Queen Fantine VIII wrote:And don't think I missed your little dig there. There were circumstances that were beyond my control.....
As we have agreed, you are heartless. (See #5.)littlebeast13 wrote:SportsFan68 wrote:YAY RAFFERBEE!!!!!!!!!!!
And this means my fave is #1!!!!!!!
Can't wait to see my choice make the #1 spot tomorrow!
Can't wait to break your heart again......
lb13
Congratulations to the happy couple! When is the ceremony?littlebeast13 wrote:#1: "I Kissed a Squirrel"
Debuted: 7/24/11
In 2009 it was a hug, in 2010 it was a romantic moment, and in 2011 it was a kiss. This avatar of MBRS planting a surprise kiss on the cheek of Angel was a work of perfection, but even I did not anticipate the one detail about it that really took it over the top and made it my selection for the best ES avatar of the year. The expression on Angel's face, eyes wide open and paw obscuring her mouth, is so perfectly abstract that the reaction those who commented on the avatar assigned to Angel was all over the map (And as a bonus, it inspired this wonderful little thread). Was she shocked? Appalled? Pleasantly surprised? Flustered? Aghast? Tickled? Her true reaction exists only in the eye of the beholder. MBRS and Angel make a most excellent team in my drawings. Whether or not they make a most excellent team in other things, well, that all may depend on what you see in Angel's face....
Thank you for indulging me in my third annual ES avatar countdown! I look forward to reliving the best moments of the year once again next December..... say, on 12/12/12?
lb13
SportsFan68 wrote:YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a wonderful #1 avatar!!!
And wonderful accompanying thread!
YAY, ANGEL!
YAY, MBRS!
That's some pretty rocky terrain to do some skateboreding. I'm glad ES is using protection.littlebeast13 wrote:SportsFan68 wrote:YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a wonderful #1 avatar!!!
And wonderful accompanying thread!
YAY, ANGEL!
YAY, MBRS!
Uh oh! If Sprots liked it, then I must've picked the wrong avatar for #1......
lb13
ulysses5019 wrote:That's some pretty rocky terrain to do some skateboreding. I'm glad ES is using protection.littlebeast13 wrote:SportsFan68 wrote:YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a wonderful #1 avatar!!!
And wonderful accompanying thread!
YAY, ANGEL!
YAY, MBRS!
Uh oh! If Sprots liked it, then I must've picked the wrong avatar for #1......
lb13
No.littlebeast13 wrote:ulysses5019 wrote:That's some pretty rocky terrain to do some skateboreding. I'm glad ES is using protection.littlebeast13 wrote:
Uh oh! If Sprots liked it, then I must've picked the wrong avatar for #1......
lb13
It's alright, the nurse is nearby with her healing scritches....
lb13
SportsFan68 wrote:No.littlebeast13 wrote:ulysses5019 wrote:
That's some pretty rocky terrain to do some skateboreding. I'm glad ES is using protection.
It's alright, the nurse is nearby with her healing scritches....
lb13
Ick.
The light wasn't great, so Casey is showing an expression that you never actually see. That hint of a snarl if she saw some mangy rodent on a skateboard, which she also hates, would be real.
Same reason she hates bicycles, plus there's the added obnoxious noise.littlebeast13 wrote:SportsFan68 wrote:No.littlebeast13 wrote:
It's alright, the nurse is nearby with her healing scritches....
lb13
Ick.
The light wasn't great, so Casey is showing an expression that you never actually see. That hint of a snarl if she saw some mangy rodent on a skateboard, which she also hates, would be real.
Why does Casey hate skateboards....?
lb13
Hey, at least one of them made my personal countdown!Queen Fantine VIII wrote:I'm always a sucker for a cute Princess Angel avatar and the pure enthusiasm (she must be as much of a morning squirrel as Newsie ES) and the highsteppin' in her freshly pressed uniform makes this one a winner. The whistle puts it over the top.
OMG! I'm just going off of my memory and lb's position additions in his avatar thread but can it possibly be that EVERY SINGLE ONE of my 20-11 was a did not chart?????
I smell a guillotine avatar tomorrow......Queen Fantine VIII wrote:TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE TOP TEN (will any of them have made the obviously flawed "official" countdown?) AND QUITE POSSIBLY THE END OF THE REIGN OF QFVIII!!!!!!11
Me too. I had major hopes from about #10 on that it would be #1.a1mamacat wrote:I just cannot fathom how "Saucinator" dint make any list!!!!
It was tops for me
And because I love to comment on comments about ES's work, I shall give my take on the bottom half of the Fanny list.... removing the spoilers since they should no longer be spoilers to anyone!Queen Fantine VIII wrote:First, 11-20. Just like last year, these are not in any particular order. Well, I lie, they are in chronological order just for ease in locating them. Last year many of mine were crossovers from lb's list so I didn't post pictures and then he just filled in the others with his comments on my comments.
