The people who created spongebob obviously did.

I will not reconsider my posting habits because to be honest, it was not out of line and you know that.

I'm really curious as to what you said now...

And thank you to the rest of you, I appreciate all the positive (and slightly-disagreeable) responses I've been getting.  And I will keep the older version for posterity.

meh..that just looks like any other photo trace

You're honestly saying you'd rather have the chubby-faced, crooked/disconnected lipped original?  Well, to each his own.  I feel like I've improved from this experience.

for all you women out there, *cough*evan*cough* i thought you might enjoy this...

http://www.travelmateinfo.com/page002.html

Man, those are handy, believe you me.

Man, how did I not notice that nose problem?  I'll get right on that.  But not sure what you mean with the lips...where they meet looks curvular to me, but I guess I could up it a bit.  I'll try to fudge with the colors on the face, but it's tough to make them really blend while keeping them that warm-ish orange.  And the sweater...well, I took the base color from the picture itself, so it's a sort of blue-ish grey, really.  Not a black if you really look at it.
And thank you, I think she is amazingly beautiful as well. 
I'll get to work on your crits, and share any more that you may have.

Very slight update:

Fixed the things talked about, or do I need a more drastic update?
Ah yes, and I added the new shade to the hand.