diff --git a/.idea/mercury.iml b/.idea/mercury.iml
index 24643cc..6deb029 100644
--- a/.idea/mercury.iml
+++ b/.idea/mercury.iml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
       <excludeFolder url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/.tmp" />
       <excludeFolder url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/temp" />
       <excludeFolder url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/tmp" />
+      <excludeFolder url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/.astro" />
     </content>
     <orderEntry type="inheritedJdk" />
     <orderEntry type="sourceFolder" forTests="false" />
diff --git a/src/content/config.ts b/src/content/config.ts
index b250015..2de2aa4 100644
--- a/src/content/config.ts
+++ b/src/content/config.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import {posts} from './posts/_schemas';
 import {pages} from "./pages/_schemas";
 import {file} from 'astro/loaders';
 import { z } from 'astro:content';
-import {siteConfig} from "../config.ts";
+import {authors} from '../data/authors._schema.ts';
 
 const blogCollection = defineCollection({
     type: 'content',
@@ -24,15 +24,7 @@ const blogRollData = defineCollection({
 
 const authorsData = defineCollection({
     loader: file("src/data/authors.yaml"),
-    schema: z.object({
-        name: z.string().default(siteConfig.defaultAuthor.name),
-        email: z.string().email().default(siteConfig.defaultAuthor.email),
-        mcplayerid: z.string().optional(),
-        social: z.object({
-            twitter: z.string().optional(),
-            fediverse: z.string().optional(),
-        }).optional(),
-    })
+    schema: authors,
 });
 
 export const collections = {
diff --git a/src/data/authors._schema.ts b/src/data/authors._schema.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3630bd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/data/authors._schema.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import {z} from "astro:content";
+import {siteConfig} from "../config.ts";
+
+export const authors = ({ image }) => z.object({
+    name: z.string().default(siteConfig.defaultAuthor.name),
+    email: z.string().email().default(siteConfig.defaultAuthor.email),
+    avatar: image().optional(),
+    mcplayerid: z.string().optional(),
+    social: z.object({
+        twitter: z.string().optional(),
+        fediverse: z.string().optional(),
+    }).optional(),
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/data/authors.yaml b/src/data/authors.yaml
index 5cf773a..81590b3 100644
--- a/src/data/authors.yaml
+++ b/src/data/authors.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 Wheatley: # the key name (id) of the author, which is used in the front matter
   name: "Wheatley" # the display name of the author
   email: "hello@example.org" # the email address of the author
-  mcplayerid: "Wheatley" # the Minecraft player ID of the author, if applicable
+  avatar: "https://minotar.net/helm/Wheatley/64.png" # the URL of the author's avatar image (takes precedence over the minecraft player avatar, a square image with no more than 64*64 is recommended)
+  mcplayerid: "Wheatley" # the Minecraft player ID of the author, if applicable (used for generating player avatars)
   social: # the social media accounts of the author, if any (there is no reference for this yet except for the twitter handle)
     twitter: "@wheatley"
     fediverse: "@"
diff --git a/src/pages/images/avatars/[author].png.js b/src/pages/images/avatars/[author].png.js
index 57360b4..7ffe78f 100644
--- a/src/pages/images/avatars/[author].png.js
+++ b/src/pages/images/avatars/[author].png.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { getCollection } from 'astro:content';
+import { getImage } from "astro:assets";
 
 export async function getStaticPaths() {
     const authorsData = await getCollection('authors');
@@ -11,6 +12,35 @@ export async function getStaticPaths() {
 export async function GET({ props }) {
     const { author } = props;
 
+    if (author.data.avatar) {
+        try {
+            const optimizedImage = await getImage({
+                src: author.data.avatar,
+                width: 64,
+                height: 64,
+                format: 'png'
+            });
+
+            // Fetch the optimized image
+            const imageResponse = await fetch(optimizedImage.src);
+            if (!imageResponse.ok) {
+                throw new Error('Failed to fetch optimized image');
+            }
+
+            const imageBuffer = await imageResponse.arrayBuffer();
+
+            return new Response(imageBuffer, {
+                headers: {
+                    'Content-Type': 'image/png',
+                    'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=86400' // Cache for 24 hours
+                }
+            });
+        } catch (error) {
+            console.error('Error processing avatar image:', error);
+            // Fall through to the mcplayerid check if avatar processing fails
+        }
+    }
+
     if (!author.data.mcplayerid) {
         return new Response(null, { status: 404 });
     }