Great Illustrators of Pokémon TCG: Know the artists and their illustrations!

Today, we're going to talk about something very special and valuable that sets Pokémon apart from other card games: its illustrations.

As Pokémon generally caters to a young audience, the arts take this into account. However, some Pokémon cards also have complexities and characteristics of arts that are quite complex.

I separated Illustrators who added to the history of Pokémon as a whole, whether in the original premise as a card game for the younger audience with more striking arts and in a juvenile tone, even the most complex worthy of a museum painting.

Ryo Ueda

Ryo Ueda is one of the pioneers of the 3D Pokémon art style, who can be considered a veteran of the field.

Starting his career with one of the first Pokémon ex in the franchise, in the Ruby/Sapphire: Base Set block, he did the artwork for Sneasel ex RS 103, Chansey ex RS 96 and Scyther ex RS 102.

Let's remember a little bit of his history with some cards that made milestones in Sword/Shield, such as, for example, Cram-o-matic FST 229 for Mew-VMax decks; also the Dark Patch LOR 216 reprint for the dark archetype; and Battle VIP Pass FST 225 which was a huge milestone during its debut and is still present in decks today.

In the rotation on 04/14/2023, we had Scoop Up Net RCL 165, Evolution Incense SSH 163 and Rotom Phone CPA 64 as very relevant cards.

During its phase in the Sun/Moon block, at the time of the Standard rotation, there was the Chaotic Swell CEC 187 stadium, a great opponent's stadium saboteur and very strong in the format; not to mention that we had the constant presence of the Energy Spinner UNB 170, in addition to the Surprise Box UNB 187 for the decks that used Gengar & Mimikyu-GX TEU 53.

And its relevance is such in the history of the Pokémon TCG, which appears in this card from Sword & Shield: Celebrations, on the franchise's 25th anniversary:

In Expanded, we have cards like Dimension Valley PHF 93 and Silent Lab PRC 140, as well as important items: Computer Search BCR 137 and Dowsing Machine PLS 128.

Speaking of “staples” Pokémon, we have Manaphy-EX BKP 116, Jirachi-EX PLB 98, Jolteon-EX GEN 28a, and Glaceon-EX FCO 116.

Some illustrations by Ryo Ueda:

Ruby/Sapphire: Team Magma VS Team Aqua - Beasts of Johto

Ruby/Sapphire: Team Rocket's Returns - Beasts of Johto

Diamond/Pearl: Secret Wonders - Beasts of Johto

Ruby/Sapphire: Fire Red & Leaf Green - Birds of Kanto

Ruby/Sapphire: Team Rocket's Returns - Birds of Kanto

Black/White: Next Destinies - Birds of Kanto

Ruby/Sapphire: Nintendo Black Star Promo - Legendaries of Hoenn

Heart Gold/Soul Silver: Call of Legends - Legendaries of Hoenn

And of course, we cannot forget that Ryo has in his repertoire the trio of Kanto initials in his arts curriculum.

X/Y: Base Set and Flashfire

Masakazu Fukuda

What emphasizes the importance of Masakazu Fukuda is that he was responsible for most of the Gold Star cards, which have a high commercial value in collecting, such as Espeon and Umbreon from Pop Series 3 (collectible editions that were distributed by Nintendo in tournaments in the early 2000s) and Dark-type Charizard Delta, from Ruby/Sapphire: Dragon Frontiers, which is one of the most expensive Pokémon cards, if not one of the ten most expensive Charizards.

One of the greatest examples is the trio of Johto beasts released in Ruby/Sapphire: Unseen Forces.

Other cards he illustrated were on Diamond/Pearl: Majestic Dawn are Palkia and Dialga.

And not just limited to cards within expansions, many exclusive promotional cards even more “underground” to the public were illustrated by Masazaku, such as the legendary Pokémon representing a collection that celebrated all the movies released in relation to the anime, the Japanese subset”Pokémon 10th Movie Celebration Set", having made Lugia, Jirachi and Manaphy:

Explosive Birth Lugia

Seven Nights' Jirachi

Prince of the Sea Manaphy

Biography and portfolio

- Twitter by Masakazu Fukuda.

Yuka Morii

One of the best-known artists in the Pokémon world, she began her work at Neo Discovery with the following cards:

Since then, as in these examples, her art style has captivated her use of modeling clay to illustrate Pokémon cards, and one of the best known are these Dittos taking the form of Pokémon from Kanto.

For example, Ditto DS 64, Ditto DS 63, Ditto DS 62, Ditto DS 61, Ditto DS 40, Ditto DS 39, Ditto DS 38, Ditto DS 37, Ditto DS 36 and Ditto pop3 12 coming from promotional boosters of the POP Series, which were distributed in official tournaments as a prize for participation.

Within the Pokémon Tag Team series, we had the illustration of Venusaur & Snivy-GX PR-SM SM229.

Her works are countless, having generations of collections, special cards in Japan and much more in her portfolio, and even a series will soon be released on Netflix with her artistic role, "Pokémon Concierge".

Biography and portfolio

- Professional Instagram by Yuka Morii.

Akira Egawa

This artist has one of the best artworks of recent times, capable of even being confused with the outline of Mitsuhiro Arita with such a level of richness in the details of the Pokémon, the scenarios, and that seeks proximity to realism.

She has been working for the Pokémon Company since 2019, and has extensive experience as a 3D modeler. Akira is active in various fields, such as games, books, exhibitions, product development and more.

One of her best-known works is:

Mewtwo-VUnion

The gods of Sinnoh

Biography and portfolio

- Artstation by Akira Egawa.

