Pretty in Pixels: Make a Spectacular Avatar of Yourself

There are many reasons why people use professional-looking photos for their social media profiles. While some can't be bothered to have a profile photo at all, some others want an artistic digital representation of themselves.

What Exactly Is a Pixel Avatar?

A pixelated version of yourself online, otherwise known as a pixel avatar, can often do a much better job at competing for the right kind of online attention.

As you probably already know, an avatar is a representation of your character or persona.

Pixel art is a form of digital art that, like any other arts, is considered unique and valuable. The term was first published in 1982 by Adele Goldberg and Robert Flegal of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. That was a while ago.

It's quite similar to cross-stitching. Smaller pieces are placed individually, one part a time, pixel by pixel, and layer by layer, to create the bigger picture. This "larger picture" is pixel art.

Ironically, if you really look at it, the larger piece of art that is pixel art is really not that large at all. In fact, the average avatar design is made to fit into the small requirements of online images, usually as a 32 x 32 pixels JPG/PNG file.

Too small for you?

If you'd rather just use a good photo of yourself, read up on my tips here 👉 How to Pick a Social Media Profile Picture that Isn't Boring.

Now back to the pixels. Where have you heard that term before? Pixel. Hmm, sounds familiar, doesn't it?

A pixel is the tiny unit of measurement used digitally. Take any photo you have, any digital illustration, or any piece of JPG file. If you zoom in to its smallest units, you will be seeing things in their tiniest as pixels.

That's why it's also generally a bad idea to put a logo on a tiny pixel avatar. Nobody can see anything that small without so much as an obnoxious squint.

To learn a little bit more about the history of pixel art, I recommend that you watch this next short documentary by Simon Cottee. It's a pretty thorough 11-minute summary.

How to Make a Pixel Avatar of Yourself

For a few bucks, you can get someone to create a forward-facing avatar of yourself on places like Fiverr or Etsy. Well, maybe on Etsy it takes more than just a few bucks, but still, you can get someone to do it for you.

But if you want to create something more creative and representative of your ideal self, you can teach yourself how to make a pixel avatar in a style that you like. Perhaps you're looking to create the imaginary superhero self-image you aspire to be. Perhaps you want a more divine virtual identity or be seen in a supernatural light.

Step 1: Find a pixel art editing program

There's a few out there that are very good and free, such as Piskel, Pixie, Paint.net, or GrafX2. These are all pixel editors with selective drawing tools designed to be used by game developers.

Or, if you prefer, you can use the ever-popular Adobe Photoshop. An alternative open-source image editor is GIMP, which I have so often used for my digital arts assignments.

If you want to use GIMP, I recommend that you also watch the next video, which explains quite nicely how to navigate your way around an avatar art on GIMP v 2.8. Currently, GIMP is available as a stable version 2.10.22, but you can still download the older versions from here.

Step 2: Find a good tutorial to start with

Many pixel artists like to share their tutorials, tips and tricks, and resources on their channels hosted on YouTube. You can head over there and search for a tutorial. Pixel artists like Brandon James Greer, MortMort and the team of artists behind Pixel Dailies often share tutorials suitable for advanced beginners.

If you don't mind written tutorials, the following two are quite easy and pretty thorough:

#1 Pixel Art Tutorial with Pyxel Edit by AussieNinja. Create a basic full-body avatar with a simple color palette. You can follow this tutorial all the same with a free pixel editor because they basically work the same way and have the same functions you find on a paid version.

#2 How to Make Pixel Characters on TutPlus. Quick and easy tutorial for a simple character avatar.

They're pretty fun, aren't they?

I've completed both of them and honestly feel that maybe in a couple of days I might just start a pixel avatar gig myself on Fiverr. Who's up for some pixel art? 🥳

Once you’ve created your basic character design and feel that you're ready for some variations, try to make some changes with the face or the body. Longer hair maybe? Or is your character bald?

You can try to make your character more like your friends or family members to practice. Add a hat, try the firefighter hat, helmet, wear a dress, and use different colors.

Step 3: Find a pixel art community (optional)

There's a lot of benefit in participating in pixel art communities like Lospec, Pixilart, and Deviant Art. By joining a community of creators, you'll be exposed to a lot more pixel art tutorials and inspiration from others. Maybe you'll even find more ideas from sharing your own pixel creations.

You can do so many other objects other than a profile picture. Foodstuff, breakfast, pizza, plants, cactus, potted flowers, movie scenes.

You'll find many ideas to try. Occasionally, you might want to take part in contests and challenges or collaborate with other newbie artists.

If you've always wanted to try your hands on digital art, I hope this story has inspired you to take a closer look at pixel art. Consider sharing this story with others who could use the encouragement.