Posted 06 June 2008 - 11:12 AM
Ok, so now I’ve got my parameters.
What makes it tough for me is not simply picking the most stunning picture. This contest really leaves itself open to interpretation. Although I feel compelled to make a note about each one.
Koala – Very cute and very charming, but it felt more cute than cartoony.
Squirrel Jar – Just awesome, a really beautiful piece. This felt more steampunk or cyber-controlled, than dead brought to life. It’s like the squirrel is an evil genius stuck in the wrong body, so he made this suit.
Cyber Lion – Another awesome picture, but it felt kind of He-Man to me. It was more sci-fi, and didn’t give me the impression that technology had brought the character back to life. This seemed like a noble warrior with battle scars. And there’s nothing cartoony here – which is good. If they ever made a ThunderCats movie, he should be in it.
Steampunk Lion – Do I have to say stunning again? This is a breathtaking piece. But the character doesn’t feel re-animated or cartoony. This just has that steampunk feel. This character feels really. He would simply exist in another world.
Zombie Sheep – Just awesome to look at. It looks like a cell from a comic book. I really struggled here. Is this a zombie or a dead animal brought back to by technology? In the end it felt more zombie without technology.
Family Guy – Could it get more cartoony? Just a hilarious drawing and painfully clever. This was not my winner for one simple reason, and it is a minor one. They are in a void. It may seem petty, but a little context would have gone a long way for me.
Battle Beast Group – This would make a great comic book cover - Battle Beasts #1. There was one small problem for me, consistency. The bottom three figures feel very cartoony, the elephant has a cartoony body with a pretty realistic head, and the eagle seems to be too different from the other figures. None of them look bad, but they look like they belong in three different books.
Tazer – It looks great and I really like it, but I took away points with the head. It wasn’t clear to me where the head and the “circuits” separated, or were they connected? The confusion took something away for me.
In the end I’m going with Reccoom Kaboom, and here’s why. It feels like the cell of a cartoon. While I was looking at it I thought, “This just feels like one of the Cartoon Network shows, like a Teen Titans or one of those.”
When I looked back at the titles, I was sold. It’s just a fun, cartoony picture with lots of action. I really feel like this is a screen capture from a cartoon.
Again, great job to everyone. This is the first time I felt compelled to give notes on every picture. All of them could be winners. Even if I ranked them there would only be hundredths of a point between first and last.