I have had way too much fun this week making AI portraits of myself. It started with one or two for the blog, and then it got a bit out of hand LOL. I now have sixteen different versions of me, from Lego Clarke to Hulk Clarke, and I am not even sorry.

Every one of them is the same pose, arms folded and looking off to the side, so they all sit together nicely as a set. Then I thought, what is the point of making all these if they just sit in my Media library? So I built a little WordPress plugin to show them off.

The CD Smart Image Rotator plugin

The plugin is called CD Smart Image Rotator, and it is what puts a random Clarke at the top of each page on this site. If you refresh the page or click around, you should get a different one each time.

Here is what it does:

• Shows a random image from your collection, with a caption over the top of it.
• Remembers which images a visitor has already seen using a cookie, so refreshing or moving to another page gives you something different instead of the same picture twice in a row.
• Works on any WordPress site, not just mine.
• You add it with a shortcode, and it works fine in Elementor too, using either the Shortcode widget or the HTML widget.

The cookie bit was the important part for me. Pure random is annoying because you can get the same image three times running, which kind of defeats the point of having sixteen of them. Now it remembers what you have already seen, so you should not get the same one again straight away.

Meet all the Clarkes

Here is the full line-up, grouped up a bit so it makes some sort of sense.

Art styles

Psychedelic Art

This one really jumps out. Bright swirly paisley patterns all over the hoodie and my face, like a 60s poster. It is a lot, but that is half the fun.

Surrealist Art

Very Salvador Dalí. Melting clocks on my hoodie, a floating eye, a key and those long-legged elephants in the background. I have no idea what it means, which I think is the point.

Geometric Art

Me made out of triangles. A low-poly style where everything is broken up into flat geometric shapes.

8-Bit

Old-school pixel art Clarke, like something out of a retro computer game.

Film Noir

Black and white, fedora, long coat and tie. I look like I am about to solve a murder in a 1940s detective film.

Steam Punk

Goggles on the head, brass gauges, pipes and a leather waistcoat, all in that old sepia look. Victorian inventor Clarke.

Films and TV

Matrix

Black leather coat and little dark sunglasses. Very Neo. I did not dodge any bullets though.

Simpsons

Yellow skin, big eyes and an overbite. If I ever turn up in Springfield, this is what I would look like.

Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation Clarke, in the gold uniform with the communicator badge. Make it so.

Homelander

Me as Homelander from The Boys, with the cape, the blue suit and the glowing red laser eyes. Slightly scary, if I am honest.

Hulk

Green skin and a ripped hoodie. This is me when the website will not load LOL.

Cowboy

Cowboy hat, dark jacket and a big belt buckle. Yeehaw.

Lego

Lego minifigure Clarke, with the plastic hair piece and the yellow claw hands. Arms folded, obviously.

Games

ARK Raiders

Pilot goggles, a headset and a battered leather jacket with a load of gear strapped on. Ready to go out raiding.

ExfilZone

Full tactical gear with a plate carrier, a headset and a skull face mask, ready for an extraction run.

Ready Player

A VR headset on and a purple hoodie, like something out of Ready Player One.

That is the lot (for now)

So that is all sixteen of me. Making them was a laugh, and building the plugin to show them was a nice little project too. Have a click around the site and see how many different Clarkes you can spot at the top of the pages.

I will probably end up making more of these, so if you have an idea for one, let me know.