The Scroll Art Museum

Scroll art lets beginner programmers turn loops and print() into animated ASCII art.

All articles

Inchworm

A little inchworm that moves across the screen. Click here to view the animation...

Thorns

A rapid pattern that looks like thorns or audio waves. Click here to view the animation...

Hex Portals

Hexagon-shaped portals against a scratchy background. Click here to view the animation...

Snail Trail

Snails gliding across the screen. Click here to view the animation...

Orbital Travels

A collection of random points moving in sine waves. Click here to view the animation...

Starfield on the Apple IIe

The term "scroll art" is new but these text-based programs don't require modern computers. Here is a video of the Starfield program running on a 1983 Apple IIe.

Connected Pipes

Random squiggles that form a sort of connected pipework. There are some isolated sections but no dead ends. Click here to view the animation...

Diamond Sky

A star- and diamond-filled sky. Click here to view the animation...

Full of Squares

Squares of various sizes. Click here to view the animation...

Proton Stream

Lightning streams energetically jittering, like a Ghostbuster's proton pack. Click here to view the animation...

Wallpaper

The standard wallpaper scroll art, including several designs and tessellations. Click here to view the animation...

Tri Grid Scaffolding

A triangular grid in cyclic densities. Click here to view the animation...

Striped Triangles

Striped triangles in cyclic densities. Click here to view the animation...

Spike

A simple spike pattern. Click here to view the animation...

Math Function

Bitmap patterns based on Cartesian coordinate inputs to a math function. Click here to view the animation...

Toggler

Triangular patterns toggled between two characters, with variants. Click here to view the animation...

Matrix Screensaver

Hacker-themed trails of ones and zeros. Click here to view the animation...

Diagonal Maze

The classic Commodore 64 pattern. Click here to view the animation...

Ducklings

Cute combinatorial explosion of ASCII art ducks. Click here to view the animation...

Sine Message

Text moving in a sine wave pattern. Click here to view the animation...