• 22 pieces
  • Checked October 2026

Skeleton Text Art

Tap a skeleton to copy every line of it; the first holds a sign you can type on.

Skeleton Text Art

.-. (o.o) |=| .-o-----------o-. | YOUR WORDS | '-----.-+-.-----' | | _| |_Skeleton with a sign8 lines, 18 wideReady to copy

22 pieces. Tap one to copy it.

Your own words 1

One line 2

Small, 2 to 4 lines 3

Medium, 5 to 9 lines 11

Large, 10 lines and up 5

Next step Ghosts, pumpkins and bats

How it works

Skeleton text art in keyboard characters, drawn for this page: 22 pieces, with whole skeletons standing, waving, dancing, sitting and doing a handstand, plus a rib cage, a hand of bones and crossed bones.

Read the full guide

How the skeleton is drawn

The skull is three small rows: a round top, two eyes in parentheses and a jaw. An equals sign each side of a bar is a pair of ribs, a plus sign in a short frame is the hips, and a lowercase o is a hand or a joint.

Write on the sign

Skeleton with a sign takes 10 characters where it says YOUR WORDS, or 15 if you type over the padding. Keep the line the same length so the board stays closed.

  • Tall skeleton with joints is the largest, 16 lines by 18 columns, with elbows, knees and three-fingered hands.
  • Squash-proof has five pieces with no run of spaces: two one-liners, a skeleton, a rib cage and crossed bones.
  • Skulls on their own are on skull ASCII art.

Questions and answers

How do I make a skeleton out of text?

Stack a skull, (o.o), over two rows of ribs written =|=, then a slash and a backslash for legs. Squash-proof skeleton does it in five rows of seven characters, with periods in place of spaces.

Is there a dancing skeleton in text?

Yes. Three skeletons dancing has three small figures in a row, five lines tall, each in a different step. Skeleton jumping for joy and Skeleton doing a handstand are single figures.

Is there a skull and crossbones here?

No. Crossed bones, no skull is two long bones in an X, nine lines tall, and Squash-proof crossed bones is the same idea in three rows. The skull and crossbones is on the skull ASCII art page.

All 22 pieces

Your own words 1

  • Skeleton with a sign The board hides the ribs: two bony hands grip its top corners, with the skull above and the legs below. Type over YOUR WORDS, 10 characters, or 15 with the padding. 8 lines, 18 wide.

One line 2

  • Skeleton bones in a row Four small bones in a line, each a shaft between two knobs. 1 line, 19 wide.
  • Skeleton lying on one line Head to toe on one line: a skull, four ribs on the spine and two leg bones. 1 line, 17 wide.

Small, 2 to 4 lines 3

  • Skeleton lying down Flat on its back, seen from the side: skull on the left, four ribs across the spine, hips, and two legs with a knee each. 3 lines, 27 wide.
  • Squash-proof crossed bones An X of two bones with a knob at each tip, fifteen characters in all. 3 lines, 5 wide.
  • Squash-proof rib cage Two pairs of ribs on a spine, closed top and bottom, with no blank. 4 lines, 5 wide.
Show all 22 pieces (16 more)

Medium, 5 to 9 lines 11

  • Crossed bones, no skull Two long bones crossed in an X, a knob at each of the four ends, and no skull. 9 lines, 13 wide.
  • Hand of bones A hand held up flat: three long fingers, a shorter one and a thumb, each in two bones with a joint between. 7 lines, 14 wide.
  • Rib cage and spine The chest alone: six pairs of ribs curving out from the spine, down to the top of the hips. 8 lines, 14 wide.
  • Skeleton at a desk Sitting behind a desk with both hands on the top and a small screen at one end. 8 lines, 26 wide.
  • Skeleton behind a wall A skull looking over a brick wall, with the finger bones of both hands hooked over the top. 5 lines, 19 wide.
  • Skeleton doing a handstand Upside down: feet in the air, hips over ribs, and both arms straight down to the floor beside the skull. 9 lines, 11 wide.
  • Skeleton jumping for joy Both arms flung up and both legs out to the sides, off the ground. 8 lines, 12 wide.
  • Skeleton on a bench Sitting on a bench with a hand on each knee, shins hanging in front of the seat. 9 lines, 13 wide.
  • Squash-proof skeleton Skull, ribs, legs and feet on five rows, every gap a period. 5 lines, 7 wide.
  • Three skeletons dancing Three small skeletons in a row, each in a different step: arms up, one leg kicked, arms out wide. 5 lines, 27 wide.
  • Two skeleton friends Two skeletons side by side, the near hands joined in the middle. 8 lines, 24 wide.

Large, 10 lines and up 5

  • Skeleton in a tall hat A whole figure, shorter than the others, wearing a stovepipe hat with a flat brim. 10 lines, 12 wide.
  • Skeleton waving One bony arm lifted high past the skull, the other left hanging. 10 lines, 14 wide.
  • Skeleton with a balloon The standing skeleton holding the string of one round balloon. 10 lines, 16 wide.
  • Skeleton, front view Standing and facing you: a small skull, three rows of ribs, arms hanging and straight legs. 10 lines, 12 wide.
  • Tall skeleton with joints The tallest here, with a toothy jaw, a framed rib cage, elbows, knees and three-fingered hands. 16 lines, 18 wide.

How this list was compiled: Own work: every piece was drawn for this page on 2026-10-02, rendered in a monospaced font and looked at; none is copied from an archive or another site, and no skeleton from a named game, film or cartoon is drawn. Most of the skeletons share one construction of this site's own: a skull of three small rows, an equals sign each side of a bar for a pair of ribs, a plus sign in a short frame for the hips and a lowercase o for a hand or a joint. All 22 read as a skeleton or as bones at the first look and were kept. Heads stay small: a skull on its own, and the skull and crossbones, are on the skull page and none of its pieces is repeated. Every character is one of the 95 printable ASCII characters, U+0020 to U+007E. Squash-proof means no line starts with a space and no two spaces touch. The comment box badge means at most 8 lines and 30 columns: a rule of thumb of this site, not a promise about any app. Licence: own work

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