Make an ASCII cover for your blog

Use character art as the illustration. Keep your article title, introduction and links as ordinary text.

For a colored ASCII blog cover, use the 200-column glass-flower recipe, export PNG or SVG, and put the headline and image description in your publishing editor. TXT keeps characters but loses the color treatment.

By Image to ASCII · Updated October 6, 2026

BLOG COVER / EXAMPLE

Finding form in a thousand small marks.

See the original glass-flower image

The cover supplies the texture. Keep the article title, introduction and image description as selectable text in your publishing editor.

Start with a clear subject

The glass-flower example uses luminous blue and coral petals against a dark background. That separation gives the converter a recognizable shape to work with. A crowded photograph can lose its subject when reduced to characters.

Try the glass-flower cover example

Use the cover recipe

These settings describe this example, not every image. After loading your own source, compare the subject at the size it will actually appear in your article. More columns can preserve detail but also make individual characters harder to see.

Compare 80 and 200 columns

More columns are not automatically better. The same glass-flower source at 80 × 26 characters makes larger, rougher marks; the 200 × 64 example above keeps finer petal edges. Both were generated with the Blog Cover settings, changing only the width.

SAME SOURCE / 80 COLUMNS

Choose the width by checking the exported image at its final display size. The 80-column result emphasizes visible characters; the 200-column version preserves more shape. Keep the headline in your publishing editor in either case.

Export an illustration, not a headline

1. Open the glass-flower example using the button above. Its image and settings load together.
2. Keep color on for this source. Adjust the width only if the displayed detail needs it.
3. Download PNG for a fixed visual appearance, or use SVG if your publishing system accepts it.
4. Upload the exported illustration in your blog editor. Add a concise description of the subject as its alt text.
5. Enter the article heading in the editor as text, then check desktop and phone previews.

TXT and Markdown preserve characters, but do not preserve the color preview. Use them when selectable text is the goal. For a colored cover, use an image export.

Keep the page light and readable

Prepare the exported image at the size required by your article layout and use your publishing system’s image optimization. Avoid sending a full-resolution export to a small thumbnail slot. Reserve image dimensions in the layout so the article does not move when the cover loads.

Use a meaningful article title and introduction outside the artwork. Do not make the cover the only place containing essential information. A decorative character image can support an article; it does not replace a useful article.

Publishing inside Markdown?

For selectable ASCII inside a code block, use the README formatting guide. For compact messages, see the Discord guide. Each destination needs a different balance of detail, spacing and export format.