ASCII Artwork

Not content to be limited by the text of ASCII, people since the beginning of computer communication have used the given character set of a system to express themselves artistically. Ranging from the ubiquitous smiley :) to extreme photo-realistic digitizations of portraits, this art continues to this day and shows no sign of slowing down. Some of these are clunky, and some are too intense to be believed. But this whole genre shows that trying to force people into small standard boxes is never really successful.

Of course, this approach has blossomed into pure insanity within the world of the software pirates, who use ASCII artwork to herald their presumed greatness. Their files are in the Piracy section.

Filename	Size	Description of the Textfile
ASCIIPR0N		The ASCII PR0N Collection, Courtesy of ASCIIPR0N.COM
DECUS		The DECUS Art Collection
LOGOS		A Collection of ASCII Art Logos
RTTY		A Collection of RTTY Art from RTTY.COM
13.asc	1739	ASCII Title Page for SPIKED!, a Game
152614.txt	1944	Excellent IBM ASCII Art of The Pits BBS
16ton	707	ASCII Art of a 16 Ton Weight
3x5.flf	3968	FIGLET FONT: 3x5 Font by Richard Kirk and Daniel Cabez Gras
afinger.txt	555	ASCII Middle Finger (With Watch and Ring)
alphabet.flf	5632	FIGLET FONT: Alphabet by Wendell Hicken (November, 1993)
alt3dste.reo	8147	Some Genune Ascii Stereograms
angela.art	6656	Pleasant ASCII Art Nude, "Angela"
angi.txt	8448	ASCII Art Nude: Angi
art0	1024	July 4th/American Flag Ascii Art
ascii.pic	55148	Don Dillon's Collection of ASCII Art Pictures
asciiart.txt	16048	Collection of ASCII Art, including Teddy Bears and Disney's Pocohantis (November 1999)
asciicod.txt	5376	A Table of ASCII Codes, by Aaron Priven
bambi.vt	12818	VT100 ANIMATION: Bambi vs. Godzilla
barney.txt	3811	ASCII Image of Barney the Dinosaur with Satanic Subliminals
bassett.art	5376	Cleo, another Bassett Hound Dawg
batgirl.art	4687	Batgirl, Naked, probably after Vargas
beavis.asc	826	Beavis of Beavis and Butthead, in ASCII
beer.vt	14415	VT100 ANIMATION: Time for a Beer Break, Folks!
betty.art	4818	Innocuous Nude, "Betty"
big.flf	7190	FIGLET FONT: The Big Font
block.flf	8586	FIGLET FONT: Block Letters
bnbascii.txt	1651	Beavis and Butthead in ASCII
bob.pic	1840	Odd ASCII Picture of a Bob
bobface.txt	5249	ASCII art of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs
bomb.vt	2649	VT100 ANIMATION: The Bomb Test
bones.art	4415	Dr. Bones McCoy, Good Portrait
bubble.flf	3055	FIGLET FONT: Bubble FOnt
bugs	2876	ANSI Art of Bugs Bunny
bunny.art	10639	Cheezy Playboy Bunny (Woman, not Rabbit)
buysell.5bs	1856	Call the Buy Sell BBS Today! (Ad, ANSI)
calgirl.art	16256	Odd 1985 Calandar with Nude Lady
cartwhee.vt	17418	VT100 ANIMATION: Doing a Cartwheel
charlie.art	1663	Charlie Brown
clohe.art	7680	Loinclothed, Topless Lady. "Clohe"
contessa.flf	2560	FIGLET FONT: The Contessa Font
county88.hum	3561	Bill the Cat and Opus in '88!
cow.txt	29281	Cows, Cows, and more (ASCII) Cows
cows.txt	29747	The Complete Guide to Cows, by Eric W. Tilenius
cowz.txt	211543	The Complete Guide to ASCII Cows
cpu.txt	1353	Some Helpful ASCII Art of a Computer System
cursepic.art	1646	CURSE YOU, RED BARON
david.art	9884	Michaelangelo's "David"
deborah.art	10752	"Deborah", sitting on a Stool
delay.vt	8512	VT100 ANIMATION: A Small Delay
dirty.vt	25081	VT100 ANIMATION: Someone Having an Awful Amount of Fun
dogs.vt	8904	VT100 ANIMATION: Fucking Dogs
