The Third Art Contest: Gen 9 Starters & Hisuian Forms
Although my idea was to give the art contest a few months’ rest and organize it in an annual manner, the surprise announcement of the (back then) new Pokémon generation by the Pokémon Company led me to improvise a third contest ahead of schedule. The premise was to divide it into two categories: one dedicated to the Hisui forms from Pokémon Legends: Arceus and the other for the starters from Scarlet and Violet, for which there was only minimal official artwork and a few captures from the initial trailer at that time.
Rules & Concept
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The idea behind restricting the Pokémon selection so much was to ensure that all illustrations had a unified theme and could, so to speak, seems to be a real TCG lustration. The theme was “Pokémon in the wild, without human interference,” so that we could see how they thrive in their natural habitats.
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The Psyduck logo for the 25th anniversary, as much as I liked it, didn’t quite fit the theme of the contest. Therefore, a community member designed two logos, one for each category. On one hand, there was a regular Pokéball logo for Gen 9, and on the other hand, a custom-made Pokéball similar to those used in Arceus, made of wood and steam. I also decided to use two different card background layouts to add depth, booth with subtle artwork from the main village of Paldea and the Hisui map, which could be noticed upon closer inspection (especially when holding the cards in hand).
Participants
The participation was massive, with more than 100 illustrations in total: 35 for the Hisui forms, 18 for Fuecoco, 29 for Sprigatito, and 20 for Quaxly. I encourage you to check an enjoy all the submitted illustrations in this gallery, but here’s a very small selection of some of them.
Winners
On this occasion, there were a total of 10 winners, six from the Paldea category and four from the Hisui category. Nine copies of each card with a golden stamp were produced (and distributed in the same way, sent free of charge to the authors for their personal use). Additionally, another 9 of each were created without holographic features, just regular versions.
- 4 Grand Prizes from the audience, the most voted illustrations were selected.
- 4 Runner-ups in 2nd place.
- 2 extra cards, chosen by the 3rd and 4th positions based on public voting.
- Winners Gallery
Winner’s Gallery
Gen 9 Starters, Grand Prize with gold stamp (first row), Grand Prize (no gold stamp), 2nd place (silver stamp)
Final Words
So, that’s all that surrounded this third contest. I apologize for taking so long to write this post, but I hope it’s somewhat presentable. What I take away from this contest is the large number of participants, the quality of the submissions, and the creation of a visual identity for the cards. The winner of this contest has designed the promo for the 4th contest, which will be announced on Monday, October 30, further strengthening the bonds within the community and turning this into a beautiful tradition to enjoy the hobby. More to come in a few days!