As per the title, this is possibly a stupid question, but does anybody know who the artist is behind the artwork on Topps cards? I mean this style of art:
Is it really just Sugimori again but in a different style?
From memory, this more anime-style artwork was used on all kinds of merch like the books, toy packaging, magazines, annuals, Pokemon encyclopedias etc. and not credited to anybody in particular.
I just noticed that this sort of art doesn’t pop up when searching for “Sugimori” art, for example. And even when Sugimori switched away from traditional watercolours from Gen 3 onwards, the art didn’t look anything like these Toppe artworks.
Someone can correct me but the character designs were first sprites in the GB games, then Ken Sugimori painted them all in a unified style and then the designs were mapped over to the anime style
Thank you! That looks about right, especially looking at the artwork for the Pichu card which looks like an exact match for the rest of the Topps-style art. Shame that she wasn’t credited on the Topps cards or any other products.
