[Gallagher]

Making baseless avatars has done the most for improving my skills, I think. Even if you do use a skin, going baseless opens up a lot of layering options. The more you play with layering possibilities, the more ideas you can get to use down the road.

When I do change my avi, or enter a competition, I have a day dedicated to working on it. So yeah, I spend a good amount of time on them.

The only other suggestion I have would be getting one of every common you can. They can come in handy big time with getting that dash of color in just the right place, and having one already means you can see if it works, then spend the aurum on the color you'd need.

Off of that topic now - YOU SEEN MY JANK, WUT, I FEEL SO FAMOUS.