Illustration contests: Difference between revisions

'''Illustration contests''' are contests in which entrants are invited to create artwork of requested Pokémon in effort to have it featured on a card in the [[Pokémon Trading Card Game]]. The majority of these contests have only been open to residents of Japan, with many earlier competitions held in Shogakukan publications, such as ''[[CoroCoro Comic]]''. [[Wizards of the Coast]] and [[The Pokémon Company International]] have also held contests in North America and many other countries worldwide during their tenure. The following is a list of contests held in conjunction with the TCG.

Another illustration contest was publicized in the May 1998 issue of ''[[CoroCoro Comic]]'', released in April 1998, in commemoration of the upcoming [[M01|Pokémon movie]] in July of that year. The contest invited readers to create their own original Pokémon trading card, and was divided into two categories: illustration and attacks. The winning entries were announced in the July 1998 issue of ''CoroCoro Comic'', released in June 1998. One entrant received the Best Award in terms of illustration and attacks, receiving 20 physical copies of their card and a {{TCG ID|CoroCoro|Pokémon Illustrator|promo}} promotional card. This card was later printed as part of {{TCG|Expansion Sheet 3}}, available from November 24, 1998. Four entrants received the Excellence Award in the illustration category and three entrants received the Excellence Award in the attack category, each of them receiving a Pokémon Illustrator promotional card. Thirty entrants received the Special Award, each of them receiving a ''Mewtwo's Counterattack'' and ''[[PK01|Pikachu's Summer Vacation]]'' teaser poster.

A third illustration contest through ''[[CoroCoro Comic]]'' was publicized in the June 1998 issue, released in May 1998, commemorating the upcoming [[Pikachu short]] attached to ''[[M01|Mewtwo's Counterattack]]''. This contest was similar to the previous one, with both an illustration category and an attack category. Winning entries were announced in the August 1998 issue of ''CoroCoro Comic'', released in July 1998. Although there was no Best Award, the four entrants selected for the Excellence Award in both the illustration category and attack category each received a {{TCG ID|CoroCoro|Pokémon Illustrator|promo}} promotional card. Thirty entrants received the Special Award, each of them receiving a [[Pokémon Pikachu]].

Much like the ''CoroCoro Comic'' contest, the TV Tokyo variety show 64 Mario Stadium also held a Best Photo Contest in May 1999. The top five winning entries had their Pokémon Snap photographs featured on reprints from {{TCG|Expansion Pack}}.

==Create-a-Snorlax Pokémon Card Contest==

In early 2002, [[Wizards of the Coast]] ran an illustration competition for an English version of Keita Takahashi's winning Pokémon Card Game Illust Artist Contest entry. From February 10th to March 21st 2002, {{TCG|Pokémon League}} participants could illustrate a {{p|Snorlax}} on a provided flyer and mail it in for consideration. In April, twenty submissions were randomly selected as finalists and uploaded to Wizards's website, where the public could vote for a winner using a ranking system. The chosen image was illustrated by Craig Turvey.

 

According to Turvey, he was announced as the winner at {{wp|E3}} 2002, when he visited Wizards of the Coast's booth and asked who won. For winning, Turvey's League received a plaque framing his original artwork and a copy of the promo card; Turvey received multiple copies of the promo card.<ref name="Johto Times">[https://johto.substack.com/p/interview-with-craig-turvey-snorlax-promo-card Interview with Craig Turvey (Create-a-Snorlax Card Contest)]</ref> The card was released publicly through Pokémon Leagues in August 2002. The winner of the contest was not announced outside of E3 before distribution of the card.

 

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! align="left" | [[Snorlax (Wizards Promo 49)|{{color|000|Snorlax}}]]

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===Gallery===

Information regarding the identities of the finalist artists has not been found through archives of Wizards's website.

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! align="left" colspan="5" | <span style="font-size:110%">Create-a-Snorlax Finalists</span>

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The '''Poké Card Creator Contest''' was a contest held by {{DL|Pokémon in the United States|Kids' WB!}} in 2004. Applicants aged between five and fifteen were invited to create an image of one of five pre-selected Pokémon and submit it to Kids' WB! between February 16 and April 10, 2004. Pokémon USA designed five new cards using the winning illustrations. A total of 5,250 {{TCG|Poké Card Creator Pack}}s were distributed in July 2004: 50 packs to each of the five grand prize winners, and one pack to 5,000 first prize winners. The grand prize winners also won a $500 {{wp|Target}} gift card.

