EDIT: out of the entries done for this particular avvie design in the contest, this one went best.
total winnings (in gaia gold) for this piece - 5,000g

Here's the first entry in the same contest as "HorseMaster Avvie"
yeah, not as good at all. I though the avvie design I chose the list had some "wow" potential when finished, but whether I was deceived or just wasn't able to tap into that potential here, idk, but it wasn't good enough to me. the color palette was so limited that it was really difficult to make the actual avatar stand out and the bird, while I really Love how he came out, I has a little too much going for him. as in, he's almost a focal point himself, which is bad, I mainly posed him so he would help bring attention inward to the avvie, but that didn't work, at least not in my eyes. so yeah, hence why I chose to do a second entry.