b56
any halfway decent photo editing program comes with an animation maker. See if you can download a copy of Paintshop pro 6. What you're going to want to do is downsize the pictures you want to us as an avatar to the correct size which is, I believe 64 x 64, on this board. I'm sorry I'm not fussed with looking at the file size at the moment but it's listed where you put your avatar. Open animation shop and it will import the pictures you select. You have the option of using transition effects but be advised they add to the size of your animation and may make it too big to deal with.
If you don't want to go through all the hassle pm me and I'll try to get one done for you. I've done several for people on the boards and don't mind another one.
Good luck