Would You Let a Stranger Draw Your Profile Picture?

I’ve never been one to go crazy with my online profile pictures for sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. I pretty much use the same picture on every website.

Other people like to change up their profile picture every few months. Some even change it weekly or (cringe) daily.

But the worst group of people are the ones that use no profile picture at all—or a photo of someone or something other than themself. Usually (but of course not in every case) these profile-picture-less people are self-conscious about how they look. I mean, heck, we all are self-conscious to some degree but my theory is that my profile picture looks no different than how I look in real life. So everyone just has to deal with it.

What if a stranger helped you out?

But there may be a new alternative for people who don’t want to use an actual photo of themselves online but still want something that people could recognize, all while being artsy at the same time. A new website called Selfless Portraits allows a complete stranger to draw your profile picture.

Of course you have to provide a real picture to begin with so the stranger knows what you look like. And there’s really no way to know how good the artist is who is drawing your picture. But Selfless Portaits’ main goal isn’t to give you a new profile picture. Instead it’s a “collaborative art project aiming to bridge the gap between technology and humanity by encouraging small, creative gestures between strangers across the globe.”

Yes, there is a catch

Is there a catch? Yes. In order to receive your artistic profile picture, you have to agree to draw someone else’s profile picture. In other words, you have to be the artistic stranger for someone else.

Just remember, it’s all in fun. If you put in a reasonable effort for someone else’s photo, odds are someone will put in a reasonable effort on yours.

What do you think? Would you allow a complete stranger to draw your profile picture? Leave your thoughts as a comment below.