ascii art tutorial

[firefox123]

here is part 1

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1.

Length of symbols

the ones that i use are

_ ? £ $

as you can see they take up almost equal space

_____
?????
£££££
$$$$$

2.

The first picture

ok here is how to make a letter

K

step 1: make a border
_____________________

ok here is just a simple 35x35 border

###################################
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
#____________________________________________#
###################################

but that looks a bit plain

you can easily add shadow to it

###################################
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
#____________________________________________?
??????????????????????????????????????????????

buy the detail isn't quite there


you can double the lines if you want

###################################
###################################
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
???????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????

then you add the letter K

###################################
###################################
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
##_____####??__________####??______________??
##_____####??_________####??_______________??
##_____####??________####??________________??
##_____####??_______####??_________________??
##_____####??______####??__________________??
##_____####??_____####??___________________??
##_____####??____####??____________________??
##_____####??___####??_____________________??
##_____####??__####??______________________??
##_____####??_####??_______________________??
##_____####??####??________________________??
##_____####?####??_________________________??
##_____########??__________________________??
##_____####?####??_________________________??
##_____####??####??________________________??
##_____####??_####??_______________________??
##_____####??__####??______________________??
##_____####??___####??_____________________??
##_____####??____####??____________________??
##_____####??_____####??___________________??
##_____####??______####??__________________??
##_____####??_______####??_________________??
##_____####??________####??________________??
##_____####??_________####??_______________??
##_____####??__________####??______________??
##___________________________________________??
##___________________________________________??
???????????????????????????????????????????????

? can often be used for shadows

part 1 of tutorial over
???????????????????????????????????????????????

[firefox123]

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PART 2
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This is a more advanced tutorial

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First make a 35x35 blank canvas

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___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________

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Now we add the main shape of the image with '$

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___________________________________
_______$_$__$$_____________________
___$_$_________$___________________
_$$___________$$___________________
__$__________$$____________________
_$$$$________$$____________________
_$$$$________$_____________________
_$$$$$_______$$____________________
_$$$$$________$____________________
__$$$$$________$___________________
__$$$$$_________$$_____________$___
___$$$$$__________$___$$_____$_____
___$$$$$___________$$$$$$_$$$______
___$$$$$___________$$$$$$$_$_______
____$$$$$__________$$$$$$$$________
____$$$$$___$$$$_$_$$_$$$_$$_______
____$$$$$________$$$$$$$$$$________
____$$$$$$________$$$$$$$$$$$______
_____$$$$_______$$___$$$$$_________
______$$$$_____________$___________
______$$$$_____________$___________
_______$$$$____________$___________
________$$$________________________
_______$$$$$_______________________
________$$$$_______________________
_______$$$$$_______________________
________$$$$_______________________
_________$_$_______________________
________$$$$$______________________
_________$$$$______________________
__________$$$______________________
__________$$$______________________
__________$$$$_____________________
__________$$$$$____________________
__________$$$$$____________________

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Now change the detail to the lighter areas, using the magnify tool in photoshop you can see them. Use '?'

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___________________________________
_______?_$__$?_____________________
___???________??___________________
_?$??_________$$___________________
__?__________$?____________________
_$$$$________$$____________________
_$$$$?_______?_____________________
_?$$$?_______$??___________________
__$?$$?_______$?___________________
__$?$?$________?___________________
__?$?$$________?$?______________?__
__???$$?_________$?___??_____$?____
___$?$?$___________$?$$$$??$?______
___$$?$?___________$$$$$$???_______
___?$?$$?__________?$$$$$$$??______
____$?$$$____$?????$$$$$?$$?_______
____?$$$$?_______?$$$$$$?$$_??_____
____$$$$$$________$$$?$$?$$$?______
_____$$$$$______??___?$$??_________
______$$$$_____________?___________
______$$$$?____________?___________
_______$?$_____________$___________
_______$??$____________?___________
_______$$$$?_______________________
______???$$?_______________________
_______??$$?_______________________
________$$$?_______________________
_________?$?_______________________
________?$???______________________
_________$$$?______________________
_________?$??______________________
__________$$$$_____________________
__________$$$$?____________________
__________$$$$$____________________
__________$$$$$____________________


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Now add the final detail by magnifying the image, identifying the middle tones and using '£'

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___________?_______________________
_______£_£__$$_____________________
___£?£________£?___________________
_££??_________$£___________________
__£__________$£____________________
_£$$£?_______$£____________________
_£$£$£_______$_____________________
_££$$£_______$£?___________________
_?$£$$?_______$£___________________
__$££$£_______?£___________________
__$££££________?££_____________?£__
__?$££££_________££___?$_____$£____
___£££$£___________$£$$$£££$?______
___£££$$___________£$£$$£$?£_______
___££?£$£__________$£$$$$$££???____
____$$$££___?£££??_$$£$$$£$£_______
____$£$££?_______?$$$$£$$$£_?£_____
____£$£$££_______?$$££$$£$$$£______
_____££$££______$?___£££££____?____
______$£$£_____________£___________
______$£$$£____________£___________
______?$£$?____________£___________
_______£?££____________?___________
_______£$£$?_______________________
______£?$£$?_______________________
_______££££$_______________________
________££$$_______________________
________?£££_______________________
________?£?££______________________
_________$£$$______________________
_________?££$______________________
__________$$££_____________________
_________?$$$$?____________________
__________$$$$£____________________
__________$$£$$____________________


VOILA, a flail.

[Allen]

heh pretty cool