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An avatar builds from a single still: a real person, an animated or generated character, a mascot, or something synthetic. What decides whether the build succeeds is not realism but whether face detection can find a complete set of features.

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Requirements

Upload a PNG or JPEG meeting all of the following.
  • One face in the frame, with nothing else competing for attention.
  • A face or face-like structure looking directly at the camera, with both eyes visible.
  • A distinct nose or nose bridge, and a visible mouth, chin, cheeks, and forehead.
  • A face large enough to inspect, with room around the head so nothing is cut off.
  • Even lighting across the face.
  • A clean image, without UI, stickers, text, or a watermark over it.
Stylized, mascot, and synthetic subjects qualify on the same terms: two eyes, a nose area, a mouth, a chin or jaw, and a head near the middle of the frame.

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What works

Distinct centered face

Distinct stylized face

Clear face features

Distinct synthetic face

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What fails

Each of these hides the face in a different way, and any one of them is enough to stop a build.

Face cropped or covered

Face turned away

Face in shadow

Face too small to read

No normal face features

Multiple unclear faces

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By subject

Each kind of subject meets those requirements differently.

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Real people

Use a head-and-shoulders portrait with the person centered and looking forward. The eyes, nose, mouth, chin, and forehead should all be visible, and a neutral or slightly smiling expression works best. Avoid sunglasses, masks, hands on the face, heavy hair over the eyes, strong backlight, motion blur, and tight crops.

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Animated or generated characters

Animated and AI-generated characters work well when they are composed like a portrait photo. Use one character, front-facing and centered, with clear eyes, nose, mouth, chin, forehead, and a symmetrical head shape. Avoid action scenes, crowd shots, partial faces, dramatic camera angles, and props covering the face.

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Animal or mascot characters

Animal and mascot avatars work best as a human-like mascot portrait rather than a normal pet photo. Use a front-facing character with large visible eyes, a centered snout or nose, a clear mouth, cheeks, a chin or jaw shape, and a head-and-shoulders crop. Avoid full-body animals, side views, tiny faces, busy outdoor backgrounds, and pets holding toys in their mouth.

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Synthetic characters

Synthetic characters work best with a human-like or mascot-like face layout. Use a character with two visible eyes, a nose bridge or nose-like shape, a mouth, chin, forehead, and a symmetrical head. Avoid screen-only faces, black visors, helmets with no visible facial structure, reflective masks, and abstract heads.

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If a build fails

An avatar at status: "failed" carries the reason on failure_reason. When no face was detected, the fix is usually a clearer front-facing source with stronger facial structure, not a different subject. For stylized, mascot, and synthetic characters, make each attempt more portrait-like: visible eyes, a nose area, a mouth, a chin, and a forehead, with nothing hiding or competing with the face. When an image qualifies, upload it with Create an avatar.