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down, you can almost tell WHO did a picture before you see their name
at the bottom of the screen. Some of the ASCII Artists you've
probably seen at one time or another here on GEnie are TARGON,
PHOENIX, TSUEX, and RIKROK. All of these people have very individual
styles. Some pictures look like drawings with ASCII characters, some
look more like paintings. They're all delightful.
Holiday pictures are my favorites. I can find samples from
newspapers, comic books, coloring books, art books, and sometimes from
my own imagination. Most of the time I need a pattern, even if the
finished product doesn't look anything like the original. It gives me
an idea of where to go first. :)
5. Choosing Characters, or "Which characters do I want to use?"
First of all, your choice of characters depends on what effect you're
looking for. If you are "sketching" with ASCII characters, you'll
want to pay special attention to the following keys:
/ ` " ' \ , . _ - = ~ ^ ; |
Notice that all of these characters have been entered on the same
line, but many are in different positions on that line. The
apostrophy is higher on the line than the comma, for instance. Keep
this in mind as you "sketch" because sometimes that small difference
is enough to make or break your picture.
If you are going for a more filled in look, such as I do in my
pictures, you will also want to keep in mind the relative value of the
characters as far as light and shade go. Look at the following
characters:
@ # $ & X % > / ; :
Notice that when you are using a dark background, light letters, that
the @ and # keys provide a lot of light. You would use these
characters to highlight your work. The : and ; let much less light
through, so those would be the characters you shade with. If you are
working on a reverse screen, with a light background/dark characters,
the opposite would hold true.
Keep in mind, too, that for detail work there are several characters
that are very similar, but subtly different, and can add just the
right amount of contrast to get the effect that you want. For
instance:
S $ : ; % X 0 O
One more thing that will help you get the look you want is the
relative height of capital and lower case letters. When you need a
line to taper a bit, using a lower case letter is sometimes the
perfect "bridge" between high and low characters. For instance:
S s X x O o @ a
To taper these lines even further, when a very gradual decrease is
wanted, use both of these methods, somtimes using them more than once.
For instance:
Ss,..,sS or -=*@*=- or .,%,.
SSss,,..,,ssSS or ..,,;;|;;,,..
Also remember that what is low on one line can be the perfect bridge
for something high on the line directly under. This is especially
helpful when you're creating signatures of some kind... For instance:
,;;;,
;; .;' ;;
`;,
. `';,. .;. ;. ,;;;, .;. .;;;.
';. ;; ;; ;; ',,. ;; ;; ;;
,;;;.;; ;; ;; ;; . ;; ;; ;;''
;; ';;;;' `;;';;' ';;;' ';. `;;;'
`;;;;'
6. Small pictures, or "Good things come in small packages."
VERY small pictures can be a lot of fun to do. Just remember that
with those tiny ASCII pictures, a LOT is left to the imagination.
Sometimes a suggestion of what you're looking for is the best you can
do. For instance, the following was done on only two lines:
~|_
(_)\_
It's certainly no photograph, but most people will recognize this as a
wheelchair. Another fun use for tiny ASCII graphics are for signing
off e-mail, especially during the holidays. For instance, during the
Christmas season, I like to sign letters off with one of the
following:
<\oOo/>
### ###
### ###
/\
//\\
///\\\