Guide
A guide to Pokémon card artwork and illustrators
Almost every Pokémon card names the person who drew it, in small print: “Illus.” followed by a name. Once you start reading that line, the cards stop being one big pile and turn into the work of people with recognisable styles. The catalogue credits 388 illustrators across 20,551 cards.
Where to find the credit
On a modern card, look along the bottom edge, near the card number: “Illus. Mitsuhiro Arita”, for example. A credit can name a studio as well as a single person, and some cards have more than one name. A few cards in the catalogue have no credit at all.
Illustrators with the most cards
Counted from the catalogue built on 30 September 2026, English cards only.
| Illustrator | Cards and years |
|---|---|
| 5ban Graphics | 1,717 cards, 2011 to 2026 |
| Ken Sugimori | 1,107 cards, 1999 to 2026 |
| Mitsuhiro Arita | 729 cards, 1999 to 2026 |
| Kagemaru Himeno | 659 cards, 1999 to 2026 |
| Kouki Saitou | 654 cards, 2003 to 2026 |
| Masakazu Fukuda | 470 cards, 2003 to 2026 |
| Ryo Ueda | 448 cards, 2003 to 2023 |
| Atsuko Nishida | 414 cards, 1999 to 2026 |
| Midori Harada | 353 cards, 2003 to 2024 |
| Toyste Beach | 314 cards, 2011 to 2026 |
| Shin Nagasawa | 298 cards, 2009 to 2025 |
| Naoki Saito | 272 cards, 2010 to 2026 |
The longest careers
Years between an illustrator’s first and most recent card in the catalogue. It only counts English releases, so an actual career can be longer.
| Illustrator | Years |
|---|---|
| Ken Sugimori | 1999 to 2026 (1107 cards) |
| Mitsuhiro Arita | 1999 to 2026 (729 cards) |
| Kagemaru Himeno | 1999 to 2026 (659 cards) |
| Atsuko Nishida | 1999 to 2026 (414 cards) |
| Naoyo Kimura | 1999 to 2026 (265 cards) |
| Tomokazu Komiya | 1999 to 2026 (252 cards) |
| Sumiyoshi Kizuki | 1999 to 2026 (207 cards) |
| Miki Tanaka | 1999 to 2026 (199 cards) |
| Toshinao Aoki | 1999 to 2026 (63 cards) |
| Hironobu Yoshida | 1999 to 2026 (40 cards) |
| Yuka Morii | 2001 to 2026 (211 cards) |
| Yukiko Baba | 2001 to 2026 (153 cards) |
Most Illustration Rare and Special Illustration Rare cards
These two rarities exist to put the artwork first, and they show who gets asked for that kind of card. See also the guide below for what the rarities mean.
| Illustrator | Illustration Rare and Special Illustration Rare cards |
|---|---|
| kantaro | 18 |
| AKIRA EGAWA | 14 |
| Jerky | 14 |
| OKACHEKE | 14 |
| Teeziro | 13 |
| REND | 11 |
| Yukihiro Tada | 11 |
| Akira Komayama | 10 |
| DOM | 10 |
| GIDORA | 10 |
| Jiro Sasumo | 10 |
| Mitsuhiro Arita | 10 |
How to find an illustrator you like
- Swipe through the deck without looking at the names, and just react to the art.
- When a card stops you, read the credit and open the illustrator’s cards.
- After a while, look at your own Taste page: it shows which illustrators your verdicts point to.
Sources
Last updated 2026-11-04. Published by IllusCards.