Komiya, Baba, and Tanaka : )
I think one reason I’m so compelled by Komiya is that the art does something which feels new. Like a new style is being pushed forward although I also feel like I can place where some of the inspiration comes from. I feel like I’ve learned so much just by looking at their art, especially with the dramatic movement happening in the compositions.
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Nishida. There is something peaceful about her art. She is also one of the few artists whose artwork I can immediately identify.
Runner-ups are Fukuyama, Komiya and Baba.
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Honestly really tough to pin down an artist, as I appreciate so many, but if I had to chose, Sugimori & Komiya. Sugimori for original designs, especially Gen 1 & 2. Komiya for his unique style. Modern sets have so many new artists that bring a breath of fresh air to Pokemon. Sowsowbeing a big one, and Shinji Kanda.
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#1: Arita
#2: Masago
runners up: Nishida, Himeno, a bunch of others I’m forgetting
Arita for his precision and pure skill in drawing, attention to detail, strong light effects, and awesome imagination: he’s done so many iconic and memorable illustrations of the TCG, like the Cubone from Base set, Mewtube from Shining legends, Totodile chasing Oddish in Expedition, The Nirvana Squirtle, and the Batman Noivern. And incredibly versatile and creative artist, his illustrations can range from anime-like to something from a National Geographic documentary.
Masago for his strangeness: many of his pokemon have ominous expressions on their faces, and are borderline creepy, and I love them for it. They’re also very soft and atmospheric - it feels like the pokemon are fully immersed in their environments, like the Alakazam from Skyridge and Typhlosion from the VS set.
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Sugimori, Arita, Kinebuchi and Himeno are untouchable. You could call them “Outer Gods” if you will 
The ones that I actively collect for my artist collections are Kusube, Komiya, Masago and Kusajima (and Kanda to an extent), so these would be my obvious choices. Their crazy high quality-average over their whole opus is what makes them so suitable for a dedicated collection imo.
HOWEVER there are loads of other OG and modern artists I wholeheartedly appreciate - Kizuki, Baba, Fukuyama, Imakuni, Kimura, Harada in the OG section, TOKIYA and kawayoo in the mid-modern section and countless new hyper-modern artists.
Almost endless possibilities for future collections 
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Why, so glad you asked! I had been thinking about making a thread about this one day, maybe a bit more comprehensive, but this will do.
In no particular order. I will present a favorite card from each that to me represents everything they bring to the world of Pokemon. Sugi is like the Beatles, it goes without saying he’s the og.
KinebuchiHimenoKomiyaBabaKusubeKusajimaKimuraImakuni
Masago
Keiji Kinebuchi. If Sugi is the father, Keiji is the godfather. The legend, the mystery. The most nostalgic, the most original in his day. Visionary man. The tranquility of his renderings, the jazz. The most tangible of a realized fantastical world within the frame. He was a demigod. So good, he needs 2:
Kagemaru Himeno. And she would be the godmother. Her work is mindblowingly diverse, expansive, virtuoso, and above all, incredibly charming and loaded with passion. Her work is nothing short of divine. She has belonged here since the beginning, and is a true light in the world of Pokemon. I don’t think it ever would have been what it was without the original big 3 after Sugi, of which she was a member. Her often airbrush, soft look is so warm and cozy, very inviting, and she’s a master of detail and ambience. She’s actually the one artist where it is not only impossible to pick a favorite, but impossible to even go top 5. So here’s just a random top 10 card.
Oh, Komiya. Tomokazu Komiya. The wizard of Pokemon. He is the artsy one, crazy l’artiste. Cosmic creativity, phenomenal ideas. Brought the possibilities far out and wide, stretching the mold, bold to go where no man had gone before. His work evokes such emotion, such fun, such adoration and feeling! Luckily for me his magnum opus is unanimously Light Slowbro. Trust me, I have talked to everyone. This is something everyone agrees with.
Yukiko Baba. She is like the more grounded sister of Komiya. She’s got the jazz, she’s got the jazz. She loves using the striking color that he does, she loves giving the pokemon such simplicity and charm. But she represents the inner child of the pokemon like none else. She’s all of our inner child. Her work is as unique as anyone’s in this list. None do it like her.
Aya Kusube. She’s the underbelly of Pokemon. Her works feature the darkest of the world, and I love it. Grit. Shadows. Evanescence. Her style is murky and milky. It looks like graffiti. But she can do it all, happy, sad, fiery, icy. There isn’t a piece by her that doesn’t strike permanent marks upon the memory of the viewer.
Hajime Kusajima. Intensity and energy bursting at the seams is the motto of this great man. The David Bowie of the pokeverse. He just can’t settle on a consistent style, and we just love him for that. He is just too good and has too much range. But he works like a photographer. Always composed extraordinarily well, always incredible use of light and color.
Naoyo Kimura. The naturalist. The pencil man. Incredible world building and depth. Extremely mature, bright, and over-worldly. Similar to Masago in this aspect, he is the master realist. You might think some of this artwork is photorealistic. Wonderfully fine.
And of course, Tomoaki Imakuni. The jester, the performer, the magician, the musician. The wonder of pokemon. He’s as versatile as you can get, and he’s the pinnacle of mystery and presentation. The wonder behind these legendary arts. So legendary, he’s a Pokemon himself, and is featured thusly amongst the Pokemon. He’s done infinite things for Pokemon, and his legacy is secured. There’s one simple choice for his card, as it’s the best pokemon card ever made.
