How to make a game with images?

[MW130]

Hey I want to get further into c++ and want to start using images. I was told to use SDL, but is there any way to do it in JUST c++? and not a third party API? Or do you need API's to handle images?? I heard something about using a console application. I really want to get into this and i would truly appreciate any help provided. Thanks, M
BTW, if there is any way to handle images without using a third party application, and just c++ itself, pleaaase tell me I really dont want to learn SDL :3

[Fovv]

I know code::blocks can build console applications. It's an IDE.

Idk if it's what youre looking for or not, but you should check it out.

[maeriden]

SDL is written in C you know.
It's a library that save you the trouble of creating the data structure to load the data from image files, writing a function to tell the OS that you want to display that data on the screen, and I don't even know how much more stuff
Sure, you could write them yourself, but if you're posting in the beginners section then you're probably months(years?) away from being able to do it
If you want C++ rather than C you can try SFML or Allegro

With the console you can do ASCII art, but I'd read this first http://www.cplusplus.com/articles/G13hAqkS/