a circle for a nose. It looked good but I found he was leaning towards looking like a circus clown. So I changed it.
In the end, I saved him as he is. I will leave him that way. The next time I started over from scratch and its better, but still looks like it could be Santa Claus.