DOS era graphics

Notice: This historic context page contains some archaic Adult material.

ASCII Graphics

Decorative ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interexchange) graphics date from the very dawn of the DOS era, many having been copied over from earlier CP/M micro-computers. ASCII graphics are Text files, and the artwork is created using fixed-width fonts. Graphics visually identical to ASCII graphics even predate the ASCII character encoding standard, being popular on mini-mainframes. Still earlier Text art was created by HAM radio operators on their TeleType machines, and encoded onto paper tape for later retrieval. Even before that, office workers were using their typewriters to make visually identical artwork on letter paper.

During the DOS era, ASCII graphics were the dominant decorative art form found on TelNet Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), before the rise of color ANSI control-code artwork. If you can properly view this ANSI Text Picture, your DOS can decode ANSI. If not, you need to load a DOS ANSI driver such as Nansi (ver 3.4) (note: there are ANSI-to-BMP converters on the Web, as well as drivers for non-DOS operating systems).

ASCII graphics are still popular as decoration in Usenet newsgroups, and for use as signets on email messages. Below are several examples of ASCII artwork, that you can study before designing your own ASCII graphics. Please note that several of these examples are banners, which were intended to first be printed onto continuous-feed paper before viewing. People from all walks of life have made ASCII artwork, so the art isn't all cheesecake. This link takes you to a simple tutorial on how to create your own ASCII art, and this link takes you to a large archive of ASCII graphics.

DOS era example graphics

ASCII Graphics

Examples of how to design ASCII Art for Lettering and Signage

Examples of how ASCII Art can illuminate a document

Various Outline-Technique ASCII Art Pictures

Various Shading-Technique ASCII Art Pictures

ASCII Art Pinups