Kouki Saitou

Another veteran member of the Pokémon illustrations is Kouki Saitou. Many people only started to "recognize" him due to the Radiant Charizard CRZ 20, but he is also the author of one of the most expensive cards of Charizard in the Skyridge expansion: the Charizard SK 146.

Kouki has also been working for Pokémon with art since the Aquapolis expansion with the cards Miltank AQ 94, Octillery AQ 26 and Rapidash AQ 31.

Very active among designers, he is well known for many promo cards such as Eevee and Pikachu.

We also have examples of promotions with other media, such as the Mario Bros franchise:

There is also one of the greatest illustrations of the Sun/Moon era with the Pokémon Tag Team, where we were privileged with the secret art of Arceus, Dialga and Palkia in this illustration in the form of a figurine (this figurine is used as a reference in the movie Detective Pikachu):

Ken Sugimori

One of the founders of what we know of the franchise, he was responsible for media illustrations, both in concept art for the games and in the TCG. His 1996 illustrations are iconic and memorable.

Ken Sugimori carries great weight and significance throughout Pokémon history. Some of his Trainer cards are worth mentioning, like Giovanni's Scheme BKT 162, for example.

We also have examples of Japanese cards that didn't come to the West, like Red's Pikachu, in this art:

Biography and portfolio

- Official Pokémon website with some of his works for sale.

Mitsuhiro Arita

Mitsuhiro Arita is one of the giants in the illustration world of this medium, along with Ken Sugimori.

Arita has been following since the simple illustrations at the beginning of the card game, and is consecrated today. With years of experience, we can see his evolution as an artist in his layout, like this example:

In addition to having his peak in the evolution of traits being more noticed by consumers only in Sun/Moon, thanks to the Mewtwo-GX SLG 78, Mitsuhiro already had some works of great relevance in previous blocks such as in the Ruby era /Sapphire with the first cards ex:

Not to mention that it's also a great illustrator for Pokémon tools on technical cards, such as the Ancient Technical Machine for the three Regis, as well as the Ancient Technical Machine [Ice] HL 84, Ancient Technical Machine [Rock HL 85 and Ancient Technical Machine [Steel] HL 86.

We also have examples within the block of Diamond/Pearl with the Pokémon LV.X, where he also did fantastic work, including the Luxray GL LV.X RR 109, and other examples, such as:

The artist manages to both use the fantasy side of Pokémon with an almost semi-realistic trait, as is the case with Rose's Eternatus.

There are also some Japan-exclusive cards that never made it to the west:

Rayquaza Play Promo

Giovanni’s Scheme - Full Art Japanese

Biography and portfolio

- Professional Twitter

-Personal website, with various themes, where he shows his exhibitions, works and more.

Curiosity: In Japan, not long ago (in March / 2023), there was an exhibition about his illustrations in Sun / Moon , at Nippon Designers School 8F Wall Gallery :

There are illustrators who started out as freelancers, hobby illustrators who gained visibility and notoriety through Creatures Inc. (company responsible for hiring artists for Pokémon) and which gained prominence for various reasons. Let's meet them!

Yuu Nishida

Yuu Nishida was the first champion of the Grand Prix competition, both as a female member and also the first of the event itself, which was held by the Pokémon Company and Creatures in 2019, during the block of Sun/Moon. Her consecration as champion was thanks to Gardevoir's illustration.

Since then, Yuu has started working for Pokémon, and her catalog of illustrations ranges from Sword/Shield: Shining Fates to upcoming collections, such as the subset "151 Sub Set", which will pay homage to the Pokémon of Kanto, and her cards will be Bulbasaur and Ivysaur:

And in case you don't recognize some of her works in Sword/Shield expansions, these were the Pokémon illustrated by her:

Of Trainer Full Art's cards, the most notorious were:

Among the V-Union, we have the recent launch of this product by Crown Zenith, which was the Morpeko-VUnion with the presence of Marnie:

Bonus: in the celebration of 25 years of the Pokémon franchise, also in the same period of the expansion of Sword/Shield: Celebrations, some pop culture singers participated with songs to honor the brand, and one of these celebrities was Katy Perry, who had a card from her a gift, being illustrated by Yuu Nishida herself.

Jiro Sasumo

As champion of the Grand Prix of illustrations that started in late 2019 and had its result announced in 2020, Jiro was consecrated with his illustration and his art published in cards. He has since started working for Pokémon through Creatures Inc. being more precise, on more Pokémon cards.

Jiro is just making success with the secret art of Gardevoir from Scarlet & Violet, with the story of the trainer with her Ralts since childhood.

Hungry Clicker

Maybe you don't know it by that name, but you should know it by the name hncl, which is precisely the art of Lucario VSTAR PR-SW SWSH291, a promotional art from the Elite Trainer Box of Sword/Shield: Crown Zenith. With its success, Hungry Clicker began to illustrate some cards like Magnezone ex sv1 65 and Houndoom sv1 34.

The curious thing about all this is that he freelances for many Capcom series, like Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Devil May Cry and even other franchises like Fate, SNK - King of Fighters, and even some “fan arts” from Castlevania.

Portfolio: Pokémon

Other works

Portfolio: Castlevania

Portfolio: Street Fighter

Portfolio: Resident Evil

かかしのかかと - aka “Kakashi no kakato”

This illustrator is new to the market, as he started with some arts in contests for the Grand Prix of Creatures Inc. to compete for first place at the time of the 2019/2020 season. He competed with two arts, Charizard and Cramorant.

Biography and portfolio

- Pixiv.

What did you think of the list? Which illustrators are your favorites? Which ones deserve to be highlighted on a new list? Comment below your opinion.

See you next time.