# Guide to Hackergotchi!

> A hackergotchi is a picture of a writer used as an avatar to identify the author of a given web feed in blog aggregators.
> 
> The term hackergotchi originated when the fashion of blog aggregators hit the hacker community, hence the “hacker” part.
> 
> Jakub Steiner, a GNOME artist, had created several whole body cutouts that originally appeared on the Art.GNOME.org website. A couple of years later, Jeff Waugh launched Planet GNOME\[1\], a blog aggregator of GNOME programmers and contributors. Luke Stroven suggested that Jeff use the images created by Steiner with posts by those writers. Stroven then created a bunch of images that depicted the heads of people on Planet GNOME. Waugh coined the term hackergotchi after seeing the collection of heads Stroven created.\[citation needed\]
> 
> The “gotchi” part seems to be a reference to the Tamagotchi toy.
> 
> – Wikipedia

Now lets get our hands dirty ( Muahahahahah ):  
The basic concept is to delete everything in your picture except your face and before that you need to add a transparent layer at the back of your picture . This tutorial is focusing on GIMP but other softwares can also be use to do the same.

STEP 1 : Open GIMP  
STEP 2 : Now go to FILE and OPEN your image from where it is  
File–> Open  
STEP 3 : Once you do that you will have your image like this :  
STEP 4 : Select your Face using the rectangle selecting tool :

[![coming soon](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182812099/HtvCO0XiM.png)](https://farhaanbukhsh.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/step4.png)

selecting your face

STEP 5 : Left click on the selected area , go to layers and then click on crop to selection.  
Left click on area –> Layer —-> Crop to selection

[![step 5](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182813674/w6DvSC-Pm.png)](https://farhaanbukhsh.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/step5.png)

step 5

STEP 6 : Now hit Ctrl + C to copy what is left.  
STEP 7 : Delete the Layer now by  
Left click —-> Layer —-> Delete Layer  
STEP 8 : Create a new Layer :  
Left click —> Layer —> New Layer

STEP 9 : Make sure the new layer you are create is set to Transparent

[![step 8](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182815421/UEy_PfL1D5.png)](https://farhaanbukhsh.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/step-8.png)

STEP 10 : Hit Ctrl + V

[![step 10](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182817038/eBHtt7WnM.png)](https://farhaanbukhsh.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/step10.png)

step 10

STEP 11 : Now right click to anchor it to the layer

[![close](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182818537/krAIIoIGV.png)](https://farhaanbukhsh.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/stepsl.png)

STEP 12 : Fun begins you have to select and delete the background , to be precise delete everything except your face.  
STEP 13 : Use the wand tool to select the same shade area and press Del button to delete the selected area , use Ctrl + Z to undo action .

[![wand selection](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182820094/RUrp18wau.png)](https://farhaanbukhsh.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/wand.png)

wand selection

STEP 14 : Use rectangle selection to delete big chunks.  
STEP 15 : Use Lasso to select uneven

[![that's my HG!](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182821569/UbgSZH1kn.png)](https://farhaanbukhsh.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/fahaanbukhsh-wordpress-com.png)

that’s my HG!

area and delete them.  
STEP 16 : Voila ! you just created your Hackergotchi , Hit Ctrl + Shift +E and expot it in whichever format you want.

You want to add more steps? Do let me know , if you know a better way of doing it , guide me ! Till then peace out ![🙂](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1622182822972/UR___6Kfv.png)