Shin Nagasawa
306 cards illustrated by Shin Nagasawa.
Nagasawa is the one comics fans will click with straight away. Before Pokémon he worked as a monster concept artist over at Square, and when he came to the cards around 2009 he brought a proper comic-book sensibility with him — bold black outlines, deep slabs of shadow, and Pokémon caught mid-motion like they're bursting out of the frame. He'll switch up his style from card to card, but there's always that sense of energy. With getting on for 300 cards to his name, he's quietly one of the modern game's most prolific artists. There's a real comic-book heart to his work, and if that's your background, you'll spot it a mile off.
We may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this site.