Since there’s rising interest in Chinese signing events and I haven’t seen much useful information available, I want to create a thread sharing what I’ve gathered from Chinese social media.
The most recent one I saw is the HICO Kim Art Exhibition & Signing Event (illustrator of the Garchomp SAR), hosted by SDD.
Below is a clear breakdown of the event details I use chatgpt to translate and summarize.
Location
M50 Station
No. 50 Moganshan Road, Putuo District, Shanghai
Dates
November 29 – November 30
Event Hours
10:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Guest Artist
HICO – Illustrator of Garchomp SAR
Artist Appearance Times:
10:00 – 12:00
13:30 – 17:30
Entry Rules
Exhibition entry is FREE
Interaction with the artist requires purchasing on-site merchandise(Based on previous experience, you have to purchase the art print to get your card signed/ sketched)
Each person can queue once and receive:
2 interaction opportunities with the artist
Purchasing signed or regular prints grants an additional interaction opportunity
On-site Merchandise & Prices
Limited Protective Case – ¥199 / each
Crystal Tile – ¥129 / each
Notebook – ¥59 / each
Folder – ¥29 / each
Mouse Pad – ¥159 / each
Art Prints
Signed Limited Print – ¥2688 (limited to 50 pieces)
Standard Print – ¥2088
(All artwork features exclusive illustrations created for this event.)
So there are currently two major organizers behind Pokémon signing and art events in China: SDD and PokeColor.
Unlike PokeColor, SDD has focused more on inviting smaller or lesser-known artists. In their first three events, they did not allow Pokémon sketches on Pokémon cards. Instead, most of the artwork featured animal or non-Pokémon designs. This changed at the Aoki & Mingo event, which marked their first time SDD allowed Pokémon sketches directly on Pokémon cards — a big milestone and shift in direction for their events.
PokeColor primarily invites well-known Pokémon artists. Most of their events allow Pokémon sketches on Pokémon cards, with only exception being their very first event featuring Kouki Saitou.
Below are the timelines and links I found from their Chinese social media pages.
PokeColor just announced their Kimiya Masago Original Art Exhibition this December.
Some pricing info has been floating around in unconfirmed group chats (so take this with a grain of salt), but if accurate, here’s what people are seeing:
Signature on a Pokémon card – 8,888 RMB (~$1,254 USD) — limited to 100
Sketch on a Pokémon card – 25,888 RMB (~$3,654 USD) — limited to just 20
This is honestly a huge jump compared to their past events. For example, sketches at the Kagemaru Himeno event were around 3,888 RMB each, so this would be the most expensive pricing PokeColor has ever pushed so far.
Curious to see if this ends up being the new normal or just a one-time thing for Masago.
Is this Kimiya Masago’s first signing session ever in China, or has he had one before? I ask because I noticed there were cards signed by him in February and May of this year 2025.
No this is the first time Kimiya Masago was invited to China for the signing event. I think most of the cards between February and May were signed privately.
Thank you for updating the list. With this, we at least have some information to help predict which illustrators might visit Southeast Asia for signing events in the future.
I’m especially excited about Satoma — SDD previously established a relationship with her before she illustrated the Chinese Mew and Lillie SAR, so it’s great to see her name come up again.
Location
Dates
Event Hours
Guest Artist
Entry Rules
On-site Merchandise & Prices
Art Prints
I bet its pretty hard to find one just a week prior to HICO arriving