Cards were distributed in conjunction with theatrical release of ''[[M12|Arceus: To a Conquering Spacetime]]'' on July 18, 2009.

It is believed that this was not how the cards were distributed when the contest ended, however. A previously unmentioned publication, Shōnen Sunday, also ran a contest. None of the jumbo cards which were intended to be awarded to the 60 originally-mentioned runner-up contestants are known to have surfaced. Significantly fewer of these cards have appeared than that of the 2010 Pokémon Design Contest and it's speculated that each winner may have received between one and thirteen full sets of the winning designs instead of 100 of their own design.

At the same time these cards were released, another Shogakukan publication, Weekly Shōnen Sunday, organised a commissioned Pichu design by Gosho Aoyama, the award winning illustrator of the Detective Conan series first published by the same magazine. This card was released as an insert in the magazine and formed part of Japan's DPt-P promotional set.

*'''Highest award''' (1 winner; 10 total): 200 copies of their winning design^†, a [[Nintendo DSi]], and a copy of [[Pokémon Ranger: Locus of Light]]

† The officially published figure for the number of cards each winner would receive according to both the Pokémon website and the Shogakukan magazines which ran the contest was 100, however in July 2021 an ([https://i.imgur.com/MWWaw2Al.jpg image was shared]) of the pack of cards the Pucchigumi winner Miho Sugano received, identifying the Pucchigumi card as "PCG-Z-PLP67-JPN" and displaying the quantity of cards contained in the pack as 200.

Another illustration contest began in late 2018 and invited people to create artwork with theme "Pokémon Landscapes". Images were required to feature one of ten pre-selected Pokémon complete with an accompanying background—forests or cities were cited as examples. These Pokémon included: {{p|Charizard}}, {{p|Pikachu}}, {{p|Slowpoke}}, {{p|Eevee}}, {{p|Mewtwo}}, {{p|Ho-Oh}}, {{p|Gardevoir}}, {{p|Metagross}}, {{p|Darkrai}}, and {{p|Solgaleo}}. The competition website included [[Pokédex]] entries, official [[Ken Sugimori]] artwork and 3D models of each Pokémon by [[Creatures, Inc.]]'s in-house art team [[5ban Graphics]] for reference. Only residents of Japan were eligible to enter the competition. The application period was open from December 17, 2018 until March 31, 2019. Entrants could apply up to three times and were required to submit their artwork via the competition website. All entries were reviewed by a panel of judges, which consisted of [[The Pokémon Company]] President [[Tsunekazu Ishihara]], Creatures, Inc. President [[Hirokazu Tanaka]], Creatures, Inc. Executive Producer Yuji Kitano, Creatures, Inc. Art Director Kenichi Koga, and TCG illustrators [[Mitsuhiro Arita]], [[Kouki Saitou]], and [[Kagemaru Himeno]].

Interviews with Mitsuhiro Arita and Kouki Saitou were published on the competition website on February 12, 2019 and March 5, 2019, respectively, which explore their methodology of creating an image as well as insights into the interactions between the illustrator and client.

The competition website included articles that provided information and insight from individuals at [[Creatures, Inc.]] and official illustrators. The first article featured an interview with Kenichi Koga in which he discusses a general overview of the [[Pokémon Trading Card Game]], the varying illustration styles that have been an enduring attribute of the TCG, and tips for creating an effective illustration. The second and third articles featured interviews respectively exploring [[Mitsuhiro Arita]]'s and [[Kouki Saitou]]'s approach for creating illustrations. These three articles were originally published for the first Grand Prix. The fourth article featured an interview with two members of Creatures, Inc.'s Pokémon Card Development Division: Art Design Team Manager Satoru Nagaya and Illustration Team Sub-manager Natsume Suwabe. The pair discuss the response to the first Grand Prix, the impetus for the second, and exploring the "Pokémon's Cool Moments" theme. The fifth article, published on January 31, 2020, featured an interview with illustrator Hitoshi Ariga. The sixth article, published on February 28, 2020 featured an interview with the winner of the first Grand Prix, [[Yuu Nishida]].

