ASCII art

_ ____ ____ ___ ___ _ / \ / ___| / ___|_ _|_ _| __ _ _ __| |_ / _ \ \___ \| | | | | | / _` | '__| __| / ___ \ ___) | |___ | | | | | (_| | | | |_ /_/ \_\____/ \____|___|___| \__,_|_| \__| A more complicated version of ASCII art.

ASCII art is art made out of ASCII characters. This can be simple art like "<3" (it looks almost like a heart if you turn your head sideways), or it can be more complex, with characters carefully placed out, containing many lines of characters. ASCII art was originally used to "draw" pictures on computers that only allowed ASCII characters. Smilies are considered ASCII art.

ASCII art was invented because in the past, computers could only display simple characters in a format known as ASCII. This meant that computers could only display text. People started making art with ASCII characters to display an "image". Examples are:

:) *_* :( O_o

:| T_T :D

They can also be more complicated

ASCII Art Media

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  "Oldskool" or "Amiga" style

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  Ascii art example.*"Newskool" style.

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  "Block" or "High ASCII" style, cf. ANSI art

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  The alphabet in Newskool (Note: artificially shrunk vertically)

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  Dag Hammarskjöld, printout from teleprinter 1961–62

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  Calligram of the constellation "Sirius" from a 9th-century astronomical manuscript

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  A portion of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 6 January 1875, showing advertisements made from typewriter art.

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  A self-propelled howitzer and truck made using ASCII art

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  Block ASCII display via Notepad versus ACiDView for Windows