We often talk about our favourite artwork from cards, and for some of us that is the best reason to collect a card.
But I was wondering today, which card has artwork that you hate? Which card you look at in disgust and think ‘How did that make it onto a card?’
Hardmode: No BW/XY era EX cards, even though some of them are atrocious.
Here is the first that comes to mind for me:
Nice topic.
My shout out goes to this:
The artwork is so bad, that Bulbapedia didn’t mind using this cruddy condition card as a scan.
Any of the clay artworks. 
I’m not a fan.
I think you have to look at the perspective of conceptual meaning behind the work, and why this was chosen.
Firstly, from memory I think the above set has a number of artworks which were made from a childrens drawing/art competition. Submitted by children, and the winners were chosen.
I know that if this was made by a professional artist, hired out by wotc, the technical resolution of the work is quite sad.
But it was a kids drawing competition, I think its badass for children’s work. The background is what makes it amazing, the whole power-plant and the hanging electabuzz is so awesome. I could see in this set why they chose it, because its background was more detailed in a dionysiac sense, than many of the submissions.
There is some hilarity behind how bad it looks as a fully licensed print, which makes it a fun card. It’s like… so bad that its good?
Wellllll the voltorb was done by Komiya who has done quite a few cards lol. For me his work is hit or miss, but it should be noted that this is his style of artwork: crude and playful. I can definitely appreciate his art in the sense that his style is unique to the pokemon tcg. They look absurd and that’s why I like them 
See here: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Tomokazu_Komiya
As for my least favorite: I dislike cards in which the illustration looks too smooth and cartoony if that makes any sense. For example I enjoy the roughness and texture of older sugimori art but don’t like his newer art as much (ie. Post-frlg)
The only card that makes Rayquaza look bad. That face is just horrid.
And this one lol XD derp.
They both look as if they lost their teeth. I know that’s in the initial design, but those two artworks seem to heavily overemphasize his gums. 
Also, if we’re also leaving card arts out of our favorite Pokes. I think this is the worst depiction of Gyarados:
I know a lot of detail went into this but… No… My goodness. No.
Runner up though, would have to be:
Looks like an oversized caterpillar thrashing in a shallow puddle.
At least they got raticate right ;0
Blasphemy. I am forever enamored with Michael Bay’s Gyarados.
Just as reference, I was searching worst pokemon cards online, and an old thread from here came up: has a few baddies in there also:
I can’t find words to describe his face.
Come on other Scott! This Voltorb is one of my favorites. Then again I am partial to the older hand drawn artwork. I remember seeing that Voltorb back in the 90’s at a card shop and couldn’t forget it. Since at that point all I knew was the base set Voltorb, I thought it was cool that one could look that way.
Anyway, tangent aside, artwork that is forgettable to me are most of the common cards from the original EX series.
That grimer is laughable at best, disgraceful at worst.
Yes, Tomokazu Komiya is a professional artist, not one of the kids who won the art contests to make Vending cards (those were Mr. Mime, Snorlax, Poliwrath and maybe one more). Different strokes and all that but I find Komiya’s early artwork to be HIDEOUS, all of it. Since the BW-era, he’s modified his style a bit so that it’s still recognizably Tomokazu Komiya but it doesn’t make me want to spew vomit. So there’s that, at least.
The Skyridge Gyarados reminds me of the goblin on the front of the big truck in the movie Maximum Overdrive, or like the Green Goblin from Spider-Man.
Any of the 3D crap rolling around, the only 3D art I actually like is the Ditto from the original Fossil set because it was like a breath of fresh air at the time, nowadays it’s like they’re spamming it for no particular reason.
There is a lot of junk in the 3D artwork that’s come out in the recent years, but there are some absolute gems in there as well.
HAHAH just fantastic!
6.3.6
I think these ones are up there as well 
Basically 80% of the Vending set.
