I use Jasc animation shop, which allows you to import images into a timeline and apply some basic animation effects on them. I think that in order for it to be effective, you need to have good image sources, but the way I do it is start off with your picture in a graphics editor (I use paint shop pro), import it into the timeline, edit the first image you copied (so that it is slightly different, ie arm moves slightly) then copy this one in.
Obviously the success of this approach depends on the detail of the image you're animating and the time spent on changing each individual picture.
The FX it has are quite basic, but with a little care you can use some of them to good effect, such as fades etc...
I animated my avatar using this approach. Like it?
There may be some "free" animated gifs on the web that you can get and adapt to your liking.
Hope this is of some help
Gregster
