This is a tutorial for making LiveJournal icons in Windows, without any third-party software.
1. Choose your image under the File->Open menu in Paint, or draw something.
2. The size of a LiveJournal icon needs to be 100 X 100 pixels or smaller. To resize your picture, go to Image->Stretch/Skew, and under Stretch enter a percentage smaller than 100; the same number in Horizontal and Vertical.
then
Click OK.
3. Your picture is smaller now. To view the dimensions in pixels, move your mouse to the bottom right corner of your picture, and if you look farther down and right, you will see two numbers. (e.g. 147,176)
4. The ultimate goal is to resize the picture so the largest dimension is no larger than 100 pixels. Keep in mind that to maintain the original aspect ratio, you must always enter the same number in Horizontal as you put in Vertical. Keep shrinking your picture until the largest of dimensions is less than 100 pixels without making it too small. Stretching it back up to size will severely reduce the quality.
5. Add text or any modifications you want (paint is very limited in features). Make sure to click the button that makes the text appear directly on top of the picture, instead of in a box. This is illustrated below:
6. Save your picture. LiveJournal allows .JPG .GIF or .PNG
7. Good job, you made an icon. Now you can figure out how to upload it to LiveJournal on your own!