Let's Talk Avatars
May 17, 2020
Avatars are a pretty fascinating part of visual culture. Like cartoon or caricature, oversimplification is inherent. Each avatar system forces you into fitting your unique shape into its limited choices. And I think many people are blind to their own features.
The Facebook avatar above?
Darn good likeness.
I think in the grand schemes of things, I have a pretty "graphic" face. To build a Brandy you need:
- Very short, black hair
- Very pale, pinky skin
- Red lips
- (Ideally) yellow glasses
- Green eyes
Weirdly this "off the rack" outfit is pretty right on. Though it needs even stripes and better shoes.
One of the wins here is that you didn't have to choose gender up front. I could actually get my hair. In interfaces that make you choose your gender, no lady-type person has shorter hair than a pixie cut.
But my nose isn't like any of these 24.
It may have worked if you could move and resize features like you can in other systems. I would have bumped up my nose. And made my mouth smaller.
This lady rocks the cheeks and little cupid's bow mouth.
In stark, scrawny contrast, the native Samsung avatar maker My Emoji doesn't think fat people exist. That is offensive. And misguided for such a huge brand. It's not a fashion brand. My fat finger can work my Galaxy S Whatever.
Next, I Bitmojied myself:
NAILED IT. I am constantly riding unicorns.
For my monthly Drawing as a Verb sessions, I turned the 🤓 emoticon into me in Photoshop:
Far less visual info in this size to Brandyfy it. But again, because I have very distinct looks. I can get by with short hair and yellow glasses, so I don't need red lips or the right hairline.
Today, I went on and recorded a video. I decided, "Eff it," and wore this:
UPDATE: I stumbled on my Mii from Wii from 2011:
