Who's Your Favorite Pokemon TCG Artists & Why?

Hey all, I hope this is an interesting topic for others as well and sparks some cool discussion.

Been attempting to no longer post into the void that is YouTube comments and hopefully interact and meet some chill folks who are as obsessed and enjoy talking Pokemon as much as I do.

I’ll get the topic started;

My favourite Pokemon artists are Atsuko Nishida-san & Kagemaru Himeno-san. Their ability to create incredible works of art as nice as any painting hanging in a gallery time after time without fail is truly something special.

Naoki Saito & Kouki Saito have an innate ability and divine talent for creating entire narratives inside their art, bringing each Pokemon and each scene to life.

Much love ^^

James “Probasaur” Carroll

EDIT: Wow I am really blown away by the incredible response to my first thread on this wonderful forum with this incredible community that I’ve been quietly appreciating from the sidelines for so long now. Could not have expected it to take off the way it has and I plan to update this post again soon with a few additions to my artist list as well maybe post a few image examples of some of the fav. Just wanted to post this msg asap.
It might not seem like much but it means a lot to myself that this community, which I have a ton of respect for, seems to enjoy the topic. I love discussing all things Pokemon and Im really glad I can discuss it now with others who feel the same. Really does mean a lot.

Very cool to see so many of you respond so positively, and I value all your opinions so highly it means a lot to see such a positive response, especially to my first thread here. There’s no sense of elitism or gatekeeping or any sense of superiority, everyone seemed to enjoy the idea for the thread and that was more than enough. Didn’t matter how high my post count or how long ago I finally signed for an account to go from someone watching to someone wanting to get involved and join in the fun. Can’t thank you all enough for helping to make me feel welcome. Sincerely I appreciate it.

Atsuko Nishida

Light Arcanine





Naoki Saito –




Hitoshi Ariga -





Hajime Kusajima

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My favorite artist in the TCG has to be nishida. I really enjoy her clean style.

Some other artists i enjoy are kusube, kawayoo, teeziro, sowsow, and ryo ueda!

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My favourite is OOYAMA, one of the creators of the TCG. Really wish he would throw his hat into the ring more often but except for his Lucky Stadium and the prototype Chansey he is probably one of the easiest legendary artists of the TCG to collect.

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It’s hard to explain why but my favorites include Masakazu Fukuda, Kouki Saitou, Atsuko Nishida and Kagemaru Himeno. For newer artists I like stuff like Mizue, Shin Nagasawa, Atsushi Furusawa and sooo many more. There are so many good artists these days and most of them with a style that is easy to spot. The list would be huge if I went ahead and listed everyone I like.

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Someone make a tier list for artists.

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My favorite card ever is the Greninja gold star form celebrations. Yeah i know it is a modern card and not a vintage gem, but i love it and that is all that matters. i really wish i had some expendable income to buy hundreds maybe even thousands of these :blush: Masakazu Fukada is the illustrator of this card and it led me to view his previous illustrations. He is an amazing artist that illustrates cards that some might feel as basic, but i really think if you dive deep down into the coloration, he really captures the pokemon in its actions.

I am born in 2004 and therefore i missed a lot of his greatest artworks such as the gold stars/Play promos, but i really find the way he uses a darker outline, really puting an emphasis on the pokemon astounding!

My gem:

Other great cards:

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My top 3 (in no particular order) consists of:

Mitsuhiro Arita

His artwork has been phenomenal since the inception of the Pokémon tcg. I think the biggest reason I find his art amazing is the great realistic and dynamic lighting combined with it being handdrawn with pencils. These two combined are hard to pull of but they work so well. He also has great action-shots and knows how to pose the Pokémon mid-action. So many of my favorite vintage and modern cards are drawn by Arita.

Atsuko Nishida

Nishida’s art almost evokes the feeling like you’re encountering these Pokémon in a dream, like they could exist in a world where you are not fully awake and not fully asleep, or like you just saw them out the corner of your eye. She utilises both light and soft edges (especially since the neo era) in a great way to evoke a soft and mellow idea of Pokémon. Pokémon she draws truly feel like mystical beings.

Hataya

Hataya is one of the newest illustrators, their use of linework is really unique, its almost like crosshatching, except that these extra lines don’t do the shading, they add some detail. It’s hard to put my finger on it but I really like that style. They also do a lot of layering in the background/foreground, its almost like 2.5D images. Hataya also uses some complex lighting which I adore, all in all I can’t wait to see more from Hataya!

Honerable mentions:
Hajime Kusajima
Kimiya Masago
Miki Tanaka
and of course Tomokazu Komiya

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Tomokazu Komiya is my favorite artist hands down, his style is instantly recognizable and very fun. I tend to really like the artists who have a very unique look, so Komiya is the top of that mountain.

In the same vein, I am also loving Shinji Kanda and Hataya as well.

Souichirou Gunjima is also quickly rising to the top of my list, his Sparkling Greninja has shot up my favorite Greninja art list. The Pikachu VMAX CSR in VMAX Climax is also amazing.

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Aya Kusube and Hisao Nakamura are 1 and 2. They switch around depending on the day and which card of them I like the best that day. Honorable mention is Sumiyoshi Kizuki, I really like that crayon not really real style of her.

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I have a few, but number one currently is probably Atushi Furusawa. Not sure what it is in particular, but all of their cards are just beautiful

also their new leafeon is gorgeous

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Himeno is probably my favourite. I really love the use of colours and the wide variety across so many sets. Some of my favourite cards in the entire hobby are from her. She really brought a lot of ‘life’ to the early Pokemon sets, especially Jungle and Fossil:

Next in line would probably be Nishida, I think a lot of her cards are so underappreciated at times. Don’t get me wrong, I love Arita and Sugimori early artworks as well but she has drawn so many famous cards like the Illustrator and so many other gems. Not to mention she also designed many of the original 151 as well.

I just love this little Clefairy with Mt. Moon:

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I don’t know if she’s my number one favourite, but someone who definitely deserves a mention is Sumiyoshi Kizuki. The cards she illustrated in Team Rocket are fantastic, and she also illustrated the TMB/Worlds promos until 2010.

She has a couple of very distinctive styles.

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@inertgeometry, The alt Zeraora might be one of the most beautiful cards ever made in the TCG.

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it was the first alt i felt i absolutely NEEDED to buy (and did buy)

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Difficult to decide and it probably changes often… but sowsow came to mind immediately.

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There are so many fantastic artist in the tcg. I would have to say Mitsuhiro Arita is my favorite though. He has not only the most nostalgic artwork to me but has also been contributing to Pokémon artwork the entire time, every era, always amazing.

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tetsuya koizumi, Kimiya Masago, Asako Ito, Arita, sowsow, Morii, Adachi

and BIG MAMA!!:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Jokes aside, there are so many good artists but I probably love Kagemaru Himeno the most :blush:

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Megumi higuchi and Shinji kanda are my favorites; Kanda is like komiya if he didn’t deform the pokemon

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Here’s another vote for Himeno-sensei. Her illustrations are exquisite.

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