• Play with themes: Give each of the modes of functioning a different border or design element, just like a suit of cards would have. Get inspiration from tarot card decks.

• Do you like vintage ephemera? Try making characters out of old photos or illustrations of people from another era.

• Go abstract: Scribble. Doodle. Rant. No reason your image can’t be a close-up of a journal entry.

• Funky self-portraits: Take some funny/moody pictures of yourself or an environmental shot that expresses the destructive pitfall. This is a lovely way to recycle poor photos. Alter and paint and doodle on the images.

• Make a cartoon: We all need a caricature of ourselves not at our best. Go ahead and exaggerate your worst feature.

• Go digital: Take a self-portrait using your digital camera or the built-in camera on your computer. It’s easy to turn the photo into a line drawing, posterize it, or add other effects using photo editing software.