Ken Sugimori the Original Pokemon Artist

[Music] ken sugimori is a manga artist video game designer illustrator character designer and art director he is responsible for bringing the first generation of pokemon to life and his style has become synonymous with the franchise his distinctive use of watercolors coupled with this hand-drawn line work bring the people as well as the creatures of pokemon to life but who is ken sugimori how did he get involved with pokemon and where is he now find out as we deep dive into the life and works of ken sugamori [Music] ken was born in tokyo japan on january 27 1966. growing up ken was a fan of heroes such as ultraman and his love for anime and manga gave him aspirations of pursuing a career in animation in an interview he recalls a time where his school hosted an art contest we were all supposed to draw pictures of a schoolhouse when i was in my second year of middle school but i was obsessed with anime so that's the style i drew it in and they hung it up on the wall as ken grew older he continued with his sketches and it was at this time that he shifted his focus away from anime and towards manga he mentions that during this time in his life he made a version of spaceship yamato he called spaceship tomato while still in high school ken's first manga was published in weekly shonen sunday a weekly manga magazine that still exists to this day these early accomplishments would only further ken's drive to pursue a career in illustration one day while browsing a dojinji shop ken found an issue of game freak a video game magazine handwritten and self-published by satoshi