I didn't even know Ernya closed down till now. I've been on Ernya for quite some time (maybe two to three years?) when I was still an active member on various avatar community sites and I absolutely loved the art in that site.

As for other avatar sites, you could try Trisphee and Sapherna (a remodeled version of Crysandrea)
I'm also waiting on Skye : Endless Realms, which is a really promising avatar site which look gorgeous. The community is also rather involved in the creation with a Facebook group where they suggest and design items for the website.