gizmobench

Square Avatar Maker

Build a square pixel face from six layers: background, face, hair, expression, clothing and accessory, with every part drawn as original block geometry for this site. Random draws a whole avatar from a seed you can type back in later, and any layer you lock stays as it is. Restack the layers, pick any colour, check how it looks in a round crop, then save a PNG from 128 to 2048 pixels, an SVG made only of shapes, or a project file you can open here again.

seed 7013, parts v1 512 x 512 px

Size
Seed
parts v1, as drawn
Layers
6, 0 locked
Background

Hair: Bob

Part thumbnails leave out the layers in front of this one, so each part shows in full. Lock a layer and Random leaves its part and colour alone. Random draws from the swatches shown; Any colour and Hex take any colour you like. Up and Down restack the drawn layers, so hair can sit behind the face or over the clothing.

Projects

A project file keeps every part, colour, lock and visibility setting, the stack order, the seed and the size, as version 1 JSON you can open here again. The shelf keeps up to 12 avatars in this browser only.

Nothing kept in this browser yet.

Common questions

Is this the old Flash square face generator?
No. It is a separate tool with its own parts, drawn as block geometry for this site, and it has no connection to the Flash maker or its creator. It uses none of that maker's artwork, templates or characters. It makes the same kind of picture: a square pixel face you build one part at a time.
How do I make a random square face?
Press Random. It picks a new seed from 1 to 999999 and draws a part and a colour for every layer that is not locked. The seed shows in the readout: type it into Seed and press Draw, and every unlocked layer gets the same part and colour again, as long as the parts version is the same (v1). Lock a layer first and Random leaves its part and colour alone.
What size can I save the avatar at?
Any whole number of pixels from 128 to 2048, always square. The buttons set 128, 256, 512, 1024 and 2048, and the field takes any size in between. The PNG is exactly that size. The avatar is a grid of 32 by 32 blocks, so a size that divides by 32 gives every block the same width; at 500 pixels, blocks are 15 or 16 pixels wide.
Can I get a transparent background or a round profile picture?
Set Background to Transparent and the PNG keeps the full square, with clear pixels wherever nothing is drawn. Circle crop shows how the avatar looks in a round frame and says how many blocks fall outside the circle. It is only a preview: the PNG and SVG always hold the whole square, so the site you upload to can make its own round crop.
What is in the SVG and the project file?
The SVG holds only rect shapes, grouped by layer, with no scripts, text, fonts, images or outside links. The project file is version 1 JSON that records each layer's part, colour, visibility and lock, the stack order, the seed and the size. Open it with Open project file to carry on editing. A file from a version this maker does not read is refused with a message rather than guessed at.
Is my avatar saved or uploaded?
Nothing is uploaded. Once you change something, the current avatar, its size and the preview shape are kept in this browser and come back on your next visit, and Keep in this browser holds up to 12 more on a shelf. Clearing site data or pressing Start over removes them, so save a project file for any avatar you want to be sure of keeping.
Can I undo a change?
Yes. Undo and Redo step back and forward through up to 100 changes, including Random, restacking and opening a project. Each visit to the colour picker counts as one step, however much you drag in it. With a button in the maker focused, Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z undoes and adding Shift redoes; a text field keeps its own undo.

Stylised, fictional artwork from original parts drawn for this site: not a likeness made from a photo, and not a copy of any earlier square-face maker or its characters. The PNG is exactly the size you pick, the circle crop is a preview that never trims the saved square, and the SVG holds only shapes, with no scripts or outside links. The same seed, with the same parts version, always draws the same parts and colours on every unlocked layer.