Artist Appreciation: Hajime Kusajima

I had a few conversations with some friends recently talking about who your dream autograph would be and it got me thinking about my all-time favorite illustrator for the TCG. For me, Kusajima’s distinct color palette in the e-Series and EX Series periods have stuck with me through the years and I never get tired of it. I’m curious what everyone else’s favorite artworks are of Kusajima’s work!

Here are a few of my favorites, but there are just too many to pick from!




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He is glorious, I’ll avoid posting those I’ve already posted in the Giant Art thread or liked or mentioned in other threads, which is just about half his catalogue and there are still lots of unmentioned favorites left for me to pick from. :rofl:

This one is fantastic, another top 10 “should be holo” contender:

Pulled this one as a kid, rarely as excited about non-holo pulls as when I got this:

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This is my absolute favourite from Kusajima (atleast the cards I am aware of by him). So much of motion is displayed by the Pokemon.

Cheers!

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Kusajima is one of the TCG GOATs. When I was first getting back into collecting I was struck by how distinct and detailed his style was, especially compared to the early WOTC arts I had grown up with.

Didn’t realize I already owned all of his Skyridge regular holos. It’s amazing just how varied his art is, even within the same set. The Articuno is one of my favourites as it looks like something straight out of a dream with the purple mountains in the background and the white ruins. His Magneton is one of the most surreal pieces of art to come out of Pokemon and I absolutely adore the life he was able to breath into an otherwise uninteresting Pokemon, design-wise.

Pretty fond of his Magcargo. The line art is quite distinct and offers a nice contrast when displayed beside Artia’s Magcargo. Very nice to see differing interpretations of the same Pokemon in one set. His Starmie is excellent as well. Being the only WOTC Holo Starmie got, it’s very nice to see such a colourful interpretation.

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Beautiful! I was waiting to see some of those iconic e-Series favorites :heart_eyes: Something about that Magneton always makes me smile whenever I see it

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Kusajima is so damn good. I recently bought some common uncommon ex Reverse Holos and Kusajima really stands out. This Seel is my favorite of the purchase.

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Awesome artist.




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And here is one of my favorite Umbreons.

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He is my favorite artist, and one that I want to do a binder of. His holos are so good, my favorite non-holo is the Arcanine from EX Sandstorm. It is one of the first cards I really liked when I got back into collecting.

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These two cards should always be shown together

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Highly recommend it - I’ve been working on a binder for awhile of his artwork and it’s the most rewarding to flip through and admire :heart:

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He is gorgeous and as the other great artist from the TCG, he had a Psyduck so god bless him. But for some reason I really like this one from a Pokemon that it’s not even likable (except for that Komiya art, sure) and it look actually amazing


Also, this Giratina is something else

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Kusajima is one of my favorite artists!! This thread already has some of my top arts, but I’ll throw these in as well:

645_H030_038KYUKONDragonairEXDeltaSpecies41|245x342,

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Angry Diglett and Dugtrio :rage:

Cute caterpillars :heart_eyes_cat:


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Some of my favorites



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No Expedition Meganium? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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If I’m being honest I only left that one out because it was already mentioned above lol I could include Aquapolis Zapdos as well :sweat_smile:

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I am compelled to like every post in this thread! He’s such a good artist! Just recently started my Kusajima binder. Oh, so nice!

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This showcases Kusajima’s wide range of styles. Interesting that he has several distinct styles, but they’re usually all great!

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