TEXTMODE ART comes in many shapes     
     and forms.     

     Here, you'll find art and     
     resources to explore if you’d     
     like to learn more about the old     
     textmode art scene, which     
     originated from when Bulletin     
     Board Systems (BBS) and dial-up     
     modems were in their prime and     
     communication equaled IRC. The     
     art was used for logos, system     
     design, and to promote your BBS.     

     The idea of creating art from     
     text can be traced back a long     
     way, and the closest form of     
     text-mode art on a computer is     
     the art generated on typewriters     
     - see the Explore page for more     
     information.
     The art forms we explore here     
     originated from Unix systems.     
     Old-school art was initially     
     created using the characters     
     available when the computer had a     
     7-bit character set and was     
     dominated by:     

     /\-.,+     

     This turned into something that     
     came to be known as oldschool art     
     (also called 'oldskool’).

  _,/\______    _,/\______    _,/\______
__\_____   /_ __\_   __   \ __\   _____/_
\__    __  _/_\__    |/  _/_\__    |/   /_
_/     |/     \/     |/     \/     |      \_
\_______     ╓________     ╓________     ╓_/
      |______/      |______/      |______/


     As we added more characters and     
     new systems were added to the     
     market, the ’art scene’ became     
     divided between the PC art scene     
     and the Amiga art scene. The     
     exception being a few enthusiasts     
     doing textmode art on Commodore     
     64 systems called PETSCII and on     
     Atari computers called ATASCII.     

     When we received support for an     
     8-bit character set, another form     
     with more characters emerged.     
     That was the so-called newschool     
     ASCII art, utilizing all     
     available characters to achieve     
     better shapes.


                 $°"$
      """"""$""; $ :$""$""; $°"$""""""
      $""$""$ :$ $ .$  $ :$ $  $  ____.
      $  $  $ .$ $  $  $ .$ $  $  $ .$
      """"  """" """"  """" """"  """"
     .____  ____.____  ____.____  ____.
      3333  /333 3333  /333 3333  /333
      8888  8888 8888  8888 8888  8888
      $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$
      $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$
      $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$
      $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$ $$$$  $$$$
      `""""""""' `""""""""' `""""""""'


     In parallel, we had the  ANSi     
     scene, and the one-color version     
     of this I call NFO art, where you     
     utilize block characters like ░     
     ▒ █ ▓ ▄ ▀ in the extended     
     character set to draw in 16     
     colors (8 background colors and     
     16 foreground colors)



            ██▓░       ██▓░       ██▓░
     ▄███▀▀▀██▄▄▄███▀▀▀██▄▄▄███▀▀▀██▄▄▄
      ██▓░  █▀▓▓ ██▓░  █▀▓▓ ██▓░  █▀▓▓
      ██▓▒  ██▓▓ ██▓▒  ██▓▓ ██▓▒  ██▓▓
  ▀ ▀▀██▓▒▀░██▓▓░██▓▒░░██▓▓░██▓▒░▀██▓▓▀ ▀
      ██▓▓  ██▓▓ ██▓▓  ██▓▓ ██▓▓  ██▓▓
      ██▓▓  ██▓▓ ██▓▓  ██▓▓ ██▓▓  ██▓▓
  ░░░ ██▓▓░ ██▓▓ ██▓▓░ ██▓▓░██▓▓ ░██▓▓ ░░░
      ██▓▓░░██▓▓ ██▓▓       ██▓▓░░██▓▓
     ▄▄█▓▓  ██▓▓ ██▓▓▀██    ██▓▓ ▄▄█▓▓

      ▄▄█▀  ███▀ ▄▄█▀      ▄▄█▀  ▄▄█▀▀
      ██▓▓  ██▓▓ ██▓▓       ██▓▓  ██▓▓
      ██▄▄  ▀▀▀▀ ██▄▄        ▀▀▀▀██▓▓



     I do not have anything to do with     
     the art scene today (yes, it’s     
     still active), and I haven’t been     
     involved with it for over 20     
     years. But, I do, however, look     
     at art now and then and try to     
     sneak in some ASCII art in the     
     documentation and source code at     
     work to educate the younger     
     generation... ;)



     Art forms
     ~~~~~~~~~

     - Oldschool ascii
     - Newschool ascii
     - NFOs
     - ANSi
    - Amiga ascii


     Or, start by checking out the
     tools of the trade.



