How to add your own avatar in WordPress.

Today the default is to sign up at gravatar.com and to add your avatar there. It will then be available in a number of sites including WordPress sites. I am showing a few options if you choose not to use a gravatar but want a local avatar instead.

Adding an avatar without a plugin

Adding an avatar to the Settings -> Discussion area. In the list of avatars.
The code one can use which is to be placed into the Child Theme functions.php file.

 add_filter( 'avatar_defaults', 'custom_avatar' );
    function custom_avatar($avatar_defaults){
    $custom_avatar = get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/images/default-avatar.jpg';
    $avatar_defaults[$custom_avatar] = "My Default Avatar";
    return $avatar_defaults;
 }

One can always just change the $custom_avatar = ‘to the full url of the image being used’ instead of get stylesheet directory uri code.

Here I added my shaman picture as a new default avatar to the default avatar list.

By copying the following code by Bill Ericksons add an URL field to the profile screen.

/**************************************************
* Custom avatar link added to the profile page.
* https://www.billerickson.net/wordpress-custom-avatar/
*
**************************************************
/**
 * Add Custom Avatar Field
 * @author Bill Erickson
 * @link https://www.billerickson.net/wordpress-custom-avatar/
 *
 * @param object $user
 */
function be_custom_avatar_field( $user ) { ?>
 <h3>Custom Avatar</h3>
 <table>
 <tr>
 <th><label for="be_custom_avatar"></label></th>
 <td>
 <input type="text" style="width: 100%;" name="be_custom_avatar" id="be_custom_avatar" value="<?php echo esc_attr( get_the_author_meta( 'be_custom_avatar', $user->ID ) ); ?>" />
 <span> <i>Type in the <b>URL</b> of the image you'd like to use as your avatar. <br /><strong>Image should be 70x70 pixels.</strong> <p>This will override your default Gravatar, or show up if you don't have a Gravatar. <br /></span>
 </td>
 </tr>
 </table>
 <?php 
}
add_action( 'show_user_profile', 'be_custom_avatar_field' );
add_action( 'edit_user_profile', 'be_custom_avatar_field' );
 
/**
 * Save Custom Avatar Field
 * @author Bill Erickson
 * @link https://www.billerickson.net/wordpress-custom-avatar/
 *
 * @param int $user_id
 */
function be_save_custom_avatar_field( $user_id ) {
 if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_user', $user_id ) ) { return false; }
 update_usermeta( $user_id, 'be_custom_avatar', $_POST['be_custom_avatar'] );
}
add_action( 'personal_options_update', 'be_save_custom_avatar_field' );
add_action( 'edit_user_profile_update', 'be_save_custom_avatar_field' );
function be_gravatar_filter($avatar, $id_or_email, $size, $default, $alt) {
 $custom_avatar = get_the_author_meta('be_custom_avatar');
 if ($custom_avatar) 
 $return = '<img src="'.$custom_avatar.'" width="'.$size.'" height="'.$size.'" alt="avatar" class="avatar" />';
 elseif ($avatar) 
 $return = $avatar;
 else 
 $return = '<img src="'.$default.'" width="'.$size.'" height="'.$size.'" alt="'.$alt.'" />';
 
 return $return;
}
add_filter('get_avatar', 'be_gravatar_filter', 10, 5);

I am looking into extending this article when I find additional code…

Here are two avatar plugins

Avatar Manager
WP user Avatar

There is a trac ticket for adding a local avatar to WordPress. As it has been asked for for a long time.
https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/16020

Resources:
https://www.wpstuffs.com/how-to-display-custom-avatar-in-comments-for-users-without-gravatar/
https://www.rswebsols.com/tutorials/wordpress/custom-default-avatar-in-wordpress
https://www.wpcodesnippet.com/comments/add-image-default-avatar-list-wordpress/

A tutorial on adding author picture in your biography post.
https://www.gabediaz.com/blog/displaying-author-pic-and-bio-in-your-wordpress-post/

Adding an image uploader tutorial:
https://s2webpress.com/add-image-uploader-to-profile-admin-page-wordpress/

Add an url field to the user profile section.
https://www.billerickson.net/wordpress-custom-avatar/