You have been able to draw plots from proper graphing libraries using actual images for years in terminals that support the kitty graphics protocol. See

GNUPlot: https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/integrations/#tool-gnuplot matplotlib: https://github.com/jktr/matplotlib-backend-kitty Julia: https://github.com/simonschoelly/KittyTerminalImages.jl

The kitty graphics protocol is supported in three major terminals these days: kitty, WezTerm, konsole.