     Other forms of text mode art
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     - PETSCII (Commendore 64/128)
     - ATASCII (Atari)



     Art scene affiliates from old
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     - oOps!ascii
     - Remorse
     - Stile
     - ACiD [1] [2] [3]
     - mOp
     - Blend
     - Society


      TEXTMODE ART comes in many shapes and forms.      

      Here, you'll find art and resources to explore if you’d like to      
      learn more about the old textmode art scene, which originated from      
      when Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and dial-up modems were in their      
      prime and communication equaled IRC. The art was used for logos,      
      system design, and to promote your BBS.      

      The idea of creating art from text can be traced back a long way,      
      and the closest form of text-mode art on a computer is the art      
      generated on typewriters - see the Explore page for more      
      information.

      The art forms we explore here originated from Unix systems.      
      Old-school art was initially created using the characters available      
      when the computer had a 7-bit character set and was dominated by:      

      /\-.,+      

      This turned into something that came to be known as oldschool art      
      (also called 'oldskool’).

                                       _____
       ______/\__   ______/\__   __/\__l   |  __/\______   ______/\__
       \_______  \_ \__  ___  \_ \_    |   |_ \___  ___|__ \_______  \_
      __/  ______/ \_/    |    ╓\_/    |    ╓\_/    '     \_/  ______/ \_
      \______|      ______       ______       ______       ______'      /
    ,------\_______/----\_______/---_\_______/--__\_______/----\_______/--,
    |                __/___/____ __/___/____ __/___/____                  |
    |               /_________ ╓\_________ ╓\_________ ╓\             bzr |
    `------------------\________/--\________/--\________/-----------------'

                         a o h ' s   r o u t e   6 6 6



      As we added more characters and new systems were added to the      
      market, the ’art scene’ became divided between the PC art scene and      
      the Amiga art scene. The exception being a few enthusiasts doing      
      textmode art on Commodore 64 systems called PETSCII and on Atari      
      computers called ATASCII.      

      When we received support for an 8-bit character set, another form      
      with more characters emerged. That was the so-called newschool      
      ASCII art, utilizing all available characters to achieve better      
      shapes.


     ,gQ$$$$$$$$$$$ÑÑÑÑ$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$Qg.
    :$$$$$$$ⁿ"``       $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$`"ⁿ$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ÑÑ$$:
    l$$$$$$l          :$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  :$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$7ⁿ`   l$l
    $$$$$$$:          `""```````"ⁿ4$$$$  l$$$Ñ╩ⁿⁿ"""""ⁿⁿ╩Ñ$$$$7ⁿ`       $$$
    $$$$$$$          ,gÿQQÿp,      `$$$gg$$`   ,gÿÿQQÿp,  `$$$$,▬g:    :$$$
    $$$$$$l         :$$$$$$$$       l$$$$$l    4$$$$$$$l   l$$$$$$     l$$$
    $$$$$$:         l$$$$$$7'       l$$$$$$b.   `"""""`   ,Ñ4$$$$l     $$$$
    $$$$$$          `""``          ,$$$Ñ╩ⁿ""``         ∙v$$$$$$$$:    :$$$$
    $$$$$l                         `"`                    `ⁿ4$$$$     l$$$$
    $$$$$:                                    ,pM$$$Qp.      `ⁿ╩'     $$$$$
    $$$$$         :QQÿÿÿgp,                  l$$$$$$$$$              :$$$$$
    $$$$l         l$$$$$$$$                  `╩ÑÑ$$$Ñ╝'              l$$$$$
    $$$$:         $$$$$$$$l                                          $$$$$$
    $$$$         :$$$$$$$$:                                  ,,     :$$$$$$
    l$$l         l$$$$$$$$▬ggÿÿQQQQÿÿgg▬._              _.▬ÿ$$$ __,,l$$$$$l
    :$$: __,,▬▬gg$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$QQÿÿggÿÿQQ$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$:
     `ⁿ╩ÑÑ$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ÑÑ╩ⁿ`

