What Is This New Picrew Avatar Trend?

Been online and looking around at illustrations of all your friends? No, they’re not suddenly artists or spending a bunch of money on getting people to draw them to post online. It’s a new online trend from picrew.me where you can represent yourself through templates created by artists.

If you’ve been online lately, you’ve probably seen your friends making fun icons of themselves. There are a lot of different styles, different backgrounds, and options to chose from, but the question is: why? For someone like me, it comes from a place of not having any artistic ability and yet being able to create something that looks like me. You can also give yourselves pets in some, and all I want to do is pet a dog or kitty, so sometimes, I give myself a little pet.

I am but one of those people who cannot draw. Even a stick figure ends up being a bit difficult, so something like this, where templates are made and I basically get to create what I look like? A dream scenario. Finally, my artistic dreams can come true, and I can pretend that I drew myself (but I thank all the artists who have helped me along the way).

Picrew.me has been a constant source of fun because you get to share how you view yourself with friends, and there is a constant influx of new templates for people to look at. The site features many artists all who put their templates online, and people, like me and my friends, can go and create their avatars.

For whatever reason, my friends have been obsessed with making these and sending them to each other. Clearly, I miss my overalls and my plaid, since many of mine have included them, but I also enjoy making these and creating new outfits, since … right now, we aren’t going anywhere, so we’re not dressing up. Is that why I like doing this?

Most artists share their picrew online and then will tweet them out so that others can make their own creations, as well.

For the three artists I used for the featured image, they’re each incredible artists who bring their work to the picrew site while also posting their artwork elsewhere! (Poika featured above created the one to the far left, bbymazz the piece in the middle, and Perisceris on the far right.)

There is artist Michelle/Michi (who goes by Perisceris). They are a non-binary Mexican artists who creates incredibly detailed pieces, often landscapes and fun editions (especially in regards to their picrew page). You can see their work here!

And also Maddie (bbymazz) whose work is not only beautiful but also incredibly inclusive. With 4 different body types and 18 skin tones, bbymazz gives us so many options with her work. You can see some of their work below and make sure to check out more at her Twitter account!

The thing is that this is just fun! We get to enjoy looking at ourselves and our friends as if we were in our own animation, and for many, it’s a way of expressing how we truly view ourselves. Clearly, I like to flip people off and said “whatever” a lot more than I thought if my illustrated selves are any indication about my true feelings.

So check out picrew.me, see what artists have there for you to create, and just have fun!

(image: picrew.me creations from artists bbymazz, perisceris, and Poika)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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