Homeboy had a whole journey
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Ken drew the 1997 carddass set which is my personal favorite, would these also be considered soulless to you?
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We can point to PSA 9s as well. Look at PSA 9s for crystals and gold stars, even the less desirable ones. They’re shooting to the moon as well. Desirable Pokemon like Charizard, Gengar, Umbreon, etc. have PSA 9 vintage holos increasing substantially as well.
It’s not just a PSA 10 boom. It’s a mixture of PSA 10 boom + popular Pokemon boom + vintage chase card boom. Naturally, many of these categories overlap.
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Ken Sugimori art is just straight stock art. Sure there’s soul and nostalgia regarding Sugimori’s artwork, but it’s just very plain.
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How many people use AI art for their products now and aren’t belittled over it? Sugimori was essentially doing the same thing given the technology of the times, AS WELL AS producing hundreds of other peak designs by hand. I don’t think discrediting him is fair given the workload and production he has had.
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Sugimori didn’t actually illustrate the “stock art” cards. Yes, he did the original stock art, but I guarantee some TCG intern on a pirated photoshop was the one copying and pasting Sugimori stock art and iStock.com backgrounds together to make a random EX era common/uncommon card. Importantly, his Pokemon stock art is intended to be just that–a basic, prototypical illustration of a Pokemon.
I don’t think it’s fair to call Sugimori TCG art “plain” if you’re basing your view on art that is (a) intended to be basic and (b) not meant for TCG art. If you look at the cards Sugimori illustrated which were actually intended as TCG cards, many of them are incredible and unique (e.g. Shining Gyarados, Fieldworker, Carddass 000, Sabrina’s Gengar).
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As fourthstartcg said, Sugimori wasn’t finding stock backgrounds himself. They just used his stock artwork to start off the TCG and then sprinkled it in during later eras for whatever reason- lack of budget, time etc
And nobody wants AI art on their trading cards.
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When people complain about Sugimori stock art cards, I think there are usually two separate issues being raised against them and which of the two is sometimes hard to tell.
They’re either taking issue with the Pokémon artwork itself, which is considered stock art since it was used for promotional materials, pack art, guidebooks, etc., or are they criticizing the generic stock images used as backgrounds on the cards? I always know which cards they’re referring to when they say “Sugimori stock art,” but it’s unclear to me which part of the design they’re unhappy with.
Personally, I think Sugimori’s cards (yes, even the “stock art”) transcend typical art critique. The use of stock backgrounds is a fair complaint nowadays, especially if you’re younger and just seeing them for the first time, but it worked well for the time. They’re iconic and nostalgic, and were the foundation for all that is Pokémon artwork today. That makes them incredibly special in my opinion, even if they aren’t technically impressive.
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In some ways it makes sense for the introduction to Pokemon (those original cards, 1996) to be focused solely on the Pokemon themselves.
I see the more basic art as fitting for an introduction: This is a Chansey. This is a Charizard.
Once you’ve seen the prototypical example of a Pokemon, then it’s easier to appreciate them when they are in unique poses or scenes.
I won’t deny that modern alt arts look objectively more interesting than those early arts, but I don’t think “Charizard taking a nap” would be as appreciated if it was our first ever introduction to Charizard as a character.
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Indeed. Imagine if this was the first card for Machamp.
Instead, having a more neutral representation of the monster made sure to establish the creature as something recognizable.
This also might explain why some people have a bias for, or against (as in my case) Sugimori for a while. His cards were simple and basic, compared to Arita or Himeno.
But he also did lysandre’s FA, so he’s certainly NOT basic.
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I personally don’t mind the Sugimori cards in the early sets. Of course I won’t criticize the art because that in of itself is great. It is a shame that they are just isolated Pokemon slapped on top of a slightly photoshopped stock background, but when the TCG was just starting out, that sort of thing is very forgiveable.
However, in D&P when we started seeing more of that, you’d think that the brand had proven itself enough for them to afford to have artists to create bespoke backgrounds for the cards too.
I have a couple guess why that was the case though. 1. Maybe since that era was relatively sparse in terms of interest, they pulled back on the art effort. 2. Or maybe that was simply tradition, that when new pokemon were introduced, some of them had to get that stock background Sugimori treatment.
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The finest Pinsir stock pot. Stock. And generic.
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As the only person not born in that area, I am steadfast when I say sugimori arts suck. After base set they shouldn’t have made any more art that contain basic stock images and backgrounds. Fun fact: Sugimori arts are the easiest art for a non artist to replicate. If you do it good enough, I’m pretty sure that some fans wouldn’t know the difference. That’s how easy it is,
Most people have the counterclaim that it started everything and/or "nostalgia. Keep in mind arita was also in base set and arguably a better artist. We need to stop acting like this man is one of the best artist in the field and get back to reality.
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I prefer my Sugimori with glaze. 
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No one made this claim. At the same time, it’s hard to take you seriously Vert when you critique art this way:
The issue here is certain folks confuse Sugimoir as a freelance artist hired by Creatures to make TCG artwork which is not the case. As art director for Game Freak, and the pokemon franchise for that matter, it’s only respectful to invite him to illustrate a handful of cards here and there.
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