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✎ 1: 2021-10-17
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History of alt.ascii-art

A rundown of the developments in alt.ascii-art in 1997/98 written by Colin Douthwaite.

In several ways the last 2 years have seen some interesting
developments in the history of Ascii Art and the newsgroup
alt.ascii-art.


Joan Stark has emerged as a very talented, and by far the most
prolific Ascii Artist, to date, easily surpassing the collections of
Row; Targon; Susie Oviatt; Normand Veilleux and Allen Mullen.

In 1998 Joan earned a prestigious award from Geocities.com for her
Website on Geocities as well as many tributes and accolades from
those who see and enjoy her excellent work.


             .{{}}}}}}.
            {{{{{}}}}}}}.
           {{{{  }}}}}}}}}           Joan G Stark
          }}}}} _   _ {{{{{   Undisputed queen of ascii art.
          }}}}  6   6  {{{{
         {{{{{    ^    }}}}}
        {{{{{{\  -=-  /}}}}}}
        {{{{{{{;.___.;}}}}}}}
         {{{{{{{)   (}}}}}}}'
          `""'"':   :'"'"'`
        jgs      `@`



Then we have seen the emergence of Pete Casso with his creation of a
new subgenre of "Stein Characters", second only to the well-known
"Silly Cows" genre in Ascii Art, and by far outstripping the other
known genres of Sheep; Owls; Koala Bears, and Luke the Spook.

 The two basic characters were Birdstein and Frogstein...

              _==_
              ( ">            oo.
             (> )>           (-  )
              ^^              " "
           Birdstein       Frogstein


Followed by an ever growing number of other Steins:

01WW5WWW10WWWW5WWW20WWWW5WWW30WWWW5WWW40WWWW5WWW50WWWW5WWW60WWWW5WWW7072
02                                                                    02
03  The 'steins Hall of Fame                                          03
04  by Pete Casso 970920                                              04
05                                                                    05
06     .  +  .                                                        06
07      \^|^/                                                         07
08       .oo                                                          08
09      (  -)         Frogstein, King of the Pond                     09
10       " "                                                          10
11                                                                    11
12        +                                                           12
13      \^^/                                                          13
14      ( ">                                                          14
15      (> )>         Birdstein, Queen of the Sky                     15
16       ^^                                                           16
17                                                                    17
18     (\    /)                                                       18
19     (:\oo/:)                                                       19
20      (  -)         Pegastein, head in the clouds ...               20
21       " "                                                          21
22                                                                    22
23          .oo                                                       23
24     .''''  -)      Sphinxstein, feet on the ground ...             24
25    (__)_)__)_)                                                     25
26                                                                    26
27                                                                    27
28        /(                                                          28
29     /\(oo)/\       Ghostein, a frequent visitor from Heaven        29
30     \      /                                                       30
31                                                                    31
32                                                                    32
33        ,,                                                          33
34       ( "> w                                                       34
35      ,(> )>|       Devilstein, a frequent visitor from Hell        35
36     (  ^^                                                          36
37                                                                    37
38                                                                    38
39        /(                                                          39
40     (\( ">         Roosterstein, the musician in the barnyard      40
41      `(> )>        Often called PeteHovenstein by his fans         41
42        ^^                                                          42
43                                                                    43
44         ,,                                                         44
45        (@@         Owlstein, the wisdom dispenser                  45
46       (> )>        Often called Onestein by his admirers           46
47        ^^                                                          47
48                                                                    48
49        ,,                                                          49
50       ( "/         Dragonstein, who sired the Loch Ness monster    50
51        )\`                                                         51
52        /                                                           52
53                                                                    53
54       _==_                                                         54
55       ( ">                                                         55
56       (>,)>        BrusselsBoystein, who has a cute squirter       56
57        ^^                                                          57
58                                                                    58
59    .         .                                                     59
60   .)\       /(.                                                    60
61  .) ,\ @.@ /, (.                                                   61
62  .) - (,-,) - (.   Draculstein, appearing as a vampire             62
63  .) '/     \` (.                                                   63
64   .)/       \(.                                                    64
65    '         '                                                     65
66                                                                    66
67        ,())                                                        67
68      ,(   ">       Mousestein, who does a great job                68
69     (  " "                     in scaring evil witches away        69
70                                                                    70
71WW5WWW10WWWW5WWW20WWWW5WWW30WWWW5WWW40WWWW5WWW50WWWW5WWW60WWWW5WWW7072

Note:  Pete is now marking his Stein cartoon drawings as Copyright (c).



A very recent development has been the emergence in alt.ascii-art of
programmers who have written useful Ascii Tools.

ASC2PIC.EXE - by Martin Atkins converts Ascii pictures back to
              photographic style images. Especially useful for
              viewing those large multi-screen Ascii pictures.

RESIZE.EXE  - By "Stile" which allows simple percentage reduction or
              enlargement of Ascii pictures by removing or adding
              characters. Very useful for trimming widths of
              pictures of 80 or more columns which overlap the
              screen or cause line wrapping.
              Works best on block-style art ( as illustrated )
Original:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$uu"""""``   `"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$u"``                 `""u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$u"`                           `""u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$P"                   .,ed$$b.       "u$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$'                   ,d$$$$$$b.      $$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$u"`               .,ed$$$$$$$$b     `$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$ec          ..,ed$$$$$$$$P"```"4$b    `$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$'          $$$$$$$$$


,d$$be$b.   `$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$


          ,$P'.,,,,.`u$$$$Pd$$$$$$b   $$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$           $e$$$$b,`u$$$`""""uu$$$   `$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$b          $$$$u"` ,d $$$$$b.,e.`$$b   $$$$$$$$$$
$$$$          $$


,d$ed$ $$$`u4$$P',$$P  .$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$b         $$$.`u$$P'd$$$b. ..,e$$$  .$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$ eee,.   $$$$e,.,e$$$$$e`$$$$$. $E$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$.`$$$ee$$$$$$$$'d$$$b`$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$,`$$$$$$$$$$$,.`"$


,$$$$P',$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$e.`"u$$$u$$$$uu"'..., .,eeee$$P',e$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$,`"u$$e,`"4$$$$$$$$$$P,d$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$   $$$be$$$$b,.,d$$$',$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$e.`"u$$$u"',d$,`$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$be,,,...,ed$$$,`u$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$P',db`u$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$ `""uu$$$$$$$$$$P',$$   `"u$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$P' `u$be,.`"uu$$$$$P'.e$$$P      `""uuuuu$$$$$
$$$$$$$uu"`     `$$$be,..`"uuP',ed$$$


                   `"""u
uuuuu"""``             `$$$$$$b, d$$$$



                        `$$$$$P',e.`"u$$$P
                         `4$$$P',`$$',.`"uu'
                           `"uuu"`,$b.$'.$$$
                            `$$$$Pd$b,`$$P
                             `$$$


$$,`$



                              `$$P',$$$,`$
                               `$


,d$$$,`$
                                `P',d$$$$,`

Reduced to 95% by RESIZE.EXE:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$uu"""""``   `"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$u"`                 `"u$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$u"`                         `""u$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$P"                  .,ed$$.       "u$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$


                  ,d$$$$$b.      $$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$u"`              .,ed$$$$$$$$b     `$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$ec          .,ed$$$$$$$$P```"4$b    `$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$


          $$$$$$$$$',$$be$b.   `$$$$$$$$$$
$$$'          ,


.,,,,.`u$$$$Pd$$$$$b   $$$$$$$$$$
$$$           $$$$$b,`u$$$`"""uu$$$   `$$$$$$$$$$
$$$b          $$$u"` ,d $$$$b.,e.`$$b   $$$$$$$$$$
$$$$          $$',d$ed$ $$$`u$$P',$$P  .$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$ eee,.   $$$e,.,e$$$$$`$$$$$. $E$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$.`$$$ee$$$$$$$


d$$b`$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$,`$$$$$$$$$$$,.`"$',$$$$P',$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$e.`"u$$$u$$$$uu"'..., .eeee$$P',e$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$,`"u$e,`"4$$$$$$$$$$P,d$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$   $$$be$$$$b,.,d$$


,$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$e.`"u$$$u"',d$,`$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$be,,,...ed$$$,`u$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$P',db`u$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$ ""uu$$$$$$$$$P',$$   `"u$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$P' u$be,.`"uu$$$$$P'.e$$$P      `""uuuu$$$$$
$$$$$$uu"`    `$$$be,..`"uuP'ed$$$


                  `"""u
uuuu"""``            `$$$$$$b, d$$$$'
                      `$$$$$P',e."u$$$P
                       `4$$$P',`$


,.`"uu'
                         `"uuu"`,$b.$.$$$
                          `$$$$Pd$,`$$P
                           `$$$


$$,`$



                            `$$P',$$,`$
                              `P',d$$$$,`



ASCTOOL.EXE - Compiled for MS-DOS by Colin J. Randall from old C
              code written circa 1993 by Joshua Bell. It will rotate
              a picture through 360 degrees in 90 degree intervals
              and is most useful in simple horizontal reversals.


              Original:

                o  o  o  TOOT  TOOT  o  o O  O
                               ,_____  ____    O
                               | PMD \_|[]|_'__Y
                               |_______|__|_|__|}
             ===================oo--oo==oo--OOO\\====================


          After ASCTOOL.EXE:

                                O  O o  o  TOOT  TOOT  o  o  o
                              O    ____  _____.
                              Y__`_|[]|_/ DMP |
                             {|__|_|__|_______|
         ====================//OOO--oo==oo--oo===================

These new toolsare all good additions to the old well-known Ascii
tools such as ASCGIF and GIFSCII, the GIF to ASCII convertors.


Last but not least, a new FAQ Writer and Maintainer appeared last
year in the person of Matthew Thomas. He modernised the old Allison
and Barger FAQs, taking into perspective the rapid rise of Windows
and modern web browsers like Netscape and Outlook Express, and the
new generation of Net users - the "Pointers & Clickers" who may not
have much knowledge of how the Net works and possibly no desire to
go to the trouble of learning about it all.


                ,a@@@@@@@@@m.
              ,@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@.
             J@@P':..    ..:`W@        Matthew Thomas
             @@@':;;..  ..;;::@)   FAQ Author & Maintainer
             \@!:<#OK>::<4O#>.@
             |.::"??";  `???.:"\
             `._::..:_ee_...::_/
                \:..______,::/
                 \::..  ...:/
                  `-:____:-'mt-3


Ascii Art and its newsgroups can only benefit from the input of
talented people like those above who have made significant contributions.

Bye,


<By Colin Douthwaite>

EOF

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