What about this: Let players load their own pictures.
Maybe there is an easy way to add your own pictures to the profile-pool in the game data, even if there isn't an upload button. Maybe some people will make an online Profile-Pic editor or something.
What would also be nice is if they would add all the profile pictures they already (from npcs for example) to the pool, and if they would add a few pictures without a face at all (just colored background, or an emblem - they could use what they already have, class/skill emblems for example, or skill icons)
If we could load portraits into a specific game folder, that would be a better situation than the current implementation, yes. It'd also allow the abstract option you suggest - a sword, bow, scroll, lockpick, etc. would all also work well.
With this option, breaking down the existing portraits into their components and building a web-based tool to assemble and tint them ourselves would be more than possible, though it lacks the reactivity I'm suggesting and is an extra step of hassle for the player.
I'd like to see my suggestion implemented because - judging from the existing portraits - it appears Larian is already halfway there and is building the portraits out of components. Coding a basic procedural system to take values from the player's choices in chargen and grab matching components for the portrait is possibly more efficient than hand-assembling all the possible combinations. It certainly delivers a better result for the player than trawling through all these combinations to find the portrait matching the character they've created, and a far better experience than -not- finding the portrait to match their character because the limited set didn't include geisha makeup and green dreadlocks, and that's what they really wanted. For example.
