The Online Avatar Makers I Love!

Face Your Manga

From the Face Your Manga website:
Face Your Manga allows you to create an Avatar for your self or your friends in an absolutely free, easy and quick way.

You will be able to use it with the most common Instant Messaging Programmes, such as LiveMessenger®, Skype®, AIM®, Yahoo!® Messenger, ICQ®, MySpaceIM® and many more...

You can use it on mobile phone, Forum, mySpace®, Chat, Blog and wherever you want in the virtual world. With Face your Manga you can create on-line your virtual alter-ego without needing an artistic knowledge and to download any kind of software on your computer.

Quick Review
My personal experience with Face Your Manga was that it was easy to use with enough options to customize my avatar just the way I wanted to, without feeling overwhelmed.

Price: FREE
It's completely free, there's no signing up required, and they e-mail you your graphic when you're done. You don't need to know how to do anything besides click, type in your e-mail, and Save As...

The best part was that I didn't need to download a chat program, or some sort of spyware that was going to hijack my computer. I felt safe using this web-based flash program to create an avatar.

Overall Rating: LOVED IT!

Gaia Dream Avatar

If you use Gaia Online, then you've probably seen this character creator before. I've personally not used it, but it seems similar to SecondLife, where "you can be who you want without reality in the way."

Quick Review
Gaia Dream Avatar creator can be overwhelming with the multitude of choices it provides. However, with the intent of creating individual characters for either Gaia online or (personally) for my novels, it's wonderful to have so many options. And there are new ones appearing all the time.

Price: FREE!
It's free, except there may be a caveat for that if you use Gaia online. Each avatar comes out with an estimated value in GaiaOnline Pricing. So if you're using your avatar simply for that, then you may find you need to "earn" GaiaOnline funds to use your avatar there.

Once again, you aren't downloading any programs to your computer, and you're merely clicking Save As to save your avatar to your computer.

Overall Rating: AWESOME!

HeroMachine

Also available:
HeroMachine Classic
HeroMachine Real Life
HeroMachine Rock Star
HeroMachine Pin-up

From the HeroMachine website:
More accessories, more character templates, more features, more fun with the new and improved HeroMachine! We've taken our HeroMachine to the next level. Bring your dream character to life now!

Quick Review
I've used HeroMachine for character creation also - although when I first used it, there weren't nearly as many options as there are available today. And there are so many different versions, you're really going to be able to be kept busy at this site!

Price: FREE!
Really, do you think I'd include any avatar creators on here that weren't free? Well, perhaps I would, but I haven't found any good ones yet. Once again, HeroMachine is free!

No downloads required to use this program. However, to save your finished Hero, you'll need to either do a screencap (push the Prnt Scrn button on your keyboard, then open your graphic editing program and paste the image in a new file), or print the Hero as a PDF (use CutePDFWriter or PDF995) and then copy the image from there into your graphic editing program (benefits: higher resolution graphic possible).

Overall Rating: FIVE THUMBS UP!

Portrait Mail

From the Portrait Mail website:
Please fill your age in the Subject field and attatch a photo of your face to the mail.

The photo you've sent to us has been deleted automatically just as the process has been completed.

The photo is processed by the program without anybody seeing it. So you can rest assured.

Quick Review
Despite that rather clinical description, that's exactly what the website does for you. I sent my picture in, and only four minutes later it came back to me. You can see that it didn't come back exactly as I expected, however it did come back, quickly, and partially resembling me!

Price: FREE!
Yep, free again! And quick, and maybe if you didn't have a funky pose like I do, it would come out better. I'd love to see other people's results!

No downloads required, you just have to e-mail your picture in with your age in the subject line. In fact, the website only seems to have one page (aside from FAQ, TOS, and Business Applications). Quick and dirty - I like it!

Overall Rating: QUIRKY AND FUN!

OurDolls @ DollWiz.com

From the DollWiz.com Website:
1. Drag items on desk
2. Move items, add text, change background and colors
3. Save your image and generate AIM and MSN avatars!

Quick Review
Yes, it really is that easy! Actually, the coolest thing about this particular avatar/doll maker is that I remember this from when I was new to the 'Net (back half of the '90's), and E/N sites were plentiful. (Am I dating myself yet?) You had to go around and save all these transparent graphics to your computer, then cr- wait...buy, you had to BUY - a version of Paint Shop Pro to piece the graphics together into this neat, Bratz-type doll.

Now you can do it all online! The Internet ROCKS!

Price: FREE!
What, you really still think I'll put something on here that costs something besides your time? Oh, yes, they do all suck your time away. Sorry for not mentioning that before. :)

Anyway, this one is cool, but I'm going to go try the next one - you go ahead with this while you wait.

Overall Rating: OLD SCHOOL ROCKS!

Disclaimer: This author does not promote using software without paying for it. This author does have a sense of humor, however, and hopes her readers do, too.

DollWiz.com

From the DollWiz.com Website:
1. Drag items on desk
2. Move items, add text, change background and colors
3. Save your image and generate AIM and MSN avatars!

Quick Review
Okay, so it works basically as the one above - click and drag your pieces around and clothe a body you pick pre-made. Honestly, my only complaint about these is that they are difficult to navigate. It's not insurmountable if this is just what you're looking for. And you can also upload your own pixel clothes and make them available to the public.

Price: FREE!
Yep. 'Nary an ad in site.

Overall Rating: Definite Potential!

Create My Picture

From the Create My Picture Website:
Make your quality cartoon Avatar Look-alike here free!

Need an avatar for your Myspace, blog or forum? Or maybe you want one just for fun! Use the Flash avatar maker to produce a high quality cartoon look-alike.

Quick Review
This may not be the original site for this particular avatar maker - I've found it online twice, now, and figured this looked like the most likely candidate.

This is a basic avatar head shot, but there's tons of combinations to be made. I like it because it was my first avatar maker, and I must have created fifteen of them that first night as LiveJournal mood icons. Very fun. Perhaps not as rockin' as some of the others, but definitely worth the time.

Price: FREE!
Yes!

Overall Rating: Loved it then, still fun today!

eLouai's Maple Story Avatar Maker

From eLouai's Maple Story Avatar Maker Website:
Maple Story a large Massive Multiplayer 2-D fantasy based game. Launched in 2004, and has a few million users. It's completely free, and it looks like a great game.

Huh. Not much about the avatar maker, but okay!

Quick Review
It's strength is creating short, squat, cute little full-body avatars, and I had fun here. I've never heard of Maple Story, but that's never stopped me before!

There are actually tons of avatar makers on eLouai's site, so many that I don't currently have the time to list them all right now. But go on over yourself and take a look!

Price: FREE!
Awesome!

Overall Rating: CUTE!

eLouai's Candybar Doll Maker 3

From eLouai's Candybar Doll Maker 3 Website:
The third installment of our latest Candybar doll maker

Have fun with our dressup game, accessorizing your "doll" in the latest designer outfits, sending them in an email to a friend, print them, save them as a GIF, PNG or JPEG.

Quick Review
There is a plethora of options with this doll maker, but it is my new favorite! I had plenty of options, and they were easy to switch on and off.

Added bonus, someone had taken the time to not just show the item you'd be "trying on", but made it into this little fashion icon. It's hard to describe - just check out the shoes, and if you're familiar with avatar makers, you'll see what I mean!

Price: FREE!
Could it get any better than this? I don't think so!

Overall Rating: I LOVE IT!