I don't even remember drawing the rubber duckie, though it has been a year since I drew this avatar. It never stood out to me, and if I were to redraw this avatar just from my memory of it, the rubber duckie would have probably been the only thing I would have neglected to put back in it. I think my favorite comment on this avatar was Marley mentioning that that hard to reach area behind the toilet was obviously not a problem for ES.....Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Bathroom Reading #210
Always a fan of the can. The little touch that got it into the Top 20 is not, as one might imagine, the MBRS centerfold. It's the little rubber duckie on the tank.
I really like this avatar, but there were just so many great Sprots/ES avatars that there was no way this was gonna muscle its way into the countdown. I find it hard not to notice how off center ES is in this avatar... he's gonna have a hard time hitting those low notes....Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Amadeus Squirrel #212
[
Obviously the piano theme, but I really like the balance and perspective of the from behind angle especially the legs on either side of the tail. Little touch: Baby, YOU....you got what I neeeeed.......
This was a throwaway avatar for me... if I did an extended ranking of all the avatars this would probably be somewhere in the middle of the bottom half with all the other nondescript, but not awful avatars...Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Welcome to Colorado #220
I like the idea this brings to mind of ES and the Girls on a Road Trip, pulling a Snaxx and stopping along the way for pictures with landmarks. But there's also a personal reason. I've said before that my brother was named after Craig, Colorado. I had a co-worker who also had a brother named Craig (not named for the town) and she told about how her dad forced him to get out and pose next to the Craig city limits sign, and how dorky he thought it was. I told this to Craig and laughed at having to do that and Craig got a real sheepish look on his face and said in a little voice, "I kind of always wanted to do that.....". To date, my Craig has never been to Craig.....
ES is just too freakishly large in this picture for me to really like it. It doesn't bother me when ES is the same size as Sprots, but when he's towering over a mailbox....Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Papersquirrel #243
This one almost didn't make the cut because what I liked most about it was similar to a higher ranking avatar. But the happiness on ES' face at 6 am, the shoulder strap bag and the old-school Schwinn, combined with the size perspective and diminishing sidewalk giving the illusion of movement kept it in the Top 20.
I'm not sure why I love Combat! more than this one, maybe because it was first. This avatar was drawn just 2 weeks after Combat! at the height of the Lizbit/ES avatar days, and I like the same features you like about it. As with many of my avatars, even the better ones, there is one glaring mistake in this one and it stings my eyes every time I look at it (and no, it's not the inverted triangles on the sign).... I have Lizzie's markings on her face all wrong...Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Fallout Shelter #260
It was a tough decision between this one and Combat as the expressions and composition were somewhat similar. Fallout Shelter prevailed due to the makeshift protective headgear, the tag on the mattress and the homerun of Lizbit also donning goggles. Safety Third!
Another avatar I really love, but for some reason never really considered it for the countdown. Maybe because I thought of it as a novelty avatar, I don't know. But the effect I mentioned in my comments, about how the resizing compression added to the normal jpg compression gave this avatar the look of a painting as opposed to a cartoon, is my favorite thing about it...Queen Fantine VIII wrote:The Birth of MBRS #275
In his remarks, lb says he doesn't remember why I mentioned the red hair similarity between Simonetta and MBRS. But the conversation was that a friend had taken an art appreciation course in college and pointed out all of the things that were technically wrong with The Birth of Venus, thereby ruining the painting for me because that was all I could ever see after that. So that is why I rarely care what experts think about anything because I like what I like. This makes the top 20 because lb actually corrected Botticelli's errors (without even knowing what they were). Ha!
See Amadeus Squirrel. Good avatar on its own, but not even among my Top 5 ES/Sprots avatars of the year...Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Take a Hike! #280
Nothing truly special for comment except the little touches that enhance the enjoyment: Sprots' walking stick, the red laces in her hiking boots and ES' position seeming to copy The Thinker.
Good avatar that probably would have gotten official countdown consideration (though almost certainly as an honorable) had it not been for Erin Got Back a few days later. The first avatar of my postseason squirrel boycott, which did me a lot of good in that I got to work on some of my other characters more often, and that has come in handy given my current undertaking....Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Pu Pu for You! #309
This one makes the countdown due to Holly's look of anticipation (complete with rubbing hands and tongue peeking out) and the little touch of Erin's facial position reminding me of Fun at the Ol' Ballpark.
