Shout Out for Selfies

I know they're considered uncool by many, but I have a bit of a soft spot for selfies. I used to buy into the whole shallow egocentricity myth, but then read an article talking about the fact they're just modern portraits, and another about the way they allow especially teenage girls to control the way they're presented. After that, I went back to taking them again, with renewed pleasure.

I enjoyed using a selfie to illustrate my new Mage character, Ragna. It's something I've wanted to do for characters in the past. Reckon I could end up spending a fortune on costume stuff to help with that! I keep meaning to talk to friends who're good at photography and costumery/make up/hair to help me out, but going a bit shy about it.

There's a fancy dress shop in town that sell some decent wigs for not too much (though I don't have much of a frame of reference), and I have just about enough photoshop skill to adjust eye colour, but that only works for my characters that have my basic skin colour, body type and face shape. Svetlana is the character who looks most like me, just with grey eyes rather than blue, honey-gold hair with a perfect wave (controlled by prestidigitation), and, you know, being a half-elf and all. Ragna works quite well, and I could probably manage Chrissie with a wig (or pair of wigs, for superhero mode vs mortal mode), and there's a load of characters I've either not played in a very long time or not played at all that I could probably manage. 

There's also a load I can't. I don't mind gender-bending, and I don't mind changing my skin colour to be something non-human, but I'm not comfortable with the idea of trying to pretend to be a different race (weirdly enough), and there's some who're the wrong body shape for me. And this is where (I'm hoping!) you guys will come in! If you read through the character concepts (also linked above) and spot one you'd like to help me out with, or if I create one in the future that catches your eye, I'd love it if you'd share a selfie I could use to illustrate the character. I'm not sure if you can add images to comments, in which case you may need to tag me on G+ (I think most of you use G+).

I have no idea if this is a weird thing to ask for or not, but I really like the idea of illustrating my characters with photos, and I'd rather use photos willingly offered! Also, if you go through the list there's several where I haven't given a physical description, or only a really vague one, so even if there's no one described in the way you think of yourself, if you want to join in feel free to use one of those characters - or tell me what you're thinking, if you'd like to collaborate on something.

(I drafted this the other day and forgot to hit 'publish', then Misha B of Black Girl Gameworks shared a stunning selfie I wanted to turn into a superhero and was about to write that up when I realised this hadn't gone live. Feels serendipitous. I'll write up Retribution now, for her to go live later.)

(Just remembered I didn't publish it because I hadn't brushed my hair and was going to illustrate with a selfie. Haven't brushed my hair yet today, either, so here's a random circus photo.)

It's me, sitting sideways in a very low hoop, smiling, showing off my burgeoning bump