Ken Sugimori

is a Japanese video game designer, illustrator, manga artist, and director. He is best known as the primary character designer and art director for the ''Pokémon'' franchise. Sugimori is also credited with the art direction for other titles, including '' Pulseman''. Sugimori drew and finalized all of the original 151 Pokémon. He has also worked on the various ''Pokémon'' films, trading cards, and other games like the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series.

Career

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 shop, and decided to get involved. 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''. Sugimori is best known as the character designer and art director for the ''Pokémon'' franchise and designed the first 151 Pokémon with Atsuko Nishida, Motofumi Fujiwara, and Shigeki Morimoto. 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. 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 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. 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."

Works

Video games

* ''Pokémon'' series: art director and character designer (1996-present)
* ''Mendel Palace'': character design
* ''Yoshi'': graphic design
* ''Smart Ball'': game design, story, character design
* '' Jelly Boy 2'' (canceled game): character designer
* '' Drill Dozer'': director and game design
* ''Magical Tarurūto-kun'': director and game design, graphics design
* '' Pulseman'': director and game design, graphics
* ''BUSHI Seiryūden Futari no Yūsya'': character design
* ''Bazaar de Gosāru no Game de Gosāru'': graphics
* ''Click Medic'': graphics support
* '' Tembo the Badass Elephant'': advisor
* ''Sakura Wars'' (2019): guest character design
* ''Little Town Hero'': supervisor

Card games

* ''Pokémon Trading Card Game'': main card artist

Anime

* ''Pokémon'' (anime): character design
* '' Pokémon: The First Movie'': original character design
* '' Pokémon: The Movie 2000'': original character design
* '' Pokémon 3: The Movie'': conceptual character artist
* ''Pokémon 4Ever'': conceptual character artist
* '' Pokémon Heroes'': conceptual character artist

Manga

* ''Quinty'' (Mendel Palace)
* ''Jerry Boy'' (Smart Ball)
* ''Valkyrie no Bōken Gaiden: Futari no Megami'' ( The Adventure of Valkyrie Gaiden: Two Goddess)
* ''Screw Breaker Gōshin Dorirurero'' ( Drill Dozer)
* ''Pokémon Fushigi no Danjon Toki no Tankentai Yami no Tankentai'' ( ''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time'' and ''Explorers of Darkness'')
* ''Shin Maido Osawagaseshimasu''

References

External links

Sugimori's blog


Sugimori's Twitter account
(mostly Japanese)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugimori, Ken
Pokémon
Nintendo people
People from Fukuoka
1966 births
Living people
Japanese art directors
Manga artists
Japanese illustrators