Oh, well, for some reason I thought there was only the OP in this thread and I made an edit which mostly addresses points that Shiny has already covered. I'll share it anyway:
As for the new piece, I recommend altering the perspective so the horizon line is around eye-level with the subject, occluding the top of the hay.
Be mindful of noisy texture with stuff like hay and fur. Work in nice, clean pixel clusters to keep the pixel work crisp and readable.