I'm not sure if that's actually the case - I've seen plenty of new players who are still level 1 and their character portraits show up fine as their avatars, you just have to select it in your forum profile, including what class you want to have listed beside it as well.

Apparently there's a problem SE are having with the Lodestone at the moment where player avatars on the forum and character information on the Lodestone isn't updating or showing the wrong picture, so it's possible this might be what's happening with you sadly Ninmin.