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CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Avatar And Identity -

I'm intrigued by people's avatars. Of all the images... why this one for your avatar? Do tell...

I'll go first, but mine's not that interesting, painfully obvious, I think. Life's a journey. Art's a journey. A road is a symbol of a journey. Also, some people would recognize this painting as typical of my watercolor paintings. I don't use my face because I dread the idea of having complete strangers walk up to me, act as if they know who I am... and I have to speed-search my memory to try to figure out if this person is someone I really ought to remember. Besides, this is about what my art looks like, who cares what I look like, right?

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Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

i change mine monthly but always use the same base. i try to match the month. i currently have 45 of them.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

It was a good hair day.

I use this one when I'm feeling hackled:
Abstract birds, Marlene Burns Raptors  Art Online

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Hi Mike,
You look like you're channeling Anne Geddes' flower babies... is there a story behind that? Or am I completely misreading this...

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Hi Marlene,
I can't do that, my hair is completely unreliable... Feeling Hackled is great...!

 

Ali Oppy

9 Years Ago

I use the same avatar all the time ,that way people know who i am it is the initals of my name ,Same as your self i dont care for my actual photo .My actual logo is this one
Sell Art Online

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

nope, just felt like being a flower this month. i'm running out of ideas. i seem to scare abbie with it though.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Bill Tomsa

9 Years Ago

I had a bad hair day too, so this seemed appopo. Actually it was a bad hair and bad face day. :-)

Bill Tomsa

http://billtomsa.blogspot.com/

 

Ali Oppy

9 Years Ago

lol mike , every time i see your avatars i always think to my self ..."what does he really look"? like lol

 

Joseph C Hinson

9 Years Ago

I use a picture of me that won't frighten too many people away, I hope.

 

Vincent Von Frese

9 Years Ago

Hate to ruin some of your days but I noticed;

Poor avatar portrait photography showing frontal poses. If you are a serious artist then please get a professional photograph made from someone in town that does it for a living or keep your face OFF the avatar shot!

 

Kevin Callahan

9 Years Ago

I change periodicaly my current avatar is from a photo shoot highlighting my son Brads clothing design. He works under the name Bcalla and the clothes my wife wore that day were later worn by Lady Gaga.

 

Kevin Callahan

9 Years Ago

Vincent, forget to take your "nice" med's today?

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

I don't look like myself in photographs. I hate photos of myself, so I, too, use one of my photos. It's easy to find myself in discussions etc. because of the contrast.

I was a red barn for a while, but when they made the avatars larger, it didn't look that good.

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Vincent,
I like the full frontal faces that have really great smiles, I'd hate to see everyone get rid of those (Exhibit A: Marlene). It makes me feel as if someone is glad to see me... even if I know it's only an avatar...

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago



i don't seem to age much, this was taken in 2008, but i look pretty much like that.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Bill Tomsa

9 Years Ago

Vincent, IMO I reject your opinion. When did you join the avatar police? And yes, I am a "serious" artist, but I don't always take myself serious. :-)
Oh and don't worry too much...you didn't "ruin" my day or probably anyone elses.

Bill Tomsa

http://billtomsa.blogspot.com/

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

vincent - your a truck. you don't really have the right to say that. front views are fine - as long as there isn't a camera in your face.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Parker Cunningham

9 Years Ago

I have always wondered what you looked like Milke. I hope mine is friendly, shows I'm a photographer, but doesn't get too personal.

 

Ali Oppy

9 Years Ago

ah so there you are mike, funny how we always get a mental image of what some one looks like , and then to discover ,no thats not what i had imagined lol

 

VIVA Anderson

9 Years Ago

This is me, This is how I've always presented.......as to attitude. Seems comfortable. I'd love to use an avatar that really gave a clue to my art, or even an artwork. I tried all that. Too many choices. Thanks for asking.

 

Shelby Young

9 Years Ago

I like to make mine simple. Currently, it shows viewers that I am a photographer. I hope it is inviting. I don't like to show my face in my avatars much so I tend to run out of ideas. However, I am pretty happy with this one. :)

 

Barbara St Jean

9 Years Ago

Parker, your head is cut off...??? and your a great photographer....get that fixed will ya.

Okay, I just had to weigh in... I'm hiding behind sunflowers, well that's not really me, but I like looking at it better then my old face, that is twenty years older then I should be....

Speaking of age, Mike you have a baby face, I thought you were older, not that you're not cute, you are....just like my son, cute :-))

I'm thinking of coming up with a new avatar, just not really sure what yet....my face is on the net....(real photo) so I'm not really hiding, well I am, but shhhhh...

Cheers, Barbara

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Hi Mike,
I'm having trouble connecting the "you" you just posted with the, um, unicorn, was it? you presented me with the other day... you look so disarmingly well-behaved in this photo.
I'm also now engaged in the intellectual challenge of trying to ascertain whether you used and digitized a different image of your own face in your avatar... I'm kind of thinking you did.

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Barbara,
His head isn't cut off. He wouldn't be alive if it was, and his shirt would be quite messy. It's very obvious...he didn't include his head because his head is INVISIBLE.

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Parker Cunningham

9 Years Ago

Haha Cheryl! If you go to my profile, my head is in fact perfectly secure ;)

 

Dan Turner

9 Years Ago

I agree, there are a couple here that are very off-putting and do influence my feelings about them and their art. Most are fairly neutral, and a few are very good.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

if its like someone giving you the finger. or giving the ol stink eye. or something like that, it could turn someone off. i consider my avatar a reason to click on it. it might catch your eye and pull you in.. hopefully.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Hi Abby,
Like your new avatar... looks like it was an awesome party. Makes me think: if her parties are that much fun... her artwork's gotta be even better!

To everyone talking about business avatars, and selling, and whether we're taking these avatars too seriously:
We have how many hundreds of thousands of artists here? How could we possibly all be here for exactly the same reasons? That seems too much to expect, and not something I would want anyway -- all the fish in the sea all swimming in the same direction all the time. Some people here use FAA as an extension of their art business... others of us are here, in part, just to play. And why not? There is room in the world for both.

A certain amount of critiquing is ok, and informative, but if unsolicited critiquing is bothering the recipients, can you guys kind of chill a little?

Since I started the thread... I'd just like to say that all I really wanted to discuss in this thread are the stories or the decision processes behind selecting *your own* avatar. With maybe a little light-hearted kidding around thrown in... you all know by now that I'm incapable of staying completely serious for very long...

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

Cynthia, I'm the opposite, a natural blond who colors her hair dark brown. Someone once looked at my wedding portrait hanging in our home and asked who it was! I said it was my husband's first wife.
He then told me how kind of me to allow him to hang it.
duh.
I really look different blond. And the dumb blonde persona didn't suit me at all. These days, I don't honestly care if people think I'm dumb or smart or somewhere inbetween. I think I'm gonna go back to my roots.

Cheryl, unsolicited critiques shouldn't be allowed for avatars any more than unsolicited critiques of artwork are.

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Marlene,
You're right... comment retracted.
I'll leave the line-drawing on that to the moderators.

 

Gregory Scott

9 Years Ago

A. If mine is ugly, at least it has a hummingbird on in, normally considered "cute" by most.
B. Nose hairs? Really? At this resolution?
C. Mine give one of my best portfolio categories, and shows a little about my sense of humor, which has some bearing in some of my images.
D. Changing it frequently detracts from the "branding" function of an avatar, which IS important, in my opinion. Mike's variations seem a worthy exception, in my opinion.
E. Eye bleach doesn't work, and causes more damage than healing after viewing an ugly avatar.
F. Photographers who hide behind their camera seem to be saying "I'm a real photographer, because I have a long lens. (Or whatever.)
G. Hiding behind a hummingbird is much more aesthetic than hiding behind a camera.

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Eye bleach? Ouch.

