This is what you want:
http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?zoom=17&size=512×512&maptype=hybrid&markers=icon:http://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/stackoverflow/img/favicon.ico|34.052230,-118.243680
for a custom image, put the icon:url after of markers…
Format
icon:url|lat,lng
Example
icon:http://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/stackoverflow/img/favicon.ico|34.052230,-118.243680
a result of my example
For more information check google maps api, there are more information like size, markers position, center map, map type… etc.
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/static-maps/intro#MapTypes
*If the icon, img, don’t appear it will be the size of image, try with another size,less than 64×64 px, format of image, “GIF, JPEG and PNG”, the documentation recommend “PNG”, if it doesn’t appear check permision of image for public request(external request)…