Who is the artist for Topps Pokemon cards?

[UKLugia]

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.

[pfm]

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

Sayuri Ichiishi was the leade anime character designer, so I assume a lot of the anime stylized art can be at least partially attributed to her

Sayuri Ichiishi - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

[UKLugia]

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.

[mrtz]

Pichu bros is the definition of underrated