Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: kirisAki, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokémon Day 2023, Pokemon TCG

Pokémon Trading Card Game Artist Spotlight: kirisAki

Our weekly Pokémon Trading Card Game Artist Spotlight series focuses on kirisAki, the artist behind some of the top Full Art Trainers.

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 kirisAki.

The first cards credited to kirisAki showed up in Black & White – Legendary Treasures. This set, a major fan favorite, featured a subset called the Radiant Collection. This was far before the Radiant Pokémon card type that showed up during the Sword & Shield era. The Radiant Collection subset was defined by cute Pokémon with special foil patterns on the main area of the cards that shows hearts, sparkles, flowers, and more. This adorable kirisAki Eevee above is the perfect example.

The Radiant Collection returned as a subset in Generations, a special set during the XY era. kirisAki returned as well to evolve Eevee up into Flareon for a special EX card, but note that we also see all three original Kanto Eeveelutions.

kirisAki has gone on to become one of the top Full Art Trainer artists in the Pokémon TCG, creating some major chase cards. One of the top examples is Rosa from Sun & Moon – Cosmic Eclipse, which managed to become the chase card of the set. That's made even more impressive due to this set having not only Alternate Arts and Character Rares but also a Rainbow Rare Charizard. kirisAki also contributed the illustration to the above Full Art Acerola promo card, which was never released in English. The card currently goes for over $400 ungraded on the rare occasion it can even be found for sale.

kirisAki continued to deliver high quality and sought-after Full Art Trainers into the Sword & Shield era with Marnie from Sword & Shield base, Skyla from Shining Fates, Raihan from Sword & Shield – Evolving Skies, and Irida from Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance.

Interesting, kirisAki uses sharp and confident linework for Full Art Trainers but brings a softer, slightly painterly look to Pokémon, which creates a nice sense of variety in their work. Notable recent cards include the Glaceon VMAX Alternate Art from Sword & Shield – Evolving Skies and the sequence of four cards featuring Lillie and the Cosmog line from Celebrations. kirisAki already has new cards coming in the Scarlet & Violet era, now live in Japan and coming soon internationally, including Professor's Research cards featuring Professors Sada and Turo, Quaxwell, and Oinklogne.

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.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!