This one of course did make my personal list, and I think you may have solved the mystery of MBRS's expression! That is what I will see from now on. And this avatar was drawn from scratch. I never considered how much ES resembled his appearance in This Bow's For You....Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Sexiest Squirrel Alive #321
Two things stand out in this one. ES has the same face and posture as in This Bow's for You (was this reworked from that one?), giving continuity to his "God's Gift" mindset and refusal to believe that he is anything other than irresistible. Meanwhile, MBRS' face seems to indicate that she's busy dreaming of somebody else's pulchritude, perhaps that of the key grip or the Foley artist.
Funny, Angel made the Top 10 three times, yet in all three cases she was with another character. This despite the Angel solo avatar being a countdown staple since she is by far my best lone wolf. Had a solo Angel made the cut this year, I would have probably chosen Isabella over this one, but I do like it. I mean, come on, it's ANGEL!!!!Queen Fantine VIII wrote:Let the Parade Begin! #323
I'm always a sucker for a cute Princess Angel avatar and the pure enthusiasm (she must be as much of a morning squirrel as Newsie ES) and the highsteppin' in her freshly pressed uniform makes this one a winner. The whistle puts it over the top.
See what happens when you don't provide pre-countdown feedback? How can I fabricate the countdown to conform to your tastes if you don't tell me what you like? Sprots got all the say in this year's countdown....Queen Fantine VIII wrote:OMG! I'm just going off of my memory and lb's position additions in his avatar thread but can it possibly be that EVERY SINGLE ONE of my 20-11 was a did not chart?????
Queen Fantine VIII wrote:TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE TOP TEN (will any of them have made the obviously flawed "official" countdown?) AND QUITE POSSIBLY THE END OF THE REIGN OF QFVIII!!!!!!11
I iterated, reiterated, and RE-reiterated that I, personally, did not have any say in this year's countdown. If I did, there would be no sprots avatars to consider, much less any in the countdown. It seems another iteration is required.littlebeast13 wrote:. . .
See what happens when you don't provide pre-countdown feedback? How can I fabricate the countdown to conform to your tastes if you don't tell me what you like? Sprots got all the say in this year's countdown....
. . .
lb13
Poor Sprots!SportsFan68 wrote:I iterated, reiterated, and RE-reiterated that I, personally, did not have any say in this year's countdown. If I did, there would be no sprots avatars to consider, much less any in the countdown. It seems another iteration is required.littlebeast13 wrote:. . .
See what happens when you don't provide pre-countdown feedback? How can I fabricate the countdown to conform to your tastes if you don't tell me what you like? Sprots got all the say in this year's countdown....
. . .
lb13
Only if this counts as "having a say," what I did was persuade a few people to speak up and get their input entered into the "public reaction" consideration piece of LB's selections. I was very pleased to learn that additional input vaulted MarathonClem into the countdown, even though LB didn't know what a lagniappe was. My "having a say" had no effect on #1. I admit I was very happy with the #1 avatar, but I felt that Saucinator -- what an image! -- would have been a better choice, and I was disappointed that no amount of input even put it into the honorable mention.
It wasn't for spoilage (I gave the title of the avatar before the spoiler!), it was just to keep the post from being long and unwieldy. You know how I am about liking things to be neat and tidy....littlebeast13 wrote:And because I love to comment on comments about ES's work, I shall give my take on the bottom half of the Fanny list.... removing the spoilers since they should no longer be spoilers to anyone!
I think you probably made him off center in order to show the sheet music but the funny thing is, that many pianists rarely sit at middle C. Generally they shade a bit to the right because that's where the melody is usually happening with arpeggios and whatnot while the left is keeping the beat. In my case it's because I'm left dominant and have a better reach and span to the left.littlebeast13 wrote:Amadeus Squirrel #212
I really like this avatar, but there were just so many great Sprots/ES avatars that there was no way this was gonna muscle its way into the countdown. I find it hard not to notice how off center ES is in this avatar... he's gonna have a hard time hitting those low notes....
Yet another case of one man's meat being another man's poison. It's what you think is 'freakishly large' that I think is what gives the illusion of movement. And, hey, it's a mini mailbox....littlebeast13 wrote:Papersquirrel #243
ES is just too freakishly large in this picture for me to really like it. It doesn't bother me when ES is the same size as Sprots, but when he's towering over a mailbox....
Actually I might only do 6-10 tonight because I was looking at my list and I'm STILL torn over the placement for the top five. The bottom half of the top 10 is set, there's nothing to change my mind since I wrote it down. But 1-5 is completely ditherworthy. Should I cheat and just do a 'no particular order'?littlebeast13 wrote:Queen Fantine VIII wrote:TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE TOP TEN (will any of them have made the obviously flawed "official" countdown?) AND QUITE POSSIBLY THE END OF THE REIGN OF QFVIII!!!!!!11
I'll be setting my alarm....
lb13
