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Edited by Teresa, Krystle, Eric, Blizzerand and 2 others

A hackergotchi is an avatar used in blog aggregators.[1] Traditionally they are made in GIMP and consist of a digital headshot with a drop shadow. It's a fairly basic technique, and this article will show you how to do it with GIMP.

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Edit Steps

  1. 1
    Select your image. Since you will be only using it as a guide, quality isn't required. The sample used in this article was taken with a cell phone. Since it will be resized to a small size and a drop shadow will be added, small defects will not be noticed. Select the source image based primary on how it reflects your personality or attitude, not necessarily on quality. That being said, if you can find an appropriate high resolution image, it'll make the processing simpler.
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  2. The result should be something like this
    2
    Start cutting into your image. Cut the head on contour. Different methods are available. Do not forget to add an alpha channel to the layer, because you will want deleted regions to become transparent. You can use a combination of the tools described below:

    • Magic wand
      The Magic Wand - This is most useful when the background contains large areas with uniform colors, highly contrasting with the subject (not the case with the image used in this example). Use "Select contiguous regions" and adjust the threshold as needed.
    • Cut on pathCut on path
      Cut on path - Use "Select shapes from image". Work at a high zoom and add short segments. The results are good when the contrast between background and figure is high.
    • Quick maskQuick mask
      Quick Mask - This is a very powerful tool, it may be a bit overwhelming for a simple hackergotchi.
      • Toggle Quick Mask, erase the face, toggle Quick Mask off, invert selection and remove it.
      • Note: The selection is left unfinished on purpose, the scope of this tutorial is to be quick.
    • EraseErase
      Erase - This one is fairly simple to use. Select rectangular regions of the background and delete them.
      • Then zoom in and use the eraser on the contour.
  3. 3
    Scale the image down, depending on where it will be used. After scaling, the images become blurry, so sharpen it.
  4. 4
    Add a small drop shadow. Most beginners are tempted to use the default value proposed by GIMP. Do NOT do this, as it is too large for a hackergotchi. Use smaller values. In this case try the X and Y offset of 1 px and a blur radius of 4 px.

    • An alternative is to use a perspective shadow.
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Edit Sources and Citations

  • howto.nicubunu.ro - Tutorial written by Nicu Buculei, who licensed this content Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (CC-BY-SA).

Article Info

Featured Article

Categories: Featured Articles | GIMP

Recent edits by: Samantha, Blizzerand, Eric

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