The main problem I ever see with avatars is a lack of contrasting backgrounds, which make it hard to make out what they are. (That’s why mine are usually completely cut out from the background.) I haven’t seen any content I don’t like.
I doubt anyone cares, but I honestly don’t remember now why I started the Monopoly piece thing. I made it my profile pic a long time ago, back when I was a (gifted) membership twice. I do remember having this idea of making all my avatars (across various sites) into Monopoly pieces, but I never really got into it. It’s also an easy avatar to change around a bit for various holidays and stuff.
I’ve considered just a visual pun, but I never found one I really liked. Conveying a large size in a small avatar isn’t easy.
Mine is part of a commission piece I had done for my general web presence, the large version of which can be found here. I love how it came out; I feel like it really captures what I’m going for.
Yet for the 50 by 50 canvas it is a fail. The content is just not comprehensible on that smaller scale. Until I clicked on the larger version I could not tell what it was at all.
Unfortunately, yours is one of the ones where the contrast is low enough that I couldn’t figure out what it is. I think you cropped it well, but I think you might want to play around with contrast and sharpness to make it easier to parse at 50px.
I had fun with mine, I drew it myself then photographed it ( actually I drew the self portrait in a hippy-dippy workshop I took recently) and I cropped it to a head shot. I had to download an app to get it to 50x50 but it was amazingly easy.
IMHO the 50x50px avatars should be considered more as icons rather than pictures. Taking a picture that you like and reducing it down to 50x50 may just make it illegible if there’s too much detail in it. Better to go for simplicity.
My general criticism is that people aren’t also uploading a 125x125px version of their Avatar pic as their Profile pic, so that people can just click on the smaller pic to see the larger one. (Like mine)
Is that supposed to be ironic? There is no large version of your pic visible on your profile, unless something is busted. But I can see 125x125 pics for DSeid, Drunky Smurf, and some others. I have one, too.
This is my avatar. There are many like it but this one is mine. My avatar is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my avatar is useless. Without my avatar I am useless. I must fire my avatar true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my avatar and myself are defenders of my country, we are the masters of my enemy, we are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace.