dont-wor.vt	15305	VT100 ANIMATION: George Custer's Last Stand: Don't Worry, be Happy
dragon.art	17686	Fun, Sleepy Cartoon Dragon
dragon.txt	888	ASCII Art of a Winged Dragon
drwho_pi	5304	ASCII Images from the Doctor Who TV Show
eagle.art	6144	Full-Stoked American Eagle
enterp.art	7168	Side view, U.S.S. Enterprise
erusalem.flf	9004	FIGLET FONT: Erusalem Font
ferrari.art	43008	Everyone got together and made a Ferrari!
figlet.man	17843	DOCUMENTATION: The Figlet Program
firework.vt	34801	VT100 ANIMATION: Fireworks by Chen Lin
fireworks.vt	6727	VT100 ANIMATION: Guy Setting Off Fireworks
fishy2.vt	211945	VT100 ANIMATION: Shamus the Fish by David Rybolt (1994)
flag	814	ASCII Art of the American Flag
fontpage.txt	3237	FIGLET FONT: Example Fonts Page
fran.art	7472	Playboy Jokes Chick, With Nice Subliminal
fu.sig	480	ASCII Art of a Middle Finger
fuckyou.txt	2188	Nice, large, Profanic Middle Finger ASCII Art
fuzzy.flf	6016	FIGLET FONT: Fuzzy Font
george.art	5120	"George", nude male. Well, that's ONE....
girl1.pic	17413	ASCII Artwork of a Nude Wearing a Bow
girlface.txt	11163	ASCII of a Girl's Face
glass.vt	11620	VT100 ANIMATION: Filling Glass of Liquid
globe.vt	29696	VT100 ANIMATION: ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT Spinning Globe
gothic.flf	8832	FIGLET FONT: Gothic Font
graffiti.flf	6272	FIGLET FONT: Grafitti Font
groucho.art	4736	Icon of Groucho Marx
holly.art	12786	Posed Nude, "Holly"
illumin.hum	473	Primus Illuminatus is Watching You
ingrid.art	14336	Shy Nude, "Ingrid"
jerusale.flf	8633	FIGLET FONT: Jerusalem (Hebrew) Font
jessie.art	13497	Posed sideways nude, "Jessie"
juanspla.vt	41773	VT100 ANIMATION: Plan File in the Form of a Typewriter
jumble.vt	28816	VT100 ANIMATION: Jumbled Letters Form a Phrase
kathy.art	9932	Topless, Jeans-wearing nude, "Kathy"
kelly.art	7278	Simplistic happy nude, "Kelly"
kennedy.art	2560	Portrait of John F. Kennedy
kings.art	3584	Christ is Born!
kirk.art	6241	Portrait of James T. Kirk
koala-gu.fun	4827	The Koala Bear Collection v1.0 (ASCII Art)
larry3d.flf	11392	FIGLET FONT: The Larry 3D Font
lean.flf	10705	FIGLET FONT: The Leaning Font
lincoln.art	1333	Stereoscopic image of Lincoln. Experiment results: Inconclusive
lovebox.art	2143	Love is All You Need
madonna.art	7296	Merry Christas! (Madonna and Kid)
madrid.flf	2816	FIGLET FONT: The Madrid Font
maxfour.flf	2816	FIGLET FONT: The Max-Four Font
mini.flf	2114	FIGLET FONT: The Mini-Font
monalisa.art	28800	Very large Mona Lisa Printout
monkey.vt	51041	VT100 ANIMATION: The Monkey Gives You The Finger
morgana.pic	6887	Knelling post nude "Morgana"
moscow.flf	5374	FIGLET FONT: The Moscow Font
nasa.vt	19159	VT100 ANIMATION: NASA: Keep Reaching for the Stars, by A.J.L.
newyears.art	3712	Happy New Years, with drunk schmuck
nker-toy.flf	6327	FIGLET FONT: The Tinker-Toy Font
nt-ascf.ans	14006	Shading ASCII: Using the Upper/Lower Case Design Thing, by Nootropic
oliver.art	5667	Oliver from the strip "Bloom County"
ollywood.flf	15744	FIGLET FONT: The Hollywood Font
outfile.jok	1790	VT100 Animation of Someone Taking a Drive
owls.txt	1769	A Small Collection of ASCII Owls
paradise.vt	24788	VT100 ANIMATION: A Bomb in Paradise by Gonad the Barbarian
peace.art	2304	Peace on Earth, with accompanying Dove
pepper.flf	2688	FIGLET FONT: The Pepper Font
phonepig.hum	2261	A Very Charming Middle Finger
pinup2.txt	17687	Nude Pinup with interesting Shading Technique
plane.art	4608	ASCII drawing of an F-4 Phantom (War plane)
prey.vt	9010	VT100 ANIMATION: Klingon Bird of Prey
puffy.flf	7408	FIGLET FONT: THe Puffy Font
pussycat.art	3866	Great-looking Siamese Cat
rev.flf	12032	FIGLET FONT: The Reverse Font
roxanne.art	8704	Smiling, somewhat clad nude, "Roxanne"
saltgirl.art	23168	Image of Morton's Salt Girl No, she's not nude
santa.art	3968	Merry Christmas! Sant and his Two Tiny Reindeer
schlitz.art	10130	Pretty bizzaro picture of a Schlitz Beer Can
script.flf	5290	FIGLET FONT: Script Font
seasons.ans	3992	ANSI Screen: Seasons Greetings
sect.ans	6621	ANSI for the Marks Hotel HQ
sect1.ans	14043	Unbelievable ANSI Ad for the MARS Hotel
shadow.flf	3990	FIGLET FONT: The Shadow Font
short.flf	1801	FIGLET FONT: The Short Font
simpsons.txt	963	ASCII Art of The Simpsons
slant.flf	6136	FIGLET FONT: The Slant Font
slscript.flf	4480	FIGLET FONT: The Slscript Font
small.flf	3993	FIGLET FONT: The Small Font
smileys.txt	27085	Collection of ASCII Smileys
smscript.flf	3468	FIGLET FONT: SMScript
smshadow.flf	2944	FIGLET FONT: Small Shadow Font
smslant.flf	4484	FIGLET FONT: The Small Slant Font
snoopy.curse	6148	ASCII ART: Curse you, Red Baron!
snoopy.flustr	3745	ASCII ART: Snoopy Looking Flustered
snoopy.untab	7087	A 1981 Snoopy Calendar
snowing.vt	10334	VT100 ANIMATION: Snowing Landscape, Merry Christmas
spock.art	5904	Nicely-done portrait of Leonard Nimoy
st-char.asc	10857	ASCII Art of Star Trek Characters
standard.flf	5657	FIGLET FONT: The Standard Figlet Font
startrek.vt	100342	VT100 ANIMATION: Star Trek Enterprise Blows up Politically Correct New Enterprise
startrk2.art	114304	Huge Image of the Star Trek Enterprise
starwars.art	20608	So-So attempt at a Star Wars Image
sunlogo.txt	213	ASCII Sun Microsystems Logo
susan.art	7680	Posed tanline-visible Nude, "Susan"
tanya.pic	8063	Wait, let me guess, another posed Nude! "Tanya"
term.flf	407	FIGLET FONT: THe Terminal Font
tetris.vt	9176	VT100 ANIMATION: Tetris Game
texthistory.txt	49163	A History of Text and ASCII Art, by Joan G. Stark (2000)
thick.flf	4879	FIGLET FONT: The Thick Font
thin.flf	5070	FIGLET FONT: The Thin Font
tiger.art	15872	Somewhat odd-looking tiger
torturet.vt	3189	VT100 FONT: The VT-100 Torture Test by Joe Smith (May 8, 1985)
tree.art	3328	Merry Christmas Tree
trek.vt	21075	VT100 ANIMATION: The Enterprise Blows up an RCA Satellite
turkey.vt	13183	VT100 ANIMATION: Turkey Goes In for Thanksgiving
tv.vt	63909	VT100 ANIMATION: The Outer Limits Television Show
twilight.vt	64272	VT100 ANIMATION: The Twilight Zone
ualogos.txt	16377	A Collection of ASCII Art Logos, Welcome Screens, and User Information from the Unauthorised Access (UA) BBS of the UK (1995)
univers.flf	16757	FIGLET FONT: The Universe Font
valentin.vt	3702	VT100 ANIMATION: Happy Valentine's Day, Beth and Dave
vicki.body	7868	Ms. Vicki, from Oui Magazine, February 1973
watch!me.nfo	8726	Interesting Approach to a Cartoon ASCII Nude
we.jok	64940	The Outer Limits in vt100 codes
wineglas.vt	9749	VT100 ANIMATION: Wine Glass Filling
xmas.vt	45723	VT100 ANIMATION: Merry Christmas

There are 167 files for a total of 2,394,718 bytes.

There are 4 directories.

My aunt knew William Shatner's daughter, and she got him to sign a printout of kirk.art. It hung on my wall proudly for many years. (Printer paper is also inferior for long-term autographs)

If you wish to have the entire directory conveniently archived and compressed into one file, please download either art.tar.gz (4290025 bytes) or art.zip (4325036 bytes) instead of all the files separately.