As the avatar has to be resized it's going to lose quality. I'm guessing that the brightness is part of the loss in quality. Can use another program to re scale it first then upload it.
That better?
Edit: Also did you draw this yourself? If so awesome drawing!
Yes, I drew this. I draw things, that's kinda my deal.
Yours looks waaaaaaaaaaay better, I'm gonna change it now thank you!
Also, here's the full version of that one - well, web size anyway.
And one of my more recent drawings (there's a video of this one)
Edit: I've changed the image, done a refresh, etc. Still not showing up as the lighter version for me. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.