ASCII Art Drawing Canvas

Draw ASCII art by hand on a character grid — pen, line, rectangle and fill tools, then copy the text out.

🔒 Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded or stored on a server.

The ASCII Art Canvas lets you draw pictures out of characters — the classic text art made of #, *, / and | that works anywhere plain text does. Instead of painstakingly lining up symbols by hand, you paint on a grid with your mouse or finger, and the tool keeps the finished art as clean, copyable text. It is made for signatures, README banners, code comments, forum posts and terminal art.

It works like a tiny paint program built for text. Pick a brush character from the palette or type your own, then choose a tool: freehand pen, straight line, hollow rectangle, filled box, an eraser, or a flood fill to pour one character across a region. Drag to draw; shape tools show a live preview before you commit. Set the grid width and height to fit where the art will live — 80 columns for a terminal, narrower for a comment block.

The result appears below as ready-to-use text you can copy or download as a .txt file, with trailing blank space trimmed from each line so it pastes cleanly. Everything happens in your browser. Pair it with the Fancy Text Generator for stylish Unicode lettering, or drop finished art into the Online Notepad to keep it.

How to use

  1. Set the canvas width and height in characters to match where the art will go.
  2. Pick a brush character from the palette or type your own in the Brush box.
  3. Choose a tool — pen, line, rectangle, filled box, eraser or fill.
  4. Drag on the grid to draw; shape tools preview before you release.
  5. Copy the finished ASCII art from the output box or download it as a .txt file.

Examples

A README banner
Block out a title or logo in characters to drop at the top of a project's README or a code comment.
Simple shapes
Use the rectangle and line tools to build boxes, arrows and diagrams for a terminal or a text document.
Signatures and forum art
Draw a small piece of text art for an email signature, forum post or chat where images aren't allowed.
Fill and erase
Pour one character across an area with the fill tool, then carve details back out with the eraser.

Frequently asked questions

How do I draw straight lines and boxes?
Pick the Line, Rectangle or Filled box tool, then drag from the start point to the end — a live preview shows the shape, which is drawn when you release. The Fill tool floods a connected area with your brush character.
Can I use any character as the brush?
Yes. Click a character in the palette (including block characters like ░ ▒ ▓ █) or type any single character into the Brush box. The eraser clears cells back to blank.
How big can the canvas be?
Up to 120 characters wide and 60 tall. Match the width to your target — around 80 columns suits a terminal, less for a comment block — so the art lines up when pasted.
Will the art line up when I paste it?
Yes, as long as it is displayed in a monospaced (fixed-width) font, where every character is the same width. Trailing spaces are trimmed from each line so it pastes cleanly.
Does it turn text or photos into ASCII automatically?
No — this is a hands-on drawing canvas, not an image-to-ASCII converter. You create the art yourself with the drawing tools, which gives you full control over the result.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The canvas and the text output are generated entirely in your browser, so nothing you draw is sent anywhere.

Related tools

Fancy Text GeneratorTurn plain text into stylish Unicode fonts — bold, italic, cursive, monospace, bubble and more — ready to copy.Text to HandwritingTurn typed text into realistic handwriting on blank, ruled or transparent paper — then download it as a multi-page PDF or a transparent PNG image.QR Code GeneratorTurn any link or text into a scannable QR code — choose colours and error correction, then download a sharp PNG or vector SVG.Small Text GeneratorMake tiny text — small caps, superscript and subscript — that you can copy and paste anywhere.Online NotepadA clean, distraction-free notepad that autosaves in your browser — with a live word and character count.