Trainer Card Contest I - Pokemon Heart Gold Forum! Theme; Psychic! - Page 9

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Round II - Theme: Celebi, Ho-oh, Lugia, Raikou, Suicune, Entei

Create a card based around at least one of these Heart Gold Legendary Pokemon. You can use more than one if you want.

Hey guys, I’d just like to say before I post the judging, that I’m so sorry for not posting this sooner, as you guys have known I’ve had major internet difficulties over the past couple of weeks and together with Christmas and the New Year it’s been hard for me to get this done. I’m going to be promoting another judge as soon as possible so in case this happens again there will be someone to back up the judging.




B

A lot of good intentions with this card, but there’s some basic flaws that need to addressed. I know you tried to go for something smple, but creative, and you originality isn’t being dismissed here. However, the problem is in the template. I’d heavily advise you to avoid creating your templates until you’re consistently scoring in the A range; ie you need to master making good cards with solid templates before experimenting with your own creativity. It may be tempting, I know, but I learnt this the hard way too. But, this doesn’t exempt you from getting criticism. The biggest problem with the card is that it doesn’t look like a Pokemon card, the template doesn’t fit. Another reason, is that the key elements of the card, that is the trainer, badges and Pokemon, are all small, while the rest of the card is large, with little detail. It creates a large contrast, and diminishes the Pokemon side to the image.



C+

You’re starting to get a better hold on the basics, it’s great to see some improvement. It’s still going to be a matter of time practicing the techniques.. so I’ll focus more now on something that’s just a crucial to the success of a card – interpretation and representation of theme. The point of the round was to make a card that revolves around a certain Pokemon of your choosing (legendary). But, with your card, the only thing that really fits with the theme and shows that Entei is the central Pokemon is the fact that it’s legendary, there’s really nothing else. Consistency is an issue I’m bringing up again and again in this judging, and it’s also a problem here.



B

This card has a lot of potential, with a bit of tweaking a high mark wouldn’t be far off here. The best part of the card is that it really follows the theme, the consistency of the central Pokemon is very sound. However, there’s some problems technically with the card. The first is the use of space, when making a card you have to have a basic template that you can fufill so there’s enough detail, and no empty space. Empty space ruins the flow of the card, and makes it less interesting. Some larger Pokemon boxes, and maybe some added elements like an item or badge would add much to the card in detail. Just on another note, the trainer looks out of place with the rest of the card; the bodl blad edging sticking out too much.



B-

This is a very unique card, but I’m struggling to see consistency, something that’s very important in a very central themed round. The point of the round was to make a card that revolves around a certain Pokemon of your choosing (legendary). But, with your card, the only clue I see that tells me the central pokemon is Celebi, is that the sprite has it’s own slightly larger box. The colours don’t match Celebi’s colours at all, the trainer or his title has no relevance, the Pokemon don’t relate, and neither do the items. The backgrounds are green, white or blue, and to anyone who doesn’t know the theme they would have no clue the card is about Celebi, so unfortunately your grade reflects this. Quickly moving to the technical side of the card, I think your template editing was unsuccessful, as the improvised shape of the right hand side of the card is very jagged and stands out, the item boxes being of a completely different shape only strengthens this. It’s a nice attempt, but consistency is the problem here.



B-

It’s very hard to judge this card.. There’s not a lot to comment on. I think this was your mistake, you need to be really careful when you’re trying to do a simplistic card, there’s a difference between minimalism and plainess. And unfotrurtantely your card crosses the line. A tip you should remember is that when you’re doing a simple card, stark contrast doesn’t work. You need smooth colours that tie into each other, like silver and blue, green and blue, yellow and peach, etc. Such stark contrast only brings more attention to the lack of detail, so there’s not much for me to grade you on, therefore a lesser grade.



A

Really just the slightest bit off from Fourthbeat, here. First of all I really love the concept here. The silvery blue theme is consistently smooth, and the recolours look fantastic, they really fit in with Lugia. The reason you didn’t get first place, is because of the text and boxart on the background. The boxart, and the text on the left, particularly don’t stand out very well, and blend into the background losing the effect. When you can’t see them as well, they don’t add much to the card, so try and get some more contrast for next time. But overall a fantastic card, and you really got the theme, the card heavily revolves around Lugia.



A+

Quite a flawless card here, definitely deserves the A+ you were awarded. Smooth, flowing colours, simple but elegant design, combined with a clear purpose executed well. Great job, FB, I’m a massive fan of the custom sprite, particularly.



B+

A cute little card here, you’ve got the basic elements downpat. However, it’s the basicness of the card that lets it down here. There’s a bit of a difference between keeping things simple, and the card being too plain. Your card leans a bit toward the latter, unfortunately. The main problem lies with the repeated Pokemon sprite. Even though the Celebi are all in different positions, when you have such a small card you want as much variety in it as possible because any repetition sticks out. Overall the card is effective, the colours fitting weel with the theme and the backgrounds look fantastic. Just another little note, the title text main colour is rather bright, using a gradient would soften the contrast.

Results:

FourthBear - A+
Isilwen - A
Shapeshifter - B+
W111J - B
Inni25 - B
SquirrelLord - B-
foge 2344 - B-
CresentMoon - C+

-----Scoreboard-----

Fourthbeat - 6 points
Isilwen - 3 points
E4 MortY - 2 points
Shapeshifter - 1 point