Hey NightMaRe!,
I would have to agree about the animated gifs. I am not really a fan of them, they tend to make a lot of work for little animation, and I prefer to work with many layers of png instead. I could have possibly made a better looking flame that did not move, but it wan an idea I had at the time.
Looking at the banners, I do like them, but for more realism I should have made a png instead. I would understand it if Flame did not use them. I made them out of an idea, and not even from a request. Flame did not know I made them for him until I posted them here. I have other graphics I have made for others, and have yet to post them also. Just like Flame sticking to his avatar, that is great that he uses one to represent himself.
I have many avatars that I have created for myself over the years, and some were even for certain forums. I recently started to make one, and distribute it to all the forums and sites that I frequently visit. My current avatar is a cartoon representation of myself. I did not create it from scratch using GIMP, I used a site called
FaceYourManga. Yes it was a lazy way of creating an avatar, but it was interesting nonetheless. I did use GIMP to create the background, but that was about it. I did not sign up for any of their services nor made an account. I finished the avatar and simply took a screenshot, then cropped, and added the background using GIMP. I will guess a few may create one from that site, who knows.
I felt like something different, and after working on Flame's banner I did not feel like creating another avatar from scratch just yet. I will be making another one for myself soon though... Maybe tomorrow... hehe.