Research. Most of these are too high-res to embed.
You can explicitly set the max width of an embedded image with
width=number, so something like this would work well:
[url=URLTOIMAGE][img width=800]URLTOIMAGE[/img][/url]
With that out of the way...
Puts on his best constructive art criticism hat 
Wow, you really set a challenge for yourself here with this kind of source material I think!
But if anyone can pull this off in ASCII art it's you.
Remember how I said before that the techniques you use in your ASCII style are very close to
line art, or more precisely: like old-school
engravings? I think way you combine glyphs into a visual whole is very "engraving-like", making something visually simliar to lines and scratches, but using glyphs instead.
Some random engravings I pulled off the internet to illustrate my point: (click for high-res)
Source:
https://thegraphicsfairy.com/black-and-white-rabbit-clip-art/
Source:
https://thegraphicsfairy.com/black-and-white-rabbit-clip-art/TANGENT: Might be fun to test my hypothesis by seeing if adapting engravings to your ASCII style is "easy" mode for you
For comparison (and new readers of the topic),
Ultima Ratio Regum's use of solid blocks and colours is more
paintlery.
So keeping that in mind: the large-scale structures of these images are quite simple, but the other visually striking thing about them is the mixture of light/dark contrasts and
texture in the snow.
There are limits to how strongly you can contrast light and dark without resorting to solid block glyphs (and I think that you put a constraint of not using the more "graphical" glyphs for yourself, right?), or colouring the glyph a different shade of grey, so that's already a hurdle to overcome.
The texture part is a better match graphically, but finnicky, and more importantly: really limited by the resolution. You're clearly aware of this at some level. I don't know if it's a conscious thing, or a subconscious awareness due to tons of practice, but you're aware.
It's visible when comparing the lines in this:
To your two passes at it:
,-----._
/ `'-.__
\_ __ _ \
/ ` . `-._.-.
.´ ___` . / \ .´
| _´ `-.`.| `. .´
/ _.,/ ¯'-. ¯¯ `._.´
| ,-´ )| ` . _,-´
¯¯ / | ` ._.-´ 7
/ \ _.-´ 7
( _.-´ 7
`---´ 7
7
,.:::.._
/_ . `':...
\_ __ _ ` '';
/ -._` . ` `:...-.
.´/ / `___` . ` /. :\ .´
|´`^./ _;:::::..`.|`:'.:`. .´
/´. _.,/:¯:.:':::::::. `'.:`._.´
| ,-´ )|::::::`.:::::::::_,-´
¯¯ / :::::::::::`::_:-´ 7
/ `:::::::::_:-´ 7
, (::::::.-´ . 7
/ `---´ . 7
. . 7
` '
(using the sevens for footsteps is inspired though!)
Similarly, focusing on the texture work:
____
_.::´,-.`\
_.´::´ , -. |
.:´::'´ . `./
_...:´:'´ .´._ \`-,
__.--'´ '`.`-._-.-| `-.
_.-´ _ , `, `._/`. |
.-´ `'. _( `, . | \ `'\
- - ` .-. \.-- ´ `.` . | \__
.´ ` \ ` \ / \(`.
Now, I'm not criticising your ability here. This honestly seems like a nigh-impossible task to me. You're very limited by resolution and available glyphs.
I'm also not saying that you
should emphasize these textures. When judging these studies by "how well do they work
if you don't know the source, then the first and last ones are the most clearly mountains:
.:´`.
.::::. `-.
.:::::::: `;.`-.
.:::::::'.::' ´ `:.`-.__
.::::::::: ::' | `'::::...__.---.__
:::::::::. :: ' \ \ `'::::::::/_.-`.
:::::::::. ' \ \ `::::''.-´ __`.
::::::::'. :::::.-- _`|
:::::::'::`. \ \ `:::::.._ `|\
::::::.:::::`. \ `:::`::` \
:::::.:::::::::` `::`::`
::::.::::::::/ \ \ \ `:::.`
::.:::::::::' `. `':.`
:.::::::::' `. \ `:
__ ___ _ __ _
___ ) ( )_ _ ( ´ _ ) _ ( )-._
( ) ( ( _ )`-.( ,--- ( ) ` __ _( (_(__)
´__ ` ( )-, _ _ _´ _`(_)
,-. __ -´( ) .-. _ ` ´ '_, `´ )_
( ) `- ; `'.._ ) `__
/ . `::. -._ _.-´ `.`.
.´ `- `::: ´ `.-.´ ) .
.´ :::: ( ` `,
.´ ;:'.: ( )`-,
-., ´ `._.-- ; .':::´ `.
_ .´ .:::::::.
,-( )-, :' ':::::::::.
`--` ¯¯ .' ':::.:::::::. _
.' '::::::::::::: ´ )
| ':::.::::::::::: (
.´ '::::::::::::::::. (
,..,; .._ '::::::::::::::::::.
.´ ´ .' `:`;.'::::::::::::::::::
.' | ´ `:::..'::::::::::::::::
.' .' .::::::::::::::::::::::.
.' .' `::::::::::::::::::::::.
__ .' .' ::::::::::::::::::::::::
: `::' : _`::::::::::::::::::.':::
`._; ': ;´ .::::::::::::::::::.:::.
(especially the second one, the first could be mistaken for a dune)
But part of that might be that they have a mostly flat texture, so the global structure shines more. It'll be hard to balance these things.
My point is: this is super-hard to pull off with the way you make these images! Expecting someone to do that painstakingly glyph by glyph like you're doing is madness for large textures like this; I'm tempted to say that one needs a "directional brush" kind of tool for "painting" large sections of texture to get that in - how hard would it be to adapt your particle code from Unity for such a thing?
Looking forward to see how far you'll push this, and what kind of visual solutions you'll find!
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