Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning

Today's wikiHow teaches you how to create basic pictures using a computer keyboard and text editor, such as Notepad. A keyboard art called ASCII is a great way to create simple collages that you can copy and paste into comment boxes, messages, and so on. If you are interested in creating more advanced text collages, you can try out the ASCII editor.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Create ASCII artwork

1. 

   , import notepad then click the icon Notepad appears at the top of the Start window.
2. On Mac - Open Spotlight

   

   
   
   , import textedit then double-click the icon TextEdit at the top of the list of search results.

3. 

   Determine what image you want to create. Before you start typing random symbols and letters into a text editor, you should think about the subject you want to draw.
   • Just knowing what your subject's outline looks like is enough to get you started.
   • Outlining the subject will make it easier for you to visualize the shape you need to use.

4. 

   
   
   Start at the top of the drawing. Although in common sense, you should sketch the shape first and then paint inside, but with ASCII art, drawing line by line will be much easier.
   • For example, if you are drawing the cat's face, start with the ears.

5. 

   Experience with many different key combinations. Certain keys may be obvious choices with keyboard art, but using different keys, lower case letters, and symbol combinations will work better.
   • For example, with cat ears, you will first tend to use the caret (^) making ears; however, if a slash is used (/) next to backslash () will create a larger, "ear-like" shape (/).

6. 

   
   
   Adjust the spacing of each line if necessary. When the art of the keyboard begins to take shape, you may need to go back and align the line spacing to match the layer below.
   • For example, you might need to move the entire line forward or back. There are also times when you have to add a space between two characters to expand the line.

7. 

   Don't be limited by symmetry. As with any art, the perspective of an image determines whether the image is symmetrical or not; sometimes, one side will have more space or characters than the other side.

8. 

   Consider using computer special characters. Keyboard keys include multiple accents and variations, but there will be times when you want to use advanced symbols (such as temperature symbols) to represent additional layers or details. Both Windows and Mac computers have their own dedicated symbol menus:
   • With Windows - Character Map. You can open Character Map by typing character map into the window Start and click Character Map at the top of the window.
   • With Mac - Emoji & Symbols. You can open this menu by hovering your mouse cursor over TextEdit, clicking Edit (Edit) at the top of the screen and select Emoji & Symbols from the drop-down menu.
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Method 2 of 2: Create common shapes

1. 

   Create a rabbit shape. You can create a bunny with basic key symbols:

2. 

   Create owl shape. Unlike the above art of drawing rabbits, owls are formed from more straight lines, so you need to use square brackets () and "straight slash":

3. 

   Design cat shape. The art of creating a cat with a keyboard is similar to drawing a rabbit:

4. 

   Fish shape. You need to look for the temperature symbol on your computer to create this ASCII artwork: Ads

Advice

• ASCII art is a handy alternative to images because many comment boxes (such as on YouTube) don't support responses in a form other than text.

Warning

• Saving the keyboard artwork as a file other than the plain text format (.txt) may cause the image to be formatted and not as original.