Kepasa (and a bonus gift for Notion)

I liked Steph Ango's avatars almost as much as the Notion design team, so I decided to share some of the ones I made for myself ages ago.

Before we get there: this was meant to be a silly little note I'd share to warm up a bit and get back to a more regular writing schedule, but it seems that I (accidentally, and against my better judgment) DID learn something:

  1. Kepano and kepasa (which is how Ango calls these avatars) are hawaiianisations of his first name, thus Kepasa ← que pasa.
  2. Hawaiian has only 13 distinct phones
  3. Hawaiian is a critically endangered language with fewer than 300 native speakers.

Back to kepasa. Here's Steph's for reference:

And here's my Janusz:

Unfortunately the polonisation of que pasa would produce the same sound as in Hawaiian, so we'll stick with Janusz for this facet of my personal brand now.

Finally, I am aware that my hyperrealistic drawing style can seem intimidating to unexperienced artists, but if you want to give it a go, check out How to draw a Janusz.

But why stop there?

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a giant foot-shaped snail with a house on its back. the house is still in construction, with a big crane towering above it The image is a stylized black-and-white illustration. In the lower left corner, there is a small, cozy-looking house with smoke rising from its chimney. The smoke, however, does not dissipate into the air but instead forms a dark, looming cloud. Within the cloud, the silhouette of a large, menacing face is visible, with its eyes and nose peeking through the darkness. The creature, perhaps a cat, appears to be watching over the house ominously, creating a sense of foreboding or unease.