Hello.
1) To make an
avatar, you can do one of several things (in the case of this Forum):
- You can use an image-editing program, such as MS Paint (built into Windows computers) and The GIMP.
- You can find an image from another website and either upload it from your computer, or link to it from another site. If you do the last one, it's common courtesy to upload it to an image-uploading website, such as Imageshack, first.
- You can ask for a specific one to be made for you by the people behind the Banner and Avatar Force.
Remember the rules when it comes to your avatar, though.
2) There are several image-uploading websites. The one that I mentioned earlier,
Imageshack, is usually the quickest and easiest to upload images to. There are also others, such as
TinyPic and
Photobucket, though the latter requires an account.
EDIT: ed beat me by a few minutes, but oh well.