Sit in front of your webcam and capture a series of still images of yourself performing a simple action. You could wave to the camera and photograph your hand in various intermediate positions, for example, or make a series of charming facial expressions. If you do not have a webcam, ask a friend to photograph you with a digital camera or photograph yourself by mounting a digital camera on a tripod.
Print the images you captured with your webcam. If you used a digital camera, connect the camera to your computer, and transfer and print the images.
Place a piece of bright white copy paper on top of one of the printed photographs and trace it using a thick black marker. Focus only on the main details, including eyes, nose, mouth, and a basic outline of your face, hair and shoulders. Repeat this process to trace all of the printed images.
Photograph each of your traced drawings with your digital camera or smartphone and then transfer the images to your computer. For a higher resolution final product, consider scanning each image individually. If you do not have access to a scanner, you can take your traced drawings to a copy center and pay to have them scanned.
Download, install and run the GNU Image Manipulation Program, or "GIMP."
Select "Open As Layers" from the File menu, and browse for the scans or digital photographs of your drawings. Hold down the control key and click on the name of each image you would like to use. GIMP merges the images into a new XCF file with each image appearing of a separate layer.
Click on the "Layers" dialogue box and rename the layers as a sequence of numbers, for example "1," "2," "3." When you export in the next step, GIMP relies on the layer names to place your images in the proper order.
Select "Animation" from the Filters menu. In some versions of GIMP, this menu item may read "Animation: Optimize (For GIF)." GIMP will launch a duplicate of your original XCF file fully ready to be saved as an animated GIF. Notice that each layer name is now appended with a time in milliseconds listed in parentheses. For example, if you renamed your first layer "1," in the new file it will be called "1 (1000ms)." To adjust the timing of your animation, rename the layers with a different time. For seconds, use "s" and for milliseconds use "ms."
Select "Save As" from the File menu. Name your file, choose "GIF" from the list of file formats and save your animation. In the dialogue box that appears, confirm that you would like GIMP to save the image as an animated file.
Double-click on the GIF to see your animated avatar in action. Go back to your layers and adjust the timing if it looks too fast or too slow. When you are happy with the final product, upload the image to your website.