Out of curiosity, what criteria is everyone using to judge entries?
For me, it's a three-way balance between the visual appeal and creativity of the entry, and how appropriate it is for the theme as given. For example, a lot of the entries for the Relaxed contest were pretty and relaxing, but not
Relaxed due to the wrong accessories being chosen.
This one has been my best so far, placing 3rd out of - if I used my own criteria on it, I'd have considered it theme-appropriate and visually appealing, but not high in creativity.
I love your entry, @Methos!! The sunglasses cloud is so endearingly goofy, it's so good :'D
Personally when I'm voting, creativity is my highest priority; I tend to choose favorites based on how far they can push the definition of the theme and break the mold while still fitting it. I also tend to like the ones that use unconventional pokemon; cats and foxes are okay and all, but it's always nice to see people pour their love into a different kind of monster (and it makes them stand out, too!) Although obviously I'm not gonna judge people based on the pokemon alone; there was one REALLY good entry with a Lucario, for example, and although I personally find Lucario really overrated (sorry lucario) the idea was so clever and creative that I loved it anyways. (I'm honestly surprised it didn't win; I'm not gonna describe the deets for the sake of the creator, but trust me when I say it was
really good
(This became way longer than I intended it to be, but hopefully my rambling at least makes sense! :P)
(avatar is official TCG art)