1. First, in order to make your own doll icons, you must download the Palace Chat Softwear (The dolls to create icons are found in this visual chat, so you need to download it in order to obtain dolls). Go to http://thepalace.com

2. On the menu on the left of the website, click the "Download Software" link (or just go to this URL -- http://practice.chatserve.com/)

3. At this URL are many links, if you have NO idea what the palace is, try clicking some of the links in the "New Users" section. Otherwise, just click the right palace software link to download that corresponds to your computer.

4. When you click the version you wish to download, a box will come up to either save as, open, or cancle file. click save as, and then you will have an option on which folder in your computer you wish to save it under. Save it in a folder that you know you will remember.

5. When the download is complete, go to your file manager and find the file you just downloaded in the folder that you saved it in. Open the file, and it will lead you to the steps to install it. Just follow the simple steps, most of the steps are automatic.

6. When the installation is done, you can finally open your new palace chat software. Open it and try it out. (if you open it and it asks for a registration code, follow the link that pops up and it will generate one for you). Experiment with how you can use props to wear, and try finding good avatars. Test out all the buttons on the toolbars, and try to get the hang of it. A good place to visit on the palace chat for good avatars is avatar.dent.com

7. Ok, now that you finally have the software, I can tell you how to get a doll from it. First, find a doll you want to use for an icon and wear it.

8. Second, click the "save" button on the left hand prop toolbar. A box should pop up. This box is where you save all your avatars.

9. While keeping this box up, hit the "Prt Scrn/sysRq" key on your keyboard (the key should be right to the right of the F12 key)

10. Next, hit the start button on the bottom left of the screen>>go to programs>>accessories>>Paint. (your computer may be different, so just open your regular paint program that you use to draw with)

11. After you have your paint program opened up, go to the menu on the top and hit Edit>>Paste. It will then say "do you wish to enlarge your drawing in order to paste this?" (or something similar to that) and say yes to it. The exact screen that was up when you hit the prtscrn/sysrq key should now be pasted in this area.

12. Hopefully you are now getting the idea. Now, use the "dotted line square" button in the tool bar of paint to drag JUST the doll in the upper left hand corner.

13. Crop the image down so it is only the doll, and nothing else.

14. Use the paint can tool to make the background white.

15. Save the doll as whatever name you want.

16. Now, enlarge the drawing area just a little bit so there is space to create the icon.

17. In this space, use the square tool on the tool bar to draw a small square that is about the size of this table...(it should be exactly 48 x 48 pixels. if you have no way of measuring that, you might want to do a "prt scrn" of this screen so you can obtain this square below...)

18. You can fill the square with any color you like, and use the other drawing tools to make a really cool background for the icon. You can even use the text tool to put your name or a small phrase in it.

19. Next, drag the doll so it is laying on top of the background in a position that looks good. (make sure you make it so white is transparent, otherwise when you drag the doll on the background, the white around the doll will cover the square)

20. Erase the extra parts of the doll that lay outside the square.

21. Then drag the square in the upper-most left-most part of the drawing area, and crop the area down so only the square is there. (in other words, there is no more extra white space)

22. Save the icon (make sure you save it as a .gif file, otherwise the icon will be too big to be an AIM icon. if you have paint shop pro or adobe, you might want to copy and paste the icon into one of those and save it so the colors won't mess up)..... and you are done! you just created your own doll icon! to learn how to make your new icon be your actual buddy icon, go to the "how to use an icon" subpage! i hope this helped you guys out, if there any extra questions about these steps please email me!