The Art of ASCII Art

ASCII art is an artistic picture art made from ASCII code. ASCII is abbreviation of American Standard Code for Information Interchange. For the people who use computer, ASCII code is commonly used because it's represent text in the computer. ASCII code contain 128 character that can be divided to control character and printable character. For more detail about ASCII code, please follow this link.

Now, back to laptop.

The simple ASCII art is emoticon. Emoticon is combination of two or three text character that can be use to express emotion of the user. Here is the example. : ) represent smile and : ( represent bad.

The more sophisticated ACSII art can be use to draw a picture, like picture below.

                             ;;                                                       
                      ""ww                                                       
      ""ww""      ;;wwZZww                                                       
      kkwwRRZZRR  wwZZwwwwRR                                                     
      JJZZMMwwZZJJZZZZwwZZJJ;;""tttttt                                           
        ZZZZww""MMwwRRwwMMJJZZZZwwRRRRtt                                         
        RRZZ;;  JJwwZZZZwwwwwwwwwwRRwwRR          JJRR                           
ttRRwwwwZZttJJ  JJwwRRwwwwwwwwwwRRZZZZRR        kkZZwwZZ                         
ttZZwwwwwwwwwwwwZZZZJJRRwwZZZZZZwwwwwwRRZZZZtt    ""wwZZwwwwwwww                       
ZZwwwwRRwwZZRRZZZZww  RRwwRRZZwwZZZZZZZZJJ  ttwwZZwwwwwwwwwwwwkk                     
ttZZwwwwwwwwwwwwRRZZZZwwww  wwRRwwZZZZRR""wwZZZZZZwwwwZZwwkkwwww                     
;;ZZwwwwwwwwwwwwwwZZRRZZJJ  ZZRRwwRRRRZZZZRRZZZZZZZZZZ""                             
;;;;wwZZRRRRRRMMJJwwwwZZZZttwwZZwwkkkkZZRRkkJJJJ                                   
    ""ttwwwwwwwwZZwwwwttJJ;;""  ""JJ;;;;JJ""                                     
      kkwwwwwwwwZZRRZZww;;;;;;kkkk"";;;;;;ww""                                   
      kkwwwwwwZZZZZZMM"";;ttww"";;;;;;;;;;;;kk""                                 
      kkwwRRRRZZZZRRww  ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;kk""                               
      kkRRRRZZZZRRwwJJJJ"";;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;kk""                             
      ZZRRZZZZRRJJ""wwJJ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;RRtttt""                       
      kkZZRRkkJJkkkkww;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;""JJww;;"";;ttkk""                   
        ;;    wwttttkk;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;kkJJ"";;;;;;;;ttJJRR                   
              wwttttttww  ;;;;;;;;;;;;""ww"";;;;;;;;ttwwRRZZZZ                   
              kkttttttkk"";;;;;;;;;;wwkk  ;;;;;;""ZZZZwwwwwwZZ                   
              wwttttttJJkk;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;JJRRwwwwwwwwRR                     
              kkttttttttkk;;;;"""";;;;;;;;""ZZRRwwwwwwwwRR;;                     
              ZZ""ttttttttRR;;ww;;;;;;;;JJMMwwwwwwwwwwRR                         
              wwtttttttt""ttRR;;;;;;""wwRRwwwwwwwwZZZZ                           
              kkttttttttww""kk;;;;""RRwwwwwwwwwwRRJJ                             
              wwkkkkkkkktttttt;;""ZZZZwwwwwwwwZZtt                               
            ttttttttttttttww""ttZZttRRwwwwZZww                                   
            JJttttttttttttttttRRRRttttRRww""                                     
            ww""ttttttttkkkkMMZZkkttttJJ;;                                       
            ;;kkJJJJkk""""    ZZJJttttkk""                                       
                                JJJJJJkk                                         
                                  ;;;;              

With helped image to text converter software, U can create your own ASCII art form your image picture. Here is the example. Click the image to enlarge.

And the most important thing, in order to make the picture correctly, font used by the picture must have uniform character width, like Courier.