Wow, from a beginner's perspective, that sounds intimidating. I hadn't realized that the "lims" in the title came from "elimination." I can totally see why the challenge and competition would be appealing for an advanced artist, though; it sounds like a great context for experts to stretch their muscles.

I guess I wish that there were a context for beginners and intermediate artists to get specific critique on their work, but also maybe a bit of advice or mentoring on how to remedy the problems that are identified. (Somewhere over the rainbow, right? *g*) For instance, I wrestle with sharpening/oversharpening. I can see when I've got it wrong, but even after following your clarity tutorial and awmp's one and reading in my giant photoshop tome, I still don't have the technical skills to fix it in every situation. I end up with work that I can see is flawed in specific, identifiable ways but that I don't know how to correct. I'd really love to learn more, and I like the idea of high, exacting standards, but I worry a bit about jumping into a situation where the emphasis is more on high-level competition than on mid-to-lower-level learning. I realize that for more advanced artists, the impetus of the competition is key to spurring you on to ever-greater skill acquisition. Anyway, I'm still interested, but a bit skittish, as you can tell. :-)