I don’t know about the band but the pixels can be a problem sometimes.
If the avatar you want to use is somewhere on the internet. All you do is right click it and then go to the properties.
Copy the URL (address) and then past it in the box on your profle Link to off-site Avatar:
and hey presto
(Make sure it’s small enough of course )
If the photo is one of your own you need to open an account (free) with http://www.photobucket.com Then go to ‘your album’ click ‘browse’ (find the photo on your computer) ‘upload’ and then once it has uploaded, copy the URL link and paste it into the box as mentioned above.
Good luck!