___           ___
                           /\  \         /\  \
                ___       /::\  \       /::\  \
               /\__\     /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\  \
              /:/  /    /:/  \:\  \   /:/  \:\  \
             /:/  /    /:/__/ \:\__\ /:/__/ \:\__\
            /:/  /     \:\  \ /:/  / \:\  \ /:/  /
           /:/  /       \:\  /:/  /   \:\  /:/  /
           \/__/         \:\/:/  /     \:\/:/  /
                          \::/  /       \::/  /
                           \/__/         \/__/
        ___           ___           ___           ___
       /\  \         /\  \         |\__\         /\  \
      /::\  \       /::\  \        |:|  |       /::\  \
     /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\  \       |:|  |      /:/\ \  \
    /:/  \:\__\   /::\~\:\  \      |:|__|__   _\:\~\ \  \
   /:/__/ \:|__| /:/\:\ \:\__\     /::::\__\ /\ \:\ \ \__\
   \:\  \ /:/  / \/__\:\/:/  /    /:/~~/~    \:\ \:\ \/__/
    \:\  /:/  /       \::/  /    /:/  /       \:\ \:\__\
     \:\/:/  /        /:/  /     \/__/         \:\/:/  /
      \::/__/        /:/  /                     \::/  /
       ~~            \/__/                       \/__/
                      ___           ___
                     /\  \         /\  \
                    /::\  \       /::\  \
                   /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\  \
                  /:/  \:\  \   /::\~\:\  \
                 /:/__/ \:\__\ /:/\:\ \:\__\
                 \:\  \ /:/  / \/__\:\ \/__/
                  \:\  /:/  /       \:\__\
                   \:\/:/  /         \/__/
                    \::/  /
                     \/__/
        ___           ___           ___           ___
       /\  \         /\  \         /\__\         /\  \
      /::\  \       /::\  \       /::|  |       /::\  \
     /:/\ \  \     /:/\:\  \     /:|:|  |      /:/\:\  \
    _\:\~\ \  \   /:/  \:\  \   /:/|:|__|__   /::\~\:\  \
   /\ \:\ \ \__\ /:/__/ \:\__\ /:/ |::::\__\ /:/\:\ \:\__\
   \:\ \:\ \/__/ \:\  \ /:/  / \/__/~~/:/  / \:\~\:\ \/__/
    \:\ \:\__\    \:\  /:/  /        /:/  /   \:\ \:\__\
     \:\/:/  /     \:\/:/  /        /:/  /     \:\ \/__/
      \::/  /       \::/  /        /:/  /       \:\__\
       \/__/         \/__/         \/__/         \/__/
         ___           ___                       ___
        /\  \         /\__\          ___        /\__\
        \:\  \       /:/  /         /\  \      /::|  |
         \:\  \     /:/__/          \:\  \    /:|:|  |
         /::\  \   /::\  \ ___      /::\__\  /:/|:|  |__
        /:/\:\__\ /:/\:\  /\__\  __/:/\/__/ /:/ |:| /\__\
       /:/  \/__/ \/__\:\/:/  / /\/:/  /    \/__|:|/:/  /
      /:/  /           \::/  /  \::/__/         |:/:/  /
      \/__/            /:/  /    \:\__\         |::/  /
                      /:/  /      \/__/         /:/  /
                      \/__/                     \/__/
                             ___
                            /\  \
                           /::\  \
                          /:/\:\  \
                         /:/  \:\  \
                        /:/__/_\:\__\
                        \:\  /\ \/__/
                         \:\ \:\__\
                          \:\/:/  /
                           \::/  /
                            \/__/

Rounding off these 100 days with a Monodraw ASCII banner using the FIGlet isometric1 font.

Ever since I started playing around with the ASCII stuff a few weeks ago I’ve been noticing what seems to be a little renaissance of plain text diagrams. Some examples:

• Dave Yarwood · Alda: A Music Programming Language for Musicians
• Wobbulator : Recreating the sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
• Fabian Michael: Lesbare CSS-Klassen durch Trennzeichen

Back to ASCII graffiti with Luke Deen Taylor’s Image2ASCII, this time with a few tweaks to get the line count to match the height of the bricks. It’s a lot simpler with software figuring out the visual weight for each unit of the grid. For fun here’s Paul Simon’s latest Chuck Close album cover with a single letter for each of the 14x14 blocks.

     :ku      
   'cqy]v},   
  ;)J4XRNB8f- 
_=^ToeMM6N8E%"
  )RBNR@BMm?` 
   ,Y@evS[`   
     `Ly-     

Here’s a possible ASCII rendering of yesterday’s graffiti. Building it up placing the various block elements by hand is a somewhat painstaking process, and got me thinking of Chuck Close. There’s always been a grid present in his work, either implicit as a technique behind the early photorealistic works, or explicit, as with his later paintings. He also began filling that grid in with looser, more painterly shapes; as with the cover art for Paul Simon’s latest album.

                 _
       /\ /\__ _(_)_ __
      / //_/ _` | | '_ \
     / __ \ (_| | | | | |
     \/  \/\__,_|_|_| |_|

I was keen to experiment a little more with translating graffiti into ASCII art using Monodraw. Once again with a correlation between the number of bricks covered by the graffiti and the number of lines in the ASCII grid as a starting point. It’s harder than I thought though, and my efforts this evening haven’t lead to anything I feel vaguely satisfied with. But I’m learning.

One Monodraw feature that I have had some fun playing around with is the built in ‘fonts’.¹ One can type in a bit of text and have it translated into ASCII banners of various shapes and sizes. There’s even one called ‘Graffiti’ but I settled on using ‘Ogre’ unaltered for the above – in this case true ASCII text art, rather than text exported as an image.

While taking the FNUG・SPY photographs that I posted a few days ago, an ASCII art rendering popped into my head. This particular artist apparently works with a brush and paint since the shape of the bricks on which the graffiti is painted comes through far more clearly than with the more common spray can style. It lends a particular character to the way the bird’s head looks, and I suppose the regular grid of the bricks prompted the ASCII association. I enjoyed the texture of yesterday’s Image2ASCII conversion but wanted to pursue the brick aspect a little more closely. A dim recollection of an app mentioned on Der Übercast a while back led me to Monodraw, which turns out to be a fantastic tool for creating plaintext ASCII art on the Mac. There’s no built-in conversion of images, but it is possible to overlay images and trace them by hand – which is what I’ve done here. A grid of 40 lines to match the height of circa 40 bricks that the graffiti covers.

“WE’RE THOSE KIDS” is the full text that covers a wall along the perimeter of a park I walk though nearly every day.

ASCII image created using Luke Deen Taylor’s Image2ASCII in Pythonista.