if you want character portraits in a game how do you do that in ags
Yep, Bt sent you to the right place for sure! I would also suggest consulting the AGS manual. EVERYTHING you will need is in there. When I started with IA/IQ I knew how to program but I knew nothing about AGS. The manual has been the biggest help along the way for me and as I can't find answers in the manual, I go to the AGS forums for additional help.
The quick answer is to change the setting in your game options to have Sierra Style Portraits. You would then need to assign a sprite/view to be the your portrait for the character in the charater attributes. To animate the portrait or to have it lipsync takes a bit more to explain. But like Bt said, they are awesome at helping people out over there.