Every now and then I go through and check some of the posts here for software and services that no longer work. It was a fun surprise to see that Portrait Illustration Maker continues to exist 21 years after I originally featured it. You might think of it as the precursor to Bitmoji.
Start with a blank canvas or use one of the randomly generated images like the one I included here. As you can see, the results can be a bit strange if you don’t customize it yourself. Much like Bitmoji there are virtually infinite combinations of facial expressions and hairstyles that allow you to create an image that could be used as your likeness in a variety of online settings.
My one complaint is that the output is a rather small 96×96 image, which is quite small by modern standards. There’s also an avatar maker if you want to make a full body character.
Make your own pixelated portrait