An illustration contest was held in the months leading up to the Japanese theatrical release of ''[[M23|Secrets of the Jungle]]''. Those wishing to participate were required to follow the Pokémon the Movie: Koko official {{wp|Twitter}} account. A digital copy of the application form could be downloaded from there or the official Pokémon the Movie website; physical copies could also be obtained from participating Pokémon Centers and Pokémon Stores. Entrants were invited to color in a line drawing of [[Koko (M23)|Koko]] and {{DL|List of Pokémon with form differences|Zarude|Dada}} {{p|Zarude}} based on the [[Tetsuo Yajima]] illustration used on a promotional {{TCG ID|S-P Promo|Koko|106}} card. The application period ran from October 15 until November 15, 2020 and while the contest was not limited to residents of Japan, prizes would only be shipped to a Japanese address. Entrants could apply once per account and were required to post their artwork on Twitter with the hashtag #ポケモン映画カードイラコン, ''Pokémon Movie Card Illu Con''. Teams of parents and their children could submit their artwork for consideration using the additional hashtag #親子賞, ''Parent-child Award''. Children were required to color the line art of Koko and Zarude; parents could color in the background and add more illustrations if they so wished.

Following the success of the Illustration Grand Prix contests held in Japan in 2019 and 2020, another illustration contest was announced in September 2021 that was expanded to include residents of Japan and the United States. The premise of the contest remained the same as the most recent Japanese competitions: participants were invited to portray one of eight pre-selected Pokémon centered around the theme "The Daily Life of Pokémon". The eligible Pokémon included {{p|Bulbasaur}}, {{p|Charizard}}, {{p|Pikachu}}, {{p|Arcanine}}, {{rf|Galarian}} {{p|Rapidash}}, {{p|Scizor}}, {{p|Greninja}}, and {{p|Cramorant}}. The submission period was open between 12:00 PM JST on October 14, 2021 and 11:59 PM JST on January 31, 2022 for Japanese residents and between 8:00 PM PT on October 13, 2021 and 6:59 AM PT on January 31, 2022 for residents of the United States. Entrants could submit up to three unique works to the competition website.

Five columns were uploaded to the competition website that provided insights into the creative processes involved with the TCG. The first three were available to view upon the launch of the website, while the fourth and fifth were uploaded on December 21, 2021 and February 28, 2022, respectively. The first column explored the essence of creating illustrations for the TCG and featured input from two directors at Creatures, Inc.'s Pokémon Card Development Division, Satoru Nagaya and Haru Saito, as well as Chris Franc from The Pokémon Company International. The second and third columns featured interviews with TCG illustrators AKIRA EGAWA and [[Narumi Sato]]. The fourth column delved into the worldwide appeal of the TCG and featured discussions with the Game Director of Creatures, Inc.'s Pokémon Card Development Division, Atsushi Nagashima and the Vice President of the Trading Card Game at The Pokémon Company International, Barry Sams. The fifth column featured interviews with the winners of the previous Japanese Illustration Grand Prix contests, [[Yuu Nishida]] and [[Jiro Sasumo]].

One Grand Prize Winner from either Japan or the United States received a cash value of $5,000/¥550,000 and had their illustration featured on a promotional card. Two total First Runners-Up, one from Japan and one from the United States, received a cash value of $3,000/¥330,000 and had their illustrations featured on promotional cards; two Second Runners-Up from either Japan or the United States received a cash value of $1,000/¥110,000. Fifteen Judges' Award Winners from either Japan or the United States received a cash value of $500/¥55,000.

| Illus. Minaminami Take

| Illus. satoma

An illustration contest centered around {{p|Grafaiai}} was announced in the ''[[CoroCoro Comic]]'' January 2023 issue. Entrants to the contest could use an included postcard to submit both an illustration of Grafaiai and a name of an attack, which would be used as inspiration for a Grafaiai ex card. Both the winning attack name and illustration were announced in the ''CoroCoro Comic'' July 2023 issue. The winning attack name was '''Poipopoison''', and the winning illustration was recreated in a 3DCG style by [[aky CG Works]].