Apparatuses, methods and storage medium associated with generating and animating avatars are disclosed herein. In embodiments, an apparatus may comprise an avatar generator to receive an image having a face of a user; analyze the image to identify various facial and related components of the user; access an avatar database to identify corresponding artistic renditions for the various facial and related components stored in the database; and combine the corresponding artistic renditions for the various facial and related components to form an avatar, without user intervention. In embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise an avatar animation engine to animate the avatar in accordance with a plurality of animation messages having facial expression or head pose parameters that describe facial expressions or head poses of a user determined from an image of the user. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.