// {{{ by shik
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-result"
#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-function"
#define SZ(x) ((int)(x).size())
#define ALL(x) begin(x), end(x)
#define REP(i, n) for (int i = 0; i < int(n); i++)
#define REP1(i, a, b) for (int i = (a); i <= int(b); i++)
#define MP make_pair
#define PB push_back
using namespace std;
typedef int64_t LL;
typedef pair<int, int> PII;
typedef vector<int> VI;

namespace { namespace shik {

template<class T> void _R(T &x) { cin >> x; }
void _R(int &x) { scanf("%d", &x); }
void _R(int64_t &x) { scanf("%" SCNd64, &x); }
void _R(double &x) { scanf("%lf", &x); }
void _R(char &x) { scanf(" %c", &x); }
void _R(char *x) { scanf("%s", x); }
void R() {}
template<class T, class... U> void R(T &head, U &... tail) { _R(head); R(tail...); }

template<class T> void _W(const T &x) { cout << x; }
void _W(const int &x) { printf("%d", x); }
void _W(const int64_t &x) { printf("%" PRId64, x); }
void _W(const double &x) { printf("%.16f", x); }
void _W(const char &x) { putchar(x); }
void _W(const char *x) { printf("%s", x); }
template<class T> void _W(const vector<T> &x) { for (auto i = x.begin(); i != x.end(); _W(*i++)) if (i != x.cbegin()) putchar(' '); }
void W() {}
template<class T, class... U> void W(const T &head, const U &... tail) { _W(head); putchar(sizeof...(tail) ? ' ' : '\n'); W(tail...); }

#ifdef SHIK
#include "dump.hpp"
#else
#define dump(...)
#endif

template<class T, class F = less<T>> void sort_uniq(vector<T> &v, F f = F()) { sort(begin(v), end(v), f); v.resize(unique(begin(v), end(v)) - begin(v)); }
template<class T> inline T bit(T x, int i) { return (x >> i) & 1; }
template<class T> inline bool chkmax(T &a, const T &b) { return b > a ? a = b, true : false; }
template<class T> inline bool chkmin(T &a, const T &b) { return b < a ? a = b, true : false; }
template<class T> using MaxHeap = priority_queue<T>;
template<class T> using MinHeap = priority_queue<T, vector<T>, greater<T>>;

// }}}

struct P {
    int x,y;
};

typedef vector<string> Tile;

const Tile T1={"<>"},T2={"^","v"};

bool cmp_x( P a, P b ) { return tie(a.x,a.y)<tie(b.x,b.y); }
bool cmp_y( P a, P b ) { return tie(a.y,a.x)<tie(b.y,b.x); }
bool cmp_z( P a, P b ) { return MP(a.x+a.y,a.x-a.y)<MP(b.x+b.y,b.x-b.y); }

const int N=1010;

int n,m,a,b;

char sol[N][N];

bool go( int x, int y, Tile t ) {
    REP(i,SZ(t)) REP(j,SZ(t[i])) if ( sol[x+i][y+j]!='.' ) return 0;
    REP(i,SZ(t)) REP(j,SZ(t[i])) sol[x+i][y+j]=t[i][j];
    return 1;
}

bool check( const vector<P> &v, int c1, int c2, Tile t1, Tile t2, int z ) {
    REP(i,n) REP(j,m) sol[i][j]='.';
    for ( auto i:v ) {
        int x=i.x,y=i.y;
        if ( c1>z && go(x,y,t1) ) c1--;
        else if ( c2>0 && go(x,y,t2) ) c2--;
        else if ( c1>0 && go(x,y,t1) ) c1--;
    }
    // REP(i,n) dump(sol[i]);
    if ( c1>0 || c2>0 ) return 0;
    W("YES");
    REP(i,n) W(sol[i]);
    return 1;
}
void main() {
    R(n,m,a,b);
    vector<P> v1,v2,v3;
    REP(i,n) REP(j,m) v1.PB({i,j});
    v2=v1;
    v3=v1;
    sort(ALL(v1),cmp_x);
    sort(ALL(v2),cmp_y);
    sort(ALL(v3),cmp_z);
    for ( auto z:{0,n/2,m/2} ) {
        for ( auto &v:{v1,v2} ) {
            if ( check(v,a,b,T1,T2,z) ) return;
            if ( check(v,b,a,T2,T1,z) ) return;
        }
    }
    W("NO");
}

// {{{ main
}}
int main() { shik::main(); return 0; }
// }}}


Measured memory_bytes: 41448