I make my own avatars, and i use photoshop. and i animate them in Imageready (it comes with photoshop).
you can use other software to do them also, like paint shop pro, macromedia fireworks, i didn't take any classes either i just learned on my own, there are a lot of tutorials out there too!
Members on YT can make you an animated avatar, i believe peanut makes avatars for everyone
