Thanks to member CW (Thanks, Chuck!!) lending a helping hand, I was able to get something resembling what I had originally intended. My Oscar Gamble avatar isn't the masterpiece that I wanted it to be, but it is now functional, so overall I'll put it in the 'win' column.
For posterity, I'll add these helpful links to aid anyone running into similar issues in the future...
https://giphy.com/create/gifmaker
https://ezgif.com/maker
https://blog.ladder.io/animated-gifs...g5bzzmj2cif1zd
https://www.onlineconverter.com/compress-gif