Ascii Art in Books

[belthagor]

Hello everyone!

When I was writing, I sometimes wanted to put in a picture of some sort, but I still wanted the writing to look professional, so I got the idea to make art using my keyboard, text art.

Here is an example of something someone made, keep in mind my images would be much smaller in a book.



Is this a good idea? The cost of doing it will be much lower than a picture in color inserted somewhere in writing, if it's printed anyway, and it seems like simple enough drawing style for books.

Or maybe this is too old, it's just that I have never heard of anyone using it in a book before.

[mrmustard615]

I'm not the expert on whether it's a good idea or not, but it looks pretty good to me

[Cran]

It's an artform that's been around since typewriters were popular, and evolved further with more options available in word processors.

Yes, there are books of typewriter art and ASCII art out there.

This is an example of ASCII art, though ASCII art does not usually involve overwriting characters...


I sent the program to Bob. He liked it and printed the program in an appendix to his 1982 book Bob Neill’s Book of Typewriter Art (With Special Computer Programme). That book contains instructions for typing 20 different images...

Bob Neill’s Second Book of Typewriter Art was published in 1984 ...

-Typewriter Art | Nick Higham

The concrete poets’ sense of mission and compositional rigor can make more recent examples in Typewriter Art seem slight and naïve by comparison. Some of the book’s later inclusions — there are several interviews with practicing artists — look like tentative first steps, as a new generation of typewriter enthusiasts rediscovers what the abandoned technology can do...

... One thing is certain: if typewriter art is to advance, then its highest achievements need to be revisited and studied. Tullett’s inspiring introduction opens up a field of art that has been hidden in the shadows for too long at exactly the right moment to reassess it. The book’s design by John Dowling magnificently captures the spirit and texture of typewriter-ness.

-Rick Poynor: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Typewriter (2014)