A messaging system communicates animated messages. The system generates personalized avatars of messaging participants. These avatars can be made to represent visible attributes of the participants in different art styles. For example, a tall, thin, bespectacled, brunette might be represented as a tall, thin, bespectacled, brunette avatar rendered in the style of a favorite cartoon. Messaging participants can then send messages in which the avatars of the sender and the recipient or recipients interact. For example, a message sender might convey a message “hug” that is displayed on a message recipient's device as an animation in which the sender's avatar embraces the recipient's avatar.