How to Make ASCII Art Pictures with Keyboard Keys

I make ASCII art. I started in 1998 and I still take time to type out a picture now and then. Usually, the holidays inspire me to get creative with the keyboard. Making art is a nice change from using the keyboard to type out word and sentences.
How to Make ASCII Art Pictures with Keyboard Keys

Finding Notepad on a Windows Computer

Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Notepad

Click Start or the Windows graphic at the bottom left on your computer.… Read the rest

Is ASCII Art Open Source?

Some people get peeved because I don’t offer my art in a plain text file. I don’t like having my ASCII ripped off, as it so often and easily is. So, for the past few years, I only post an image file (a .png screen capture from NotePad usually). It still gets ripped off because people like to assume any ASCII art is free, like free software in price and availability.… Read the rest

You Don’t Need an ASCII Art Generator

Don’t be afraid to make your own ASCII art. Of course it won’t look just as you imagine, or want, right away. Mine didn’t. There are still ideas I start working on and end up deleting because they just aren’t working out. If something still has hope, I keep it. The point is, don’t get discouraged too easily.… Read the rest

What is the process of making ASCII art?

Quoted from my answer on Quora:

I open Notepad (on a Windows PC) and start working on an idea. It’s like a puzzle to fit the characters together in a way that creates an image.

Some inspiration comes from searching for images or those I find. I look for clean lines so it will be easier to adjust when I need to figure out the spaces, characters, slopes for lines, and so on.

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How to Create ASCII Art (Text Pictures) with Your Keyboard

How to Create ASCII Art (Text Pictures) with Your KeyboardWhether you know it as ASCII art or didn’t know a proper name for all that text art made with standard keyboard characters, you can do it yourself. It really is much simpler than you may expect.

I’ve been creating ASCII line art since 1997. After a few years I left it behind, there were so few places I could still use it once email became HTML instead of plan text.… Read the rest

Create Your Own ASCII Art to Illustrate Your Blog or Website

Create Your Own ASCII Art to Illustrate Your Blog or WebsiteI Make my own ASCII Art. So Can You.
Start by looking down at your keyboard. The typical keyboard has every character (letter and punctuation mark) that you need to make your own ASCII art. Anything not already on that keyboard is not used for ASCII art. If you use extra characters you’re making ANSI art.… Read the rest

From the Original Respect ASCII Artists Campaign Page

From the Original Respect ASCII Artists Campaign Page

Plain text version (below) for those who can’t see small print very well, like myself. The above screenshot comes from what’s left of the site on the Wayback Machine with the Internet Archive.

What is the “Respect ASCII Artists Campaign”? Well, it’s something that I decided to do not long after a few things happened that I didn’t agree with.

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