A couple things…

Accounts

If you are a regular commenter and would like an account on HC, I can oblige. The only difference if you have an account is that you would have the ability to go in and edit your own comments. You would also get to skip the oh-so-tough math question. I will need an email address, if you do not typically provide one.

Gravatars

So, Hit Coffee now makes use of Gravatar. Right now, your gravatar is randomly assigned into an 8-bit form. If you would prefer to be able to place your own image, go to gravatar.com and pick one out. Note that the image you upload there will work in a lot of places, including Lion’s site. Basically, any site that links itself with Gravatar will look up your email address and, if it corresponds with one in their database, your image will pop up.

If you want to use a computer-generated avatar based on your personal or desired appearance, here are some tools you can use:

Face Only:

Portrait Illustrator: This one is the gold standard as far as flexibility goes. It’s also the source tool for how I created mine. They are kind of vanilla and rather digital-looking, which is why I ran mine through a vectorizer, but it’s still something. It’s the only tool where I could have created the kind of image I wanted to create.

Avatar Face Maker: I used to use this one here and there (mostly on Google-run sites. It’s very straightforward with manga-style art. It looks nicer than Portrait Illustrator, though there are fewer options in the overall.

FoxRichards Facemaker: This one has limited options, but produces some of the coolest faces.

Avatar Maker: Those who followed me on Twitter in my earlier days will recognize this one (and I’m not the only one who uses it).

Digibody’s Caricature Maker: No colors available. It is, more or less, exactly what it is called.

Cartoonify: A relatively basic, but pretty nice looking avatar maker.

Full Body:

Rasterboy Unique: Very cartoony and full-body. It has fewer options than Dream Avatar, but I like the end-result better.

Dream Avatar: A kind of omake-looking design. There are lots of options, though it’s look is so distinctive that it’s hard to really chart your own course. There are a lot of wardrobe options, though.

Doppleme: Another face one. Not too much variety (Mine ended up looking exactly like someone else’s, even though we don’t really look alike). But it’s capable.

Anime Character Maker: This is downloaded software rather than a simple online tool. It does have the advantage of being a more full-body shot. Limited selection of configurations, though.