ASCII Art and its Ancestors

I mostly just looked at the pictures --- with only occasional forays into the accompanying text (partly because I am damn tired and have some other text that I want to read before I crash completely and partly because I think the pictures themselves are the best part) --- but this article on ASCII art and its ancestors is way cool. I enjoy both the art itself and the notion that people worked really hard to create it with whatever computational (or typing) medium that was available. Very nice!

(Tip of the cap to Jimmy Lin.)

Update (2/07/14): Tom Prescott has sent me a link to an ASCIImation page.