To tell you honestly, I liked your first idea. If you mind for some suggestions, the aura of the first draft can be light if you applied light colors and made it a little grandiose. Gold and other elegant colors could possibly give out the idea you want to put out.
I love the idea of the crowning ceremony which depicts the introduction of the new logo of the #steem-cartoon "THE OWL".
But, the new idea wasn't bad after all. I love the details on the feathers of the owl man (not really sure if i'm right) especially the one on his shoulders. Over all, the details really blew me off!
Thanks for the insightful feedback! Your suggestions really could have worked, but at the time I wasn't exactly sure how much time I had left to enter the contest, so I hastily scrapped the original idea instead of trying to develop it to the extent that you did. I also thought the same thing about the crowning concept! If only my thinking and creative process were enough to execute it well! Thanks again for the awesome comment and for checking out my entry!