Is nothing sacred? If anything is, the delight of drawing a little creature is one of our strongest contenders. Let's do a little experiment. Grab a pencil or pen, open up a new tab, Google "Pikachu," and draw that little guy. It doesn't have to be good; it's just for you. That joy we're feeling? That's what some entrants in a recent Pokémon TCG art contest were being accused of denying themselves by submitting AI-generated images and occupying finalist slots that could've gone to artists who hand-drew (or hand-sculpted!) their work.
Yesterday, the official Pokémon TCG Twitter account released a statement saying that "select entrants from the top 300 finalists of the Pokémon TCG Illustration Contest 2024 have violated the official contest rules." Those entrants, the statement says, have been disqualified and will be replaced with other artists who'd submitted entries.
