I'm the PFP godfather, aka DHW. I'm an artist, web3 builder, ex-TV creative, & waaay too early creator of the first ever 3D PFP.

This website contains early PFP artefacts that I inscribed as ordinals on Bitcoin in order to preserve them.

This page is here to provide context for the PFP Origins home page. The main image shows an avatar-maker/PFP-generator timeline that I've been working on. It's incomplete and makes various assumptions based on information gleaned from HNFT forums and social channels.

As always, it's best if you ...Do Your Own Research.

It's worth noting Androidify from 2011 on the timeline. As far as I know, Androidify was Larva Labs first PFP-generator.

The timeline on this page refers to the Egobots alpha being live/online December 2004. We used a third-party website called HeadsUp as a live testbed for an early version of our PFP-generator. The following Internet Archive link shows Egobots characters independently captured back in December 2004 (scroll down, bottom right): https://web.archive.org/web/20041204011423/http://www.headsup.org.uk/content/

Here's a videograb of the award-winning Egobots website from ~2005/06. The video quality isn't great and some of the sound FX lag (~4 mins long):

And, here's a video of me being interviewed on the origin of PFPs in March 2023. The host, Jake Gallen shows plenty of visuals throughout the hour-long interview, to help keep viewers awake:

If you want to find out more about my art please visit www.dhwartist.com

PFP origins ...further reading for the curious or eternally bored

Disclaimer: the information provided on this website is based on the information available at the time of writing.

Above: Egobots brand design and '...be virtually anywhere' tag line created by DHW

It may come as a surprise to degens, but things actually existed before the birth of the blockchain. Beeple started Everydays in 2007, over a decade before his first NFT. Tyler Hobbs created generative prints before he moved to NFTs. Similarly, PFP-generators existed before NFTs.

While much is made of the early pioneers of crypto including Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney, pioneers of Bitcoin in 2009, almost nothing is known about the pioneers of PFPs, one of the key pillars of NFTs and Ordinals.

PFP lore: According to DHW's timeline (above), PFP-generators were born in Glasgow, UK early in 2003. This is predicated on the PFP-generator definition excluding in-game PFP-generators like Habbo Hotel, and defining PFP-generators as PFPs intended for social representation. This definition was reached following an extended period of aggregating info and insight from"historical NFT" communities via X and Discord.

WeeMees, the first PFP-generator, was created by a Glasgow-based web developer called Multi Media Inc (MMI) for Saw-You Limited during 2002/2003. DHW's timeline shows WeeMees being launched in February 2003, which is clearly at odds with the Wikipedia claim of March 2000. However the March 2000 date is categorically wrong - that date relates to the company's incorporation. Saw-You.com Limited (company number SC205239) was incorporated on the 20th of March 2000, but the company wasn't renamed WeeWorld Limited until 2006.

The original (pre-WeeMees) Saw-You product was essentially an early mobile dating app that facilitated IRL connections. Saw-You filed a WeeMee trademark application in September 2002 which was entered into the UK trademark registry in July 2003. WeeMees were born during a ground-up re-design of the Saw-You website (2002/2003). The earliest online evidence found to date, points to a February 2003 launch, but it could feasibly have been a few months earlier. But, not much more than a few months earlier - evidence suggests that the WeeMees launch definitely happened after the 23rd of September 2002. See here (no mention of WeeMees & no Flash plugin present):

https://web.archive.org/web/20020923113722/http://saw-you.com/

DHW believes that the creation of WeeMees was a 'happy accident' for Saw-You; one that subsequently took their business in a different direction. It's DHW's opinion that the creator of WeeMees was actually the senior designer at MMI. DHW also believes that the inspiration for WeeMees came from the game Habbo Hotel, because the senior designer at MMI was an avid fan of Habbo Hotel. As they're no longer in contact, it's not appropriate for DHW to name the senior designer, however that person is expressly not DHW.

DHW also recalls that there was talk of a 3D version of WeeMees via a partnership with a third party, but there are major doubts about whether this made it into production, because no independently verifiable visual evidence of 3D WeeMees being released as a product (and no news stories about a launch) have been found at the time of writing.

DHW doesn't have additional info on Yahoo Avatars, MeeGos, or Dude Factory at the time of writing. So these are not covered here.

With an extensive background in 3D animation, VFX and games, DHW started working on his 3D PFP-generator in 2003. The initial project working title MiniMees was replaced with Egobots within a few months. Egobots was DHW's baby from conception. He was deeply involved and responsible for all aspects including creating/providing: the concept, brand, creative direction, copy-writing, visual content, seed capital, business planning, raising capital, product roadmap, product design & development, the consumer proposition, user-journey/UX, strategic partnerships (The Ministry of Sound, Sendit etc), and more.

While DHW was the Egobots project leader, company and IP owner, of course other people were involved across many production areas. DHW contracted Glasgow-based Multi Media Inc (MMI) to build Egobots to his spec. DHW had a clear vision, and working closely with a 3D artist on the modelling, lighting and rendering, early design work led to the first Egobot character emerging on the 31st of August 2004 (see above). The 3D-rendered look included a 3/4 view with the PFP facing right. MMI's senior designer (the same designer DHW believes created WeeMees) illustrated alternative character designs with merit (see below), but ultimately DHW pushed ahead with the 3D-rendered option.

With its gameified PFP-build process, Egobots was far ahead of the curve, despite the tech limitations of the time. As well as winning ‘Best Website’ at the Scottish Advertising Awards, Egobots.com reached the final 4 in competition at the London Design Festival (‘Best Application’ + ‘Best Interactive Site’) against entrants including Audi, BBC, British Airways, BMW, Channel 4, Coca-Cola, Diesel, Disney, EA, Intel, Levis, Man Utd, Nike, Peroni, Sky, Sony, VW, & Warner Bros.

Diddis were also created in Glasgow. DHW and their creator had a disagreement following the August 2006 launch of Diddis, because DHW felt that Diddis had copied the Egobots creative including the Egopimp figure and alleyway with graffiti and trash cans.

While lacking the depth and sophistication of Egobots, superficially at least Diddis was an early PFP-generator derivative (of Egobots). So in a twist of fate, Diddis helped cement the historical significance of Egobots.