Kimiya Masago. I only regret that he hasn’t done more. Colossal monsters, larger than life representations of the mons. Dark and edgy, spirited and whimsical. Creative as all hell, perfect art. Out of this world bangers, and frankly, I find myself speechless of his work.
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@brendantheclayboy wonderful read my dude. Couldn’t agree more. You managed to perfectly describe what I personally often find hard to put into words.
What a wonderful compliment both to Bowie and Kusajima AND their respective fans 
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@brendantheclayboy, The precision and beauty of your eloquence knows no bounds. If you’re not writing a book right now, you should be. Describing Kimura as the “The pencil man” is the best thing I’ve read all week.
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I’m so glad we have so many Masago enthusiasts here! His artwork captures some sort of oninious, larger than life, and weird pokémon designs that are very unique!
(P.S. he has done 17 unique artworks, so they fit perfectly on a two page binder spread, with one slot having a piece of paper with his name on it🤫)
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One of my favorite artists that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Kawayoo. Their art feels like a ray of sunlight that bursts through a dark, clouded sky. The Pokémon are illuminated at the center, often dynamic, in movement, while in the background there is a whole landscape painting to enjoy. It really brings out Pokémon in raw nature, a side of the Pokémon world that we rarely see in the TCG (or in Pokémon media in general)
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What an interesting thread!
First of all, I need to state that Sugimori is one of my favorite artist hands down and has had a huge influence on me. But it wouldn’t be fair to name it as my favorite TCG artist specifically.
I like when the art on the card is dynamic and is telling a story through pose, background and other Pokemons featured. We can all agree that these are not the strongest points of Sugimori’s cards as often, his art is not done primarly for the TCG.
However, when coming back to collecting, Naoki Saito’s production struck me on these regards, while staying true to these original Sugamorian designs. Something that the Pokemon Company also noticed as, along the years, they are giving him more and more Full Art and Trainer cards, on top of the yearly Champion Festivals for the Worlds. Saito is really good at drawing human characters of course (he wrote a book about it), but I like how his Pokemons are always joyful or determined.
Kawayoo who has already been mentioned also has a very unique style. Very expressionist touch with almost no line art and a very personal way of interpreting Pokemons proportions, sometimes even squeezing and stretching them into the frame. I just love them.
Tokiya, whose style has evolved a lot along the years, would be at the crossroad of these two, bringing that cartoonish vibe into a more picturial treatment. Unfortunately for me, she has now officially stopped working for the Pokemon Company and is focusing on her personal endeavors.
It would be to difficult to pick only some cards from each of them, so instead I’ll rather share some boosters they have designed!
Naoki Saito for Dream League, Tokiya for Champion Road & Kawayoo for the Legend block.
Some modern artists whom I like too for similar reasons: so-taro (I really hope they’ll get more cards), Teeziro (killing it right now), Nagomi Nijo (more cards!), Megumi Higuchi (just look at his Caravaggio Pansear)…
By hanging on E4 my appreciation for Sowsow and Komiya also increased significantly! And every time I find a new card which amaze me, it’s often by Arita… QED.
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I had no idea Tokiya stopped doing Pokémon TCG illustrations. He has created some of my favorite cards and I thought about adding him to my artist binder.
Here’s the heartbreaking Tweet announcementI’m working on a Tokiya binder at the moment (and actually all the artists I have mentioned), you should go for it!
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I dont think there is any artist that creates more immersive art into the world of pokemon than Arita. I honestly don’t even know where to begin to link some of his best cards because hes so consistently good. Alt arts, tag teams, the best crystal pokemon, ex cards. For now, I’ll just link some of my personal favorites which I think shows off his talent. The amazing use of colors, the stunning detail, and the level of immersion. Arita is the epitome of the opposite of stock background art.
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There’s just so much dynamism, detail, and imagination to his work. I don’t know if it’s possible to create a more epic Golem picture - the perspective of the hand, the dramatic lighting, the astonishing sunset!
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how other pokemon artists draw pokemon:
(o.o)
Komiya:
(o_0)
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My two favorite artists are Naoyo Kimura and Mizue.
Naoyo Kimura has been around since the beginning, and he is well-known for his Tropical Island artworks, as well as a bunch of amazing artworks during the Neo era. He’s also still active nowadays, with for example his Light Toxtricity artwork (shown below) for the 25th anniversary.
Mizue has been around since the start of the Black & White era. She likes to use effects for bubbles; sparkles; sunlight; wind movement; etc. in her artworks, and a lot of them are also very cute.
Here six examples from both of them, of which the Moltres from Naoyo Kimura is my favorite Pokémon TCG artwork and the Swablu from Mizue my second favorite, both of which I have a small collection dedicated to: Moltres, Swablu.
Seeing the artworks of both under one another, I like that Naoyo Kimura uses a lot of darker backgrounds and Mizue a lot of lighter backgrounds. (Probably a coincidence with the six I picked, since Naoyo Kimura has also done a lot of lighter artworks, like the Southern Island I mentioned earlier.) 
Both of them are amazing in their own rights, and I love (almost) all of their artworks.
Greetz,
Quuador
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