If you are looking for a blank PNG, you don't need to generate it every time. Just define this constant:

define("BLANK_PNG",     "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACgAAAAoCAYAAACM/rhtAAAABGdBTUEAAK/INwWK6QAAABl0RVh0U29m".
                        "dHdhcmUAQWRvYmUgSW1hZ2VSZWFkeXHJZTwAAADqSURBVHjaYvz//z/DYAYAAcTEMMgBQAANegcCBNCg".
                        "dyBAAA16BwIE0KB3IEAADXoHAgTQoHcgQAANegcCBNCgdyBAAA16BwIE0KB3IEAADXoHAgTQoHcgQAAN".
                        "egcCBNCgdyBAAA16BwIE0KB3IEAADXoHAgTQoHcgQAANegcCBNCgdyBAAA16BwIE0KB3IEAADXoHAgTQ".
                        "oHcgQAANegcCBNCgdyBAAA16BwIE0KB3IEAADXoHAgTQoHcgQAANegcCBNCgdyBAAA16BwIE0KB3IEAA".
                        "DXoHAgTQoHcgQAANegcCBNCgdyBAgAEAMpcDTTQWJVEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=");