ASCII

Text art and ASCII pictures

Drawings made of ordinary characters. They line up properly only where every character is the same width — Discord, terminals, code editors. In a normal font the rows lean, and that is the whole reason copied art “breaks”.

44pieces · tap to copy

Overview

Text art is a drawing spread over several lines. A single face in one line is a kaomoji, and the individual characters these pictures are built from — ░ ▒ █ ─ ┃ — come from text symbols, in the box drawing and block elements blocks.

01 — One-liners

One-liners text art

Short enough for a chat message or a bio. These keep their shape even in a proportional font.

02 — Hearts

Hearts text art

The most copied shape in the genre. Works in a caption, a card or a message.

03 — Animals

Animals text art

The bunny and the bear are the two that survived from the days of bulletin boards.

04 — Table flip

Table flip text art

A two-act genre: flip the table, then put it back. Both halves are needed for the joke.

05 — Dividers and borders

Dividers and borders text art

Line breaks for bios and posts. These are the ones that actually hold their shape everywhere.

06 — Big faces

Big faces text art

Multi-line faces. These need a monospace font — in a normal one they lean.

FAQ

Text art — questions people ask

What is text art?
Text art is a picture drawn with ordinary characters instead of pixels. It lines up correctly only in a monospace font, which is why the same art looks perfect in Discord and leans in an Instagram caption.
Why does the art break when I paste it?
Because the font is not monospace. ASCII art lines up only when every character takes the same width — in a normal font a wide letter pushes the row sideways and the picture leans. Discord, terminals and code editors use monospace and keep the shape; Instagram captions do not.
What is the difference between text art and a kaomoji?
A kaomoji is one face in a single line — ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Text art is a drawing spread over several lines. One-liners here sit in between and survive almost anywhere.
How do I keep the line breaks?
Paste with plain text, not rich text. In a chat, hold Shift and press Enter for a line break instead of sending the message. Some apps strip leading spaces — that is what flattens a picture into a stripe.
Can I use this in a bio?
One-liners and dividers, yes. Multi-line pictures usually not: most bios collapse line breaks and have a character limit that a drawing eats through immediately.
Is ASCII art still used?
Constantly, just not where it started. It moved from bulletin boards to Discord, commit messages, terminal banners and README files — places where monospace is the default.