On the Nose

Posted 3:30 PM by Gerald So

Shortly after I joined Bluesky last year, I wanted to make my own cartoon avatar, not pay someone else to make it nor upload a photo to a cartoon generator.

First, I tried to apply my offline image editing program's cartoon filter and Inkscape's multi-scan Trace Bitmap:

Photo and image by Gerald So

Not only did it make a high-memory, complicated vector, a friend said it aged me.

From there, I studied line drawing on YouTube, adapting the techniques as Inkscape works more easily with closed shapes:

Image by Gerald So

Progressing from front-facing avatars to 3/4 view, I've found noses most challenging.

Image by Gerald So

Twice now, another friend has told me my 3/4 cartoons remind him of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" music video, blockier than I'm going for:




Over Memorial Day weekend, I changed my blog header cartoon's nose to a squiggle, a drawing flourish. Its width and color suggest depth, its curve one-of-a-kind shape.

Image by Gerald So

Superman Day

Posted 4:00 PM by Gerald So

Image by Gerald So

For the second year in a row, DC Comics is celebrating Superman today, the anniversary of Action Comics #1 in 1938.

I've dressed my avatar for the occasion. Note the curl, bit of cape, and eyes heating up.

Projekt Osterhase

Posted 5:30 PM by Gerald So

Years ago, I made a Yahoo! Avatar of myself in an Easter Bunny costume. It involved mixing stock hairstyles, faces, outfits, and backgrounds.

Last March I began watching tutorials on how to draw faces, adapting the techniques to Inkscape, and I made a front-facing bunny costume avatar from scratch.

In time for Easter this year, I've made a three-quarter view version:

Image by Gerald So

Resolutions, from a Certain Point of View

Posted 3:00 AM by Gerald So

"Luke, you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

Image by Gerald So

I've been against new year's resolutions a long time, a long time, thinking I had to stick with a resolution the whole year or I failed. Yesterday I realized a new year's resolution can merely be one made at the start of a year, not taking a full year to do.

New Perspective

Posted 4:00 AM by Gerald So

Back in April, dissatisfied with cartoon effect photo filters, I began adapting line drawing techniques to Inkscape to create front-facing avatars. This week I challenged myself to make an avatar in 3/4 portrait view. I primarily used the variation of the Loomis method Darlene Nguyen shows in her Rapid Fire Art YouTube tutorial.

Images by Gerald So