Ken Sugimori

From early 1981 until 1986, Sugimori illustrated a gaming fanzine called Game Freak, which had been started by Satoshi Tajiri.[4] Sugimori discovered the magazine in a dōjinshi shop, and decided to get involved.[5] Eventually, the two decided to pitch an arcade game design idea to Namco; they reworked Game Freak into a development company and produced Mendel Palace.[6] Sugimori is best known as the character designer and art director for the Pokémon franchise and designed a large majority of the first 151 Pokémon with Atsuko Nishida, Motofumi Fujiwara, Shigeki Morimoto, and Satoshi Ota. He has worked on the various Pokémon movies, trading cards, and other games.

For Pokémon Black and White, Sugimori directed a team of 17 people in designing new characters for the games, though he always drew the final designs. He drew much of his inspiration from observing animals in aquariums and zoos.[7] Sugimori has also written and illustrated original manga, including one which was distributed with pre-orders of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness.[8] When he begins a new character, his process normally involves making a rough sketch, then tracing it onto film paper while polishing it and making the illustration more professional looking. After that, he draws the character many times, changing its proportions until he is satisfied.[9] When designing a new Pokémon, Sugimori stated that "I do feel that I always want to show new Pokémon that people have never seen before. To do that, I think of ways that I can surprise the players."[10]

• Sugimori's blog (in Japanese)
• Sugimori's Twitter account (mostly Japanese)