ASCII Art

What is ASCII art?

  • ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the different characters on the computer's keyboard.

  • So instead of creating a picture with the paint brush tool in Microsoft Paint, you are creating a picture of something in your Word or Google Doc using the letters & characters on the keyboard.

What can I make pictures of?

  • Anything you want. It can be as simple as patterns, words, evolving into some simple pictures of objects, animals, and even as detailed as portraits of people.

What do I need to make ASCII art?

  • An idea

  • Blank word processing document

  • Computer Keyboard w/ characters

Some simple examples:

How do I get started?

  1. Open a new blank Google doc in your Google Drive. Title your document (Last Name) ASCII art

  2. START SIMPLE- Think of a simple object you want to create (ex; smiley face, house, tree) and using lined paper, draw it with single lines (no details or shading). This will help you see where you will need to type characters and how many lines will use in your document.

  1. Then while looking at your drawing start to type what you see on your keyboard. use the space bar to create your spaces and use different litters, numbers or symbols that would best work in your project. Press enter/return to move down to the next line.

  1. If it doesn't look perfect the first time, RELAX and DON'T WORRY!!! the first step is to get your idea from your head and paper, onto your document. Once you have it in your document, you can always go back and change characters to make them work or look better. As you can see with my example, it is not perfect by any means. however it is a start. Now I can go back in and try different charters and symbols that will best work with my idea of a smiley face.

Remember, keep trying new things to see if they work; you won't know if it works unless you try!

Some website resources: