What was the PROGRESSION of your artist appetite?

[Rattlesnake]

We often talk about our favorite artists here on E4. This time however, I’m interested to know what was the PROGRESSION of your artist appetite, and why? Was there an artist that expanded your horizon, and led to other artists you had never noticed before? Perhaps you loved Aya Kusube’s hand drawn sketches from the Vending series, then jumped to Mitsuhiro Arita after Base set, and then randomly fell in love with Naoyo Kimura’s style from Sothern Islands. Or maybe you’re a Komiya head, obsessed with abstract, and that’s the beginning/middle/end of the story. This could be a progression of artists you liked when you got into the hobby initially, or could be an interesting chain of artists you discovered somewhere along your journey. Perhaps your progression of artists influenced the next artist after, or perhaps your progression of each artists is completely unrelated to each other.

Here is a short progression of artists by following a “Dark” and “Serious” art style.

1. Ken Sugimori - Give me all the stock art you got in the back, and who is Mitsuhiro Arita? As a kid, and into adulthood when I re-joined the hobby, Ken Sugimori was all I knew.

2. Kimiya Masago - Underwater Neo Discovery Kabutops changed the way I thought about Pokemon. It literally melted my brain, because up until that point I thought Pokemon were cute and cuddly cartoons. This artist/card sent me on a journey to find the “serious” and “dark” card artists. I love every single card by Kimiya Masago.

3. Aya Kusube - After discovering Kimiya Masago from Neo Destiny, and wanting more “dark” hand drawn art, Kusube was the next best thing, given the different cards she illustrated in Neo Destiny. After some research, I quickly fell in love with Cloyster from Flight of Legends/Fire Red Leaf Green. These cards had a similar feel to Kimiya Masago, but with their own spin of dark pencil texture. This then led me to Benimaru Itoh’s “lost pokedex”.

4. Benimaru Itoh - By far not my favorite artist, BUT as some of you may have read My Kabutops Carddass Discovery, I found some original artworks by Benimaru from 1996 on the back of Cardass green/red which filled my dark/spooky yearning and then some. Here are some of my favorites.

5. Hajime Kusajima - After progressing from Sugimori, Masago, Kusube, and Itoh, I eventually stumbled onto a “dark” card of Heracross. Initially I didn’t know what I was looking at, but I quickly started to like the card, and eventually started to notice kusajima’s other distinct artworks. To me, it was almost a cross between Kimiya Masago’s serious depictions, and Atsuko Nishida’s watercolors look, from the middle of her career around the VS era.

It’s interesting to me how taking a deep dive on each artist individually allowed me to appreciate their artwork, and then “set the stage” for me to discover and appreciate the next artist, who I had never noticed before. In many ways, the progression of artists from Sugimori, Masago, Kusube, Itoh, and Kusajima feel like I could not have done it in another order, and my discovery was pre-destined. In either case, let me hear your progression of artist appetite!

[way2slowbro]

You either quit liking only Arita or collect long enough to appreciate Komiya.

[joponnes]

You really had me with your Komiya description Komiya was my favourite from the start at least through my adult collecting era, and not sure if it’s progression but i’ve started to like if the artist has a personal style that can be recognised easily and it differs from the mainstream art style.

[Rattlesnake]

I figured there was at least one of you out there. Interested to know which artists fit the Komiya cult.

[joponnes]

I don’t consider them as relatives to Komiya but some identifiable artists that i appreciate for that are Shinji Kanda (obviously), Shibuzoh, Yukiko Baba, Miki Tanaka, Tokiya and Kawayoo. I do have my side project of getting a binder page of some of my favourite artists cards and while not all of these made the cut for that i have to appreciate how all of them have made their work so personal but still so repeatable that it’s easy to recognise

[needszeebs]

I absolutely love Kizuki’s art. I didnt have much WotC as a kid, but the cards i can remember are often Kizuki. The vibrant colours of this Koffing, the Abra on the rooftop, even trainers like Digger and Goop Gas Attack. The artstyle just feels distinct and brings me right back to my childhood

Of course we cant really talk about Kizuki without mentioning the Tropical Series/ Worlds cards. I like how the style is retained even within this category of cards, yet there are changes. In the Abra and Digger cards we see thin black outlines. On Koffing, we see no black outlines. This is consistent with the '99 TMB and 2004 Tropical Wind style. However the Tropical Tidal Wave starting in 2005, had these thicker black lines. Also can be seen on other cards like Smoochum CoroCoro promo.

I know this doesnt really answer the question, but i had to express my love for Kizuki’s art lol.

I think ive always really enjoyed the world building aspect of card art. Being able to peer into the world of Pokemon was magical. Cards like Exeggutor from Jungle stand out to me when i think back. Himeno was undoubtedly a part of my art obsession! When i started collecting modern again in 2020, it was hard not to fall down the art rabbit hole; modern art is so good! Admittedly, i used to strong dislike Sugimori art when i collected back in 2015/16 lol.

[gareth]

For me, it was Ken Sugimori. I got back into collecting because of the Munch cards in 2018. Sugimori’s style was what I loved as a kid, and now - I loved that it was watercolor, what an original art style for a video game.

Haunter was my favorite. I have always loved the richness of this purple:

And I will always love the simplicity of the first holos; there’s something so stunning and… mysterious about them. I think maybe it’s that of all the art styles, they really portray how magical and special it was at the time to be seeing one of these Pokémon. Like it’s just you and it, and everything else around you melts away. They really capture that well:

After I learned that there were distinct illustrators, I moved onto Arita for a while, and then really started to dig into the illustrators of the Scream cards. We’ve all seen them, but hey, I still can’t get enough.

Since then, Komiya and Ooyama have remained some of my favorites. Also weird cards like Imakuni?'s cards from the Vending series.

My favorite might be Shining Imakuni?, because of the play on Shining Pokémon… lolol:

But, there’s nothing I want more than a proper Komiya holo! (I do have some of the newer alt arts)

[niece]

1. Tomokazo Komiya - I was drawn to this art from the very beginning. It is something that I could not create and is so different from the art that I have done that I could not help but admire it. I started collecting his art without even knowing it starting with his unnumbered promo of Farfetch’d thru vending and on wards. His most recent work has just been amazing! I cannot get enough of his whimsical details and ability to express emotion his Pokémon. The other old school artist I was drawn to was Imakuni? I liked the artist on the edge> Ha ha!

My progressions is due to my collecting style. I collect cards I like. One of the things I do is collect Pokémon of my height this has keyed me in on several artist I may have overlooked. Such as a newcomer Kato. He strated illustrating in Chilling Rein. I love the shades and muted softness of his work. Kind of the way I like Sowsow both very different than Komiya .Ooyamma’s caught my attention with Trubbish in breakpoint. Their tag team alt art magic carp is just fantastic. The art in Pokemon is so varied. It is one of the things that has held me as a fan for 25+;years!

[joponnes]

You better take good care of your vertebra or otherwise your collection is ruined

[muk]

Cool thread idea! My first love was Himeno, always liked Jungle and Fossil better than Base.

After that it spiraled from Masago to Kusube (and Komiya) to Kusajima.
Very similar to your own progression you mentioned in the OP, only that I always felt I needed some goofy stuff (Komiya, Baba, Imakuni) to balance out the “darker” artists.

I think the biggest leap for me in terms of artist appreciation was the discovery of the Vending series, with tons of OG art I’ve never seen before at the time.

Eri Yamaki used to be my favorite modern artist, but then Shinji Kanda came along and pushed her down to second place

[jaxlax21]

Kanda blows every other new artist out of the water. Glad lots of other people are feeling his work!

[Rattlesnake]

I never paid much attention to Kizuki, but I have to say even though trainer cards don’t do much for me, the Rocket trainer cards always stood out to me and looked so interesting. Did Kizuki lead you to any other artists like Miki Tanaka? I feel like Tanaka had so many cards in Neo Revelation.

[Rattlesnake]

Thanks for sharing. I feel like Sugimori gets so much heat, but those water colors and off centered Pokémon were so good! It’s interesting you went from Sugimori all the way to Imakuni and Komiya, they’re definitely at opposite ends of the artist spectrum.

[gareth]

They totally are! I would also say that Pokémon has widened my appreciation for art and different art styles in general. My fiancee has felt the same by proximity to my interest in Pokémon – it’s opened up her appreciation for a lot of things as well.

[Rattlesnake]

That was good.

[Rattlesnake]

Great progressions, definitely sounds like we had a similar path. As time goes on, the Komiya, Yamaki, Kanda etc. are growing on me, but I’m restraining myself until I finish my current exploration. I think after I’ve explored my “dark” artists, I will do exactly what you said and balance it with the fun, colorful and abstract side. I think that will be the next progression of my artist appetite.

That would actually be a great binder idea to have a “dark” page and “light” page. You could do a Kusube or Kusajima on the left page, and Komiya or Kanda on the right page. Would be even better if the Pokémon matched 1:1 on each page, but probably difficult to find 9-12 Pokémon that have been drawn by all those artists? Sounds like a weekend project…

Vending is all time. So unique.

[mannynotfound]

This is my timeline

[Rattlesnake]

Now that’s progress

[xileets]

Those old packaging illustrations are great! Thanks for sharing!

I figured I’d actually respond with the cards that mark my own progression. Some of it was because of when I was re-entering the hobby, and some because I just hadn’t seen enough that I’d liked. I noticed they coincide with which sets were new at the time too, so this was a nice trip down memory lane, thanks, @Rattlesnake .

---

I never started liking a single artist, but rather as I collected my favorite cards, I noticed that there was a theme of repeating artists. My journey in artist collections hasn’t been one of “Oh, I like this artist’s style,” but rather, that this artist or that artist consistently delivered what I liked.

I started with Arita, even though my favorite cards were not done by him. (Dark Hypno and Dark dugtrio) I think the first card I noticed was Jungle Cubone which quickly lost to Rocket Dark Golduck and then Neo Rev Houndoom

For a long time, the consistent technical shading and detailed compositions were all I cared about, but then I started to discover the more impressionist style in Kusajima, as I got back into the hobby, as well as gritty textures and high-contrast styles like Kusube. Arita also started to use weird optics, combined with his consistent technique, of course.

Kawayoo started coming into the picture in the HGSS era, as I returned to collecting for a second time, and it really made an impression. Kusajima had had some bangers too. These styles really stood apart from the previous stuff. They were dynamic, high-contrast and saturation. Something very different than what I remembered in the WotC era. (The internet also provide a plethora of info to look through like JP exclusives, and I really started to get lost in creating my collection.)

But recently I’ve found a liking for Komiya - I’ve described him as Monet after blindness and on acid - and while I still don’t like his old stuff, I think it’s a nice journey through his progression as an artist. I also had started a sowsow binder because the style is simple, a little subdued, but still very colorful and interesting. But I’ve started to tire of sowsow, TBH. Still these cards inspired me to finally put all those above into a third artist binder, including some new work from old favorite artists that don’t do much these days.

[Rattlesnake]

Although I never “got into” Arita like most, the Cubone, Golduck, and Houndoom are three of my favorites as well, they never get old. Great progression of artists, Kawayaoo feels very similar to Kusajima, makes sense that you found them around the same time.

P.S. I have not seen, but very much looking forward reading your collection thread!