Ken Sugimori

Ken Sugimori (born January 27, 1966 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese video game designer, illustrator, manga artist, and director. He is most famous as the character designer and art director for the Pokémon franchise. Sugimori is also credited with the art direction for other titles, including Pulseman. Sugimori drew all of the original 151 Pokémon himself. He has worked on the various Pokémon movies, trading cards, and other games like the Super Smash Bros. series.

From early 1981 until 1986, Sugimori illustrated a gaming fanzine called Game Freak, which had been started by Satoshi Tajiri. Sugimori discovered the magazine in a dōjinshi (self-published Japanese works, usually magazines, manga or novels) shop, and decided to get involved.  Eventually, the two decided to pitch an arcade game design idea toNamco; they reworked Game Freak into a development company and produced Mendel Palace.

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. 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. When he begins a new character, his process normally involves making a rough sketch, then tracing it on to 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.