This is a kind of confusing tutorial, so if there are any gaps you need filled tell me so and I'll help you.
>>>visual #1
Open the image you would like to use in your avatar in Adobe Photoshop. I'm using a picture of Tori Amos. You can, of course, use whatever you want.
Use the rectangular marquee tool and make a square selection of the portion you want to use. To be sure the selection is perfectly square, press and hold the shift button while making your selection.
>>>visual #2
You will now need to resize your image to the proper size. For this tutorial I'm going to make it 100x100 pixels.
>>>visual #3
Open a blank 100x100 document in MS Paint and zoom in about 6x.
>>>visual #4
Use the pencil and/or line tool to create a template. Play around with shapes to see how you want it to look. In this tutorial I'm just making a fairly simple boxy looking design.
>>>visual #6
Open another new paint document and copy and paste your resized picture (my Tori Amos). Then copy and paste the template you made over your image.
If there is white where your image should be, press the button at the bottom of the toolbar, which makes all white in images transparent.
Now you should have an image with a template. Copy and paste this into a new Photoshop document.
Go to File > Save for web...
Then find the bright magenta color and click on it. After you have done that, press the button below the color palette that I have circled in the visual. The magenta should now be gone from the image.
>>>Result
Save it and you're done!
