Probably the biggest defining thing that drove me to leaving (which basically lead to a domino effect of everyone else leaving) was the lack of work. We had quite a few non-staff members on the site that were posting nice avatars, however, most of them were simply cropped images without any further work put into them. Any mention of the lack of work put into an avatar would normally start an argument. That along with a lack of requests, and people constantly bugging me about wanting to join as a staff member, especially the people mentioned above.
Now, if you think you may be one of the people I mentioned above, please don't start an argument, I'm really not in the mood right now to deal with flamers, just live and let live.
As for my personal avatar making carrier, I'm in limbo on whether to continue it or not, I know I've made quite a few great avatars that I'm very proud of. However, I'm now back to taking classes, and that's 4-5 days a week, from 8:30 to 3. Mix that with practicing guitar an hour or so a day and keeping up with a few T.V. shows I really don't have time for much else. That's the very reason I'm not around CHU as often as I normally am.
However, If you'd still like a trademark insom avatar, just give me a PM, it'll show up in my email and I'll try to make time for it. It may be anywhere from a few hours to a week (but not longer) before it gets done.