In salute to Patrick O’Brian, I’ve generally used this little animated version I “derived” from a Geoff Hunt print as my avatar in any online forum where I was allowed to use one. It’s a nice little picture, and I enjoy looking at it, so I assume others do, too. I don’t know how much it really represents me, but I got very accustomed to it, and it seems at least as appropriate as most of the other avatars I see around.

But in setting up my own Xanga blog, as part of the experiment of having my 095 students do the same, I decided to use an avatar (they call it a “profile pic” at Xanga) that would maybe look more like me. I remembered that I had seen this fun Portrait Illustration Maker linked on the Scribbling Woman blog some time ago. The students had a great time creating their own pictures, although (of course, as recommended) not all of them used them on their blogs. But now, from walking through it with the students, I’ve got two of myself. Which is Jekyll? and which is Hyde?

And now, in joining a new forum or two, I’m wondering whether to use one of these new, but more traditional, portraits, or my old familiar ship of the line.