Saved your avatar.
Imported into Inkscape.
Drew a crappy, pointy Santa hat. Discarded.
Quick search for free Santa hat clip-art.
Saved clip-art.
Imported into Inkscape.
Traced it.
Scaled down to fit.
Exported hat & imported into GIMP.
Saved and uploaded to GOG.

Oh, is that all? :P

It's simple enough despite all the steps. Most are just saving or importing a picture into whichever program.

What we all really think of you. :-)

I promised I wasn't going to cry.

Look away, I don't want you to see me so emotional. *weep*

I've always been a fan of classic Science Fiction and old Space Operas like Buck Rogers (I got into that as a Star Wars fan when I found out it was one of the main influences) as well as Star Trek and 2001-A Space Odyssey (I saw both in rerun on TV), but cheesy low-budget movies and old pulp magazines are my influence here.

The picture is a public domain space cadet/space ranger picture, and Zap McRaygunn is a name I made up to sound like a hero in a really cheesy space opera. I'm not sure where the picture came from, but it looks like an illustration from an old Sci-Fi pulp magazine so it really fits what I want it to represent.

"I live.. AGAIN!"
Caleb from Blood, a great old-school FPS with a fantasy\horror setting.

Mine is from the box art of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. One of my favorite FPS's. It is a soldier in a Higgins Boat about to land in Normandy. The avatar is one of the game's extras on GOG.
I drew a little Santa hat on him using MS Paint a couple of weeks ago. It feels kinda inappropriate... Christmas on Omaha Beach... But I'm trying to win a contest! That makes anything I do alright... right?

No story, just a little bit obsessed with Doctor Who. :)

My avatar is usually a grinning Tom Baker, but since it's the holiday season I switched to a Christmassy TARDIS.

Hi! Hi!
HI!HI!HI!

I actually recently changed mine to a commissioned work of me wearing a variety of different classic Doctor garb in a hodge podge of multi-Doctor awesome. Though sadly the aspect ratio screws up a bit so it cuts off much of the image. :(

Sawyer the Cleaner, from my all time favorite show Black Lagoon.

I friggin loved the first 2 seasons of Black Lagoon, I still need to get the rest of it.

Roberta's Blood Trail is excellent, if you haven't seen it.