This week some really great animated avatars caught our eye. They make me jealous, and if I stare at them for too long, a little seasick. Way to go guys!

First up, Stef1104 (I wonder if the “1104” means Stef will shortly be celebrating a birthday?) Stef, we love your avatar of Luke and Noah kissing. It’s one of my favorite television moments from this year. Now if someone else would just put up an avatar of when Luke pulled a Britney in his hospital gown, my life will be complete.

Second up is snicks for his very creative yet vaguely menacing opening and closing fist. I'm not certain what this is meant to represent. Maybe snicks is a member of the Black Panthers? I checked out snicks’ profile and nothing about Black Panthers, though we do share a love of David Sedaris and that witchiest of women, Stevie Nicks. Stand back! You can find out more about snicks on his blog.

The winner this time around has been giving Afterelton.com’s right navbar a sloppy wet lick all this week. His name is Snezzy, and his Pikachu-inspired avatar showed up under the New Members list on Saturday. We’ve been hypnotized by it ever since. Snez is an 18 year old high school senior from Washington state. He obviously has a talent for animation, and I’m hoping he writes back to tell us how he created his very cool avatar.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in spicing up your online pics with some animation and need help getting started, check out this how to guide on animated gifs using Photoshop.

Congrats to runners up Stef1104 & snicks, and a big tip of the hat to our Avatar of the Week: Snezzy!