As more than 200 illustrators have contributed to the Pokemon Trading Card Game, one of the most enjoyable parts of opening a pack is admiring the diversity of the cards’ artwork. While some artists use adorable art styles to highlight a Pokemon’s charm, others emphasize their elegance in battle through detailed, dynamic designs. With something for everyone, it’s hard not to begin recognizing certain styles while appreciating the beauty and passion the illustrators bring to the series.
Many of the Pokemon TCG’s most recognizable artists have earned a following within the community for their skills and dedication. Still, few have made a more lasting impression with their art than these.
7 Sachiko Adachi
Despite illustrating just over 40 cards, Sachiko Adachi made a name for herself with high-contrast designs that combine 2D and 3D aspects. While the Pokemon in her cards appear to be modeled or sculpted, the backgrounds are flat, providing the illusion of depth using white outlines.
Among one of her most stunning pieces of work is the Tentacruel card from the Triumphant expansion. Taking advantage of Tentacruel’s unique design, Adachi displayed it emerging from the water, raising its tentacles to attack while a peaceful town lies in the background. Like many of Adachi’s illustrations, the card gives the Pokemon’s life a pop-up book-like charm while acknowledging its skill and nature.
6 kawayoo
Since the Rising Rivals expansion, Kawaguchi Yoohei, better known as kawayoo, has impressed fans with beautifully rendered paintings that bring Pokemon to life while showcasing their power and grace.
Although kawayoo treats every Pokemon like a masterpiece, one card that captures the elegance of his work is the Arceus V art card from the Brilliant Stars pack. Shrouding Arceus in a halo of light before the world it created, the card captures the Pokemon’s authority as it looks down upon any who try to oppose it.
5 Kagemaru Himeno
Kagemaru Himeno is one of the most long-standing Pokemon illustrators. While her style has changed over the years, her art is most recognizable for its expressive and joyful nature.
She designed the card ________’s Pikachu, a card about celebration that has the potential to do more damage on its owner’s birthday. While ________’s Pikachu was removed from play because it required players to verify their birthday using another form of ID at competitions, her work has never lost its ability to appreciate the world of Pokemon. One of her most adorable modern cards is an art card with four Pikachu cuddling together in a field of flowers, combining their love of nature with the joys of friendship.
4 Tomokazu Komiya
Few artists for the Pokemon TCG have a more distinct art style than Tomokazu Komiya. His drawings often resemble abstract, expressionist works of art because of his style’s detailed, colorful backgrounds, unique perspectives, and refined child-like charm. For his skill, his art was a fitting choice for promotional cards inspired by Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
While Komiya highlights the appeal of every Pokemon he illustrates, some, such as Hypno and Drowzee, are more natural subjects for his style than others because they have a terrifying dream-like quality to them. In fact, Komiya’s art style and interests are perhaps best emphasized in his Drowzee art card, where color and contrast show the Pokemon’s effortless skill to change the world around it.
3 Yuka Morii
Like Sachiko Adachi, Yuka Morii is known for bringing Pokemon to life using sculpting. One of the most defining features of her work is how she combines clay modeling with nature photography to represent each Pokemon in its habitat.
While Yuka Morii’s cards are known for their stunning simplicity and attention to detail, she is also the only Pokemon TCG artist who has designed a series of cards that acknowledge Ditto’s ability to transform. Aside from its standard form, collectors can also find the Pokemon disguised as a Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, Pikachu, Geodude, and Mr. Mime. As such a unique illustrator for the trading card game, it is fantastic that her newer cards, such as Sandygast, present her models with greater clarity to make them all the more impressive.
2 Mitsuhiro Arita
Mitsuhiro Arita is one of the original artists for the Pokemon TCG. Since 1998, he has designed many valuable first-edition cards, giving him one of the most nostalgic and recognizable art styles for longtime fans of the series and avid card collectors.
Of particular interest to fans is Arita’s original Charizard card. The popular Pokemon’s colored pencil design and glistening background earned the admiration of others and has remained one of the game’s most iconic cards to date. While Arita’s art style has changed over the years, his technique and dynamic poses help him continue to be one of the most influential illustrators for the Pokemon TCG.
1 Ken Sugimori
As the original artist for the first 151 Pokemon, Ken Sugimori is synonymous with Pokemon. He has illustrated over 1,000 cards for the trading card game, and although his art commonly appears in packs, the quality and longevity of his work show his passion for the franchise.
Considering that Pikachu is the most iconic Pokemon of all time, Ken Sugimori’s Pikachu cards are the perfect representation of the series’ growth and change over time. The first-edition Pikachu card may have a more rigid pose and simple design than the modern card, but because of its success, Pikachu, and hundreds of other Pokemon, have taken on a life of their own.