Netizens turn Na’vis online

May 16, 2010 - Age Correspondent

Don’t be surprised if you log on to a social networking site and see your friends looking like one of the blue-skinned, green-eyed humanoid species of the Na’vi tribe. Call it the Avatar hangover or a fun gag to kill

boredom, but lots of youngsters in the city, inspired by James Cameron’s movie, Avatar, are avatar-ising their photographs to make themselves look like Na’vi characters in the virtual world.
Samantha D’Souza, a Class 11 student, explains how it’s done. “Using the Avatarise Yourself generator, I created a Na’vi look for myself and uploaded it on Facebook. I even watched several YouTube videos to learn more about the look. Surprisingly, I got more than 50 comments for my picture. The funny part was, since I have a fringe, my avatar version had a dark patch above the left eye and my friends kept pulling my leg about it.”
Others are experimenting with various editions of the software and gifting the funky characters to their pals. Akshey Gandhi, a Class 9 student, recalls, “My friends and I saw the movie together about three times, and we are crazy about the Na’vi tribe living in Pandora, as shown in the movie. So now we have tried creating various genders, expressions and emotions (like angry, sad, happy), of each other in different, Pandora backgrounds. In fact one of my friends Photoshopped all our Avatar characters and gifted a copy to me on my birthday. It was really sweet. Whoever saw it was taken aback.”
Sketches of the avatar characters are also popular among art-loving youngsters. Anita K., a first year VisCom student, says, “I thought the Na’vi art in the movie was simply amazing, so I tried my hand at sketching a Na’vi character and I must admit, I really enjoyed it. It’s so much fun to draw, especially the ears. I also found many groups online where people had posted their avatar sketches.” Even when the movie is no longer in theatres, the Na’vis will live on, online.

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