My entry...
I think its pretty good, besides the stripes...Oh how I suck at stripes...
Anyways, I tried to squeeze in a lot of the stuff you said you liked(Tortie, stripes, realistic colors...etc.)
This took me SO long...I tried to make everything perfect. But I failed. Yeah...Anyways...
I think this looks more like a male...Dunno. Just a thought.
I hate how the tail designs turned out...
Anyways, Hope its good enough.