Without knowing how the judges will be viewing the works, the artists are pretty much shooting in the dark at this point. It'd be better to release a few details about how each judge will be viewing the works (i.e. screen size, platform -- gamma on Mac and Windows are different -- and image viewing software or web browser), so that the artist can fully realize the context in which it will be experienced.
For example, if you're creating something for an art gallery exhibit in a narrow hall as part of a competition, you wouldn't make a painting that requires the viewer to step back 20 feet. Also, many artistic works are meant to be experienced in a certain environment, like a fountain statue in a garden. It's only fair to the artist if we let them know in advance that, regardless of how they make the image, it will be rated solely as it looks on the judge's screen.
We should also limit entries to digital images, so that a photo of a plush doll is a photo of a plush doll, and won't be judged by the quality of the plush doll (which would be unfair to the plush doll, since such a thing is meant to be held and felt). It's either that, or actually set up some way to send physical entries to the judges.
Furthermore, all entries should be kept completely anonymous from the judges. No entry should have any identifying marks or data on the image or in the meta-data. This makes it difficult to create to create a context based on who created the work, but it's necessary to prevent personal bias from interfering with the contest.
So some things every artist should consider when making their entry:
1. It will be judged as seen on a computer screen.
The exact size and type of screens used will be released at a later time. Images that are too big to be viewed on the screen will not be resized.
2. The work will be judged in isolation of the artist's identity, by judges of varying levels of familiarity with the Chrono series.
This means you can assume some common background knowledge of the Chrono series and use it in your works. I can't say the same for any subculture or slang references, since some of the judges may not be from the same country, or might not be familiar the online gaming culture. In other words, "O Rly?" or "pwned!" might not make sense to some of the judges. The same goes for SNL references.
3. While technique is important, the perceived "difficulty" or "effort" of an angle, pose, or technique will not be a basis for judging any of the works.
This is an easy one to understand. If you try something challenging just because it's hard, but it doesn't make the work any more interesting or appealing (or you flat out failed with it), then all it shows is bad taste in entering it as an example of "your best" work. This isn't kindergarten, so we won't feel bad for you and give you points for trying harder. If you want to try something, find a feeling, theme, or story and try communicating it with your character's poses, the angle of the scene, the lighting, the colors, and the characteristics of the techniques you decide to use... That's much more important than trying a "hard to draw" pose.
After all, you wouldn't expect a master croissant chef, if given the opportunity to cook whatever he wants for a contest, to compete by making some new type of pie he's still trying to master.
While you should always push yourself as an artist, remember that you should also be mindful of what you show the world, and what you do for practice or experiment. A good photographer will often take thousands of photos only to end up showing people a few dozen.
So try a few things first (brainstorm -- draw lots of thumbnails and rough drafts, look at some references, experiment), use the techniques you've already mastered (even if they're still few in number) in place of the ones you're still learning to do your best work, hide it for a week, fix it, and then enter.
Anyway, good luck to the artists who want to enter. I'll try to find some good judges.
