Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Kawayoo, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Sword & Shield

Pokémon Trading Card Game Artist Spotlight: Kawayoo

This week's Pokémon Trading Card Game Artist Spotlight focuses on Kawayoo, who has been contributing since Platinum - Rising Rivals.

Throughout the years, the Pokémon Trading Card Game has featured a variety of incredible art styles. Now that the hobby has been around for more than a quarter of a century, we have seen the artwork of Pokémon TCG cards elevated by daring new artist choices as well as illustrators who have been veteran contributors since the very first releases. Let's take a journey through the eye-popping, mind-expanding history of Pokémon TCG artwork by exploring some of the hobby's most interesting and unique artists. Today, we will spotlight Kawayoo.

Kawayoo's first credit is in Platinum – Rising Rivals from May 2009. In this initial set, they had three cards: Nidorino pictured above, Hippopotas, and Walrein. They debuted with a soft, painterly style that utilized a delicate, pastel touch with strong use of bright lighting. Kawayoo continues this style to this day, but has since increased the depths of the colors.

One of Kawayoo's first cards that pushed beyond the scope of standard Pokémon cards was the Cynthia's Rayquaza from Platinum – Supreme Victors. This set harkened back to the Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge sets that included an image of the Pokémon's Trainer with them.

The XY era saw Kawayoo draw more cute Pokémon, which worked with their style, with this Skitty from the XY base set being an example.

The XY era also saw Kawayoo extend their style as well as the borders of the card, with Alternate Arts starting to roll into their repertoire. Cards like Blastoise EX featuring Gyarados and Vaporeon from XY Black Star Promos, Pikachu & Zekrom TAG TEAM GX Alternate Art from SM Black Star Promos, and the recent Arceus Alternate Art from Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars saw Kawayoo add depths to their colors and use all the extra card space to dramatically increase detail. Below, you can see the extent to which Kawayoo has been able to experiment with another card from Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars, the Umbreon VMAX Character Super Rare.

Be sure to check Bleeding Cool every day to follow our in-depth Pokémon TCG coverage as we explore the hobby's past, present, and even future with upcoming set reveals.

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