               R81 YO! ASCII by Polymorph. Inspired by Kaleidas.


      In parallel, we had the  ANSi scene, and the one-color version of      
      this I call NFO art, where you utilize block characters like ░ ▒ █      
      ▓ ▄ ▀ in the extended character set to draw in 16 colors (8      
      background colors and 16 foreground colors)



         ▄▄▀▀▀▄
     ▄▄▀▀ ▄▄█  ▀▀▀▄▄▄▄
    █ ▄▄█████▄███▄▄▄▄ ▀█▄▄▄▄▄                   ▄█▀▀▀█    ▄▄▄
    ▀▄▄ ▀███▀ ▀▀██████▄ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▄█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀██▀ ▄▀ █▄▄█▀ ▄ ▀▀▀▀▄▄
       █ ███    ▄█████▀ ▀▀▀████ ▀█ ▄█████████▄  ▄███▄ ▀ ▄▄██▄▀██▄▄ ▀▄
       █ ███  ▄██▀▀▀▀ ▄▀ ▄██▀███   ▀█▀   ▄██▀ ▄█▀ ▀███▄  ███   ▀███▄ █
       █ ███▄██▄  ▄▄██▀ ███ ▄ ███ ▀▄▄  ▄██▀ ▄██▄ ▀▄ ▀███▄███  ▄██▀▀ ▄▀
       █ ███▀████▄  ██ ███▀    ███ ▀ ▄██▀   ▄████▄ ▀ ▄█▀ ███▀██▄  ▄▀
       █ ███  ▀████▄  ▄███ ▄▄█▀▀███▄███▄▄▄▄███ ▀███▄█▀   ███  ▀██▄ ▀▄▄
     ▄▀ ▄███▄ ▄ ▀████▄▀██▀▀▀ ▄ ▀▀▀▀███▀▀▀▀▀▀▀  ▄ ▀█▀ ▄█ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▄ ▀██▄  ▀▀▄▄▄▄
    █▄ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ █▄ ▀█████▄▄ ▀▀▀▀▀██▄  ▀▀▄ ██▀▀▀██ ▀ ▄███▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄ ▀▀██▄▄  ▄ ▀▄
  ▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▄▄▀▀███████▄▄▄   ▄▄▀ ▄▄█     █▀▀▀▀▀            ▀▀▄▄▄ ▀▀▀ ▄▀
                  ▀▀█▄▄▄ ▀▀▀▀█████▀▀ ▄█▀                              ▀▀▀▀▀
                      ▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▀▀                   1 9 1 1         <JED>



      I do not have anything to do with the art scene today (yes, it’s      
      still active), and I haven’t been involved with it for over 20      
      years. But, I do, however, look at art now and then and try to      
      sneak in some ASCII art in the documentation and source code at      
      work to educate the younger generation... ;)




   ## A R T F O R M S

    - Oldschool Ascii
    - Newschool Ascii
    - NFOs
    - ANSi
    - Amiga Ascii

      Or, start by checking out the tools of the trade.




   ## O T H E R V E R S I O N S O F T E X T M O D E A R T


    - PETSCII (Commendore 64/128)
    - ATASCII (Atari)




   ## A R T G R 0 U P S

      Some of my art scene affiliates from old

    - oOps!ascii
    - Remorse
    - Stile
    - ACiD [2] [3]
    - mOp
    - Blend
    - Society



  +--------------------------------------+

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