#include <bits/stdc++.h>
#include <random>

using namespace std;

typedef unsigned long long ull;
typedef long long ll;
typedef double ld;
//#define ll __int128
//#define int ll
//#define int ll
//#define char ll
typedef vector<char> vc;
typedef vector<vc> vvc;
typedef vector<vvc> vvvc;
typedef pair<int, int> pii;
typedef pair<pii, pii> piii;
typedef pair<ll, ll> pll;
typedef vector<int> vi;
typedef vector<pii> vpi;
typedef vector< vi > vvi;
typedef vector< vvi > vvvi;
typedef vector<short> vs;
typedef vector<vs> vvs;
typedef vector<vvs> vvvs;
typedef vector<ll> vl;
typedef vector<vl> vvl;
typedef vector<vvl> vvvl;
typedef vector<ld> vld;
typedef vector<vld> vvld;
typedef vector<vvld> vvvld;
typedef vector<string> vst;
typedef vector<vst> vvst;
typedef pair<ld, ld> pld;

#define inmin(a, b) a = min(a, (b))
#define inmax(a, b) a = max(a, (b))
#define ALL(a) a.begin(),a.end()
#define RALL(a) a.rbegin(),a.rend()
#define sqr(x) ((x) * (x))
#define fori(i, n) for(int i = 0; i < int(n); ++i)
#define SZ(a) ((int)((a).size()))
#define triple(T) tuple<T, T, T>
#define quad(T) tuple<T, T, T, T>
#define watch(x) cerr << (#x) << " = " << (x) << endl;

#ifdef MAX_HOME
#define cerr cout
#else
#define cerr if (false) cerr
#endif

const double PI = 2 * acos(0.0);
#define rand shittttty_shit
mt19937 rng(chrono::steady_clock::now().time_since_epoch().count());
mt19937_64 rng_64(chrono::steady_clock::now().time_since_epoch().count());

const string DIGITS = "0123456789";
const string ALPH = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";


template <class T0, class T1>
inline ostream & operator << (ostream &out, pair<T0, T1> &a) {
    return out << "{" << a.first << ", " << a.second << "}";
}

template <class T0, class T1>
inline istream & operator >> (istream &in, pair<T0, T1> &a) {
    return in >> a.first >> a.second;
}

template <class T0, class T1, class T2>
inline ostream & operator << (ostream &out, tuple<T0, T1, T2> &a) {
    return out << "{" << get<0>(a) << ", " << get<1>(a) << ", " << get<2>(a) << "}";
}

template <class T0, class T1, class T2, class T3>
inline ostream & operator << (ostream &out, tuple<T0, T1, T2, T3> &a) {
    return out << "{" << get<0>(a) << ", " << get<1>(a) << ", " << get<2>(a) << ", " <<  get<3>(a) << "}";
}

template<class T>
inline ostream & operator << (ostream &out, vector<T> &a) {
    out << "[";
    fori (i, a.size())
        out << a[i] << vector<string>{", ", "]  "}[i + 1 == a.size()];
    return out;
}


void smain();



signed main() {
    ios::sync_with_stdio(0);
    cin.tie(0); cout.tie(0);
#ifdef MAX_HOME
    freopen("input.txt", "r", stdin);
    clock_t start = clock();
#endif
    cout << setprecision(12) << fixed;
    smain();
#ifdef MAX_HOME
    cout << "\n\n\n\nTOTAL EXECUTION TIME: " << float( clock () - start ) /  CLOCKS_PER_SEC << endl;
#endif
    return 0;
}

int a, b;

void bad() {
    cout << "NO\n";
    exit(0);
}

void smain() {
    int n, m;
    cin >> n >> m >> a >> b;
    if ((a + b) * 2 > n * m)
        bad();

    vector<string> ans(n, string(m, '.'));
    bool kek = true;
    if (n & 1) {
        for (int i = 0; i + 1 < m && a; i += 2) {
            ans[n - 1][i] = '<';
            ans[n - 1][i + 1] = '>';
            a--;
        }
        n--;
    } else {
        kek = false;
    }
    if (m & 1) {
        for (int j = 0; j + 1 < n && b; j += 2) {
            ans[j][m - 1] = '^';
            ans[j + 1][m - 1] = 'v';
            b--;
        }
        m--;
    } else {
        kek = false;
    }
    if ((a + b) * 2 > n * m) {
        bad();
    }
    if ((a + b) * 2 == n * m && (a & 1)) {
        if (kek) {
            ++n;
            ++m;
            ans[n - 3][m - 3] = '<';
            ans[n - 3][m - 2] = '>';
            ans[n - 3][m - 1] = '^';
            ans[n - 2][m - 3] = '^';
            ans[n - 2][m - 2] = '.';
            ans[n - 2][m - 1] = 'v';
            ans[n - 1][m - 3] = 'v';
            ans[n - 1][m - 2] = '<';
            ans[n - 1][m - 1] = '>';
            a--;
            b--;
            --n;
            --m;
        } else {
            bad();
        }
    }

    for (int i = 0; i < n; i += 2) {
        for (int j = 0; j < m; j += 2) {
            if (a >= 2) {
                ans[i][j] = '<';
                ans[i][j + 1] = '>';
                ans[i + 1][j] = '<';
                ans[i + 1][j + 1] = '>';
                a -= 2;
            } else if (b >= 2) {
                ans[i][j] = '^';
                ans[i][j + 1] = '^';
                ans[i + 1][j] = 'v';
                ans[i + 1][j + 1] = 'v';
                b -= 2;
            } else if (a) {
                ans[i][j] = '<';
                ans[i][j + 1] = '>';
                --a;
            } else if (b) {
                ans[i][j] = '^';
                ans[i + 1][j] = 'v';
                --b;
            }
        }
    }
    assert(a == 0 && b == 0);
    cout << "YES\n";
    for (auto x : ans) {
        cout << x << '\n';
    }
}

Measured memory_bytes: 2304