diff --git a/app/Jobs/AvatarPipeline/CreateAvatar.php b/app/Jobs/AvatarPipeline/CreateAvatar.php
index 88243e4c6..40e54deb2 100644
--- a/app/Jobs/AvatarPipeline/CreateAvatar.php
+++ b/app/Jobs/AvatarPipeline/CreateAvatar.php
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ class CreateAvatar implements ShouldQueue
         $icon = $identicon->getIcon($hash);
 
         try {
+          
+          $baseDir = storage_path('app/public/avatars');
+          if(!is_dir($baseDir)) {
+            mkdir($baseDir);
+          }
+
           $prefix = $profile->id;
           $padded = str_pad($prefix, 12, 0, STR_PAD_LEFT);
           $parts = str_split($padded, 3);
diff --git a/storage/app/public/avatars/.gitignore b/storage/app/public/avatars/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e841eefe2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/storage/app/public/avatars/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+*
+!.gitignore
+!default.png
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/storage/app/public/avatars/default.png b/storage/app/public/avatars/default.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e7bdbefd2
Binary files /dev/null and b/storage/app/public/avatars/default.png differ
diff --git a/storage/debugbar/.gitignore b/storage/debugbar/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6b7ef32c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/storage/debugbar/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+*
+!.gitignore