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CHAPTER 2: Drawing Lines

Let's start with a horizontal line.

-----------------

Pretty boring, right? There are a couple of alternatives:

__________ .......... '''''''''' ========== ~~~~~~~~~~ ::::::::::

All of these are horizontal lines but only the first option with the underscore has the same visual effect as the hyphen. Dots and apostrophes are great for a loose look where the contour should be more faint. The equal sign has the opposite effect and so on.

Now lets draw a vertical lign:

| :
| :
| :
| :
| :
| :

You can already see here what will become a pattern in this text: it is much easier to make varied horizontal lines or lines with small slopes and much harder to vary vertical lines or lines with steep slopes. You will have to arrange yourself with this truth and make adequate compromises.

Here is how can make steep slopes:

| | | | | | | \
| | | | | | |  \
| | | | | |  \  \
| | | | |  \  |  \
| | | |  \  | |   \
| | |  |  | |  \   \
| |  | |  | |   |   \
|  | | |  |  \  |    \
 | | | |  |   |  \    \
 | | | |   \  |   |    \
 | | |  |   | |   |     \
 | | |  |   |  \   \     \
 | | |  |   |   |   |     \
 | |  | |   |   |   |      \
 |  | | |    \  |    \      \
 |  | |  |    |  \    |      \

You can appreciate that steep lines will look jagged if they are steeper than / or \.

For small slopes you can get much more variation without a jagged look.

                ____....----''''
____....----''''
                        __..--''
                __..--''        
        __..--''            _.-'
__..--''                _.-'   
                    _.-'     .-'
                _.-'      .-'  
            _.-'       .-'    .'
        _.-'        .-'     .'
    _.-'         .-'      .'
_.-'          .-'       .'
           .-'        .'
        .-'         .'
     .-'          .'
  .-'           .'
-'            .'
            .'
          .'
        .'
      .'
    .'
  .'
.'

Combining different slopes will give you curves.

'.                            .'
  '-.                      .-'
     '-._              _.-'
         ''--..__..--''