With the explosion of social media in the 2010s, simple image avatars on platforms have taken on a crucial expressive function for artists — often serving as a first impression with audiences, establishing artists’ tone, aesthetics, and identity. Filmmaker, game developer, and artist David OReilly has used an orb avatar since 2019. The orb is the result of several math experiments that the artist has worked on — a live camera input adds randomness, and the numbers seen in “ORBSKETCHES.mp4” reflect the parameters of each configuration. The quick cuts and presence of the artist’s workspace in this desktop screen capture offer glimpses into the process of creation of this work, becoming a sort of unlikely meta-self-portrait through software.