 

Gregory Scott

9 Years Ago

Eye bleach is used as a fantasy remedy, often with reference to the oh-so-true proverb; "That which has been seen cannot be unseen."

 

David King

9 Years Ago

In that case you need brain bleach, or those cool little flashing doodads they use in "Men in Black"

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

I WANT ONE OF THOSE

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Brain bleach...

Help I just eached y rain...

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

Haha cheryl

 

Cynthia Decker

9 Years Ago

The only time an avatar would make a difference to me would be if it were gross or violent, or overly political, or overly sexual. Even then if I loved the work, I might buy it anyway, but generally avatars along those lines will keep me from visiting a person's profile at all.

Because there was that one time I clicked on a poster's avatar to see the profile and by seeing all the work full sized, I realized what the avatar was a depiction of. Learned that one the hard way. Key word hard.

*cringe*

 

Valerie Reeves

9 Years Ago

My two cents? I find it fascinating that someone with a truck for an avatar is handing out advice and rules on what an avatar should look like.

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Cynthia,
Yes, there are certain kinds of art that I don't like at all. If someone's avatar looks like the kind of art that sticks in my mind forever in a bad way... I'm not visiting that profile.

 

Vincent Von Frese

9 Years Ago

Valerie,

A name I have always loved for several reasons including the old rock&troll song.

I"m really more truck than art these days.

That photo shows me at Loxahatchie where I worked driving an air boat and the truck is a Toyota Land Cruiser FJ 40.

The reflections of the bamboo reed reflects off the cruiser's flat windshield and I'm there as only a part of this nature scene in the Everglades swamp environment.

 

Greg Jackson

9 Years Ago

"My two cents? I find it fascinating that someone with a truck for an avatar is handing out advice and rules on what an avatar should look like."


Throwing my two cents also, Valerie, I've thought that throughout this thread as I've read through it. Oh well, life goes on. :)

 

Vanessa Bates

9 Years Ago

Interesting question, Cheryl. My avatars are almost always my art as a picture of me doesn't really add any information about my work. Your comment about how that might discourage people visiting the profile makes me wonder if the art browser would be disappointed if they looked at the profile picture and then saw the artist was creating work that was not to the viewer's expectation. Would I be saving them a click :D?

Since many places have a rule about representing a face, my avatar for those sites will be something related. Those outlets don't have the resources to check if the image is a true representation of the poster so I can use most anything that has a face. Most sites focused on content care only about the content (surprise). My avatar is probably never going to be a portrait of another person, but that's about it.

I do enjoy seeing other people's approaches to avatars. Cameras, monocle, brushes, coins, etc have all been used to great effect. Hopefully your journey in self representation is just as fun. So far you're off to a good start.





 

Vincent Von Frese

9 Years Ago



XXXXX






 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Hi Vanessa,
Your work is delightful-- sticks in my mind in a good way. ( :

 

Richard Reeve

9 Years Ago

Playing around in GIMP this evening. It made my head hurt....

Sell Art Online

- Richard Reeve
ReevePhotos.com

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

Richard, that looks like a splitting migraine!

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

Case in point...check the homepage.....20 out of 20 avatars are portraits of the artist.

 

Gregory Scott

9 Years Ago

Very astute, Marlene. A clear indication of a successful approach to avatars.

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

p.s. and I only recognize 1 as being part of the forum where we let others 'meet us.'! lol

 

Vanessa Bates

9 Years Ago

Even Petrov? This cycle might be one way, the next could be another. Wouldn't it be more of a testimony that the majority of artists here have a portrait of themselves so the selection is a reflection of that?

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

If you look on the profile, they call it a "headshot." Probably for most people the choice of using their own face isn't really something they think about... they're just trying to follow the directions, look at what most people do, and post a shot of their head. The big decision is which photo of their face they use.

I probably would have done that, too, but I didn't have any photos of me that were current that I liked, so I started thinking about other images I could use...

 

This discussion is closed.