what is the secret to get the picture clear? I tried shrinking the picture to no avail. it is still pixelated

Start out with a PNG. JPEGs compress the pixels, which can lead to strange artifacts and distortion.

 try a program where you type in the resize instead of dragging it around.

 I make my avitars in paint... I cut out the part of the pic I want in a small square and keep shrinking it until its small enough... 

thanks I will try that

axon- I tried saving the picture as PNG and it still distorts it

 testing my new cute lil' pierced cloud

Please don't revive dead or resolved threads. Thanks.