Add custom default avatar
// add a new default avatar to the list in WordPress admin
// change path to reflect where your default image lives
add_filter( 'avatar_defaults', 'mytheme_addgravatar' );
function mytheme_addgravatar( $avatar_defaults ) {
$myavatar = get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory') . '/_/images/avatar.gif';
$avatar_defaults[$myavatar] = 'New Default Gravatar';
return $avatar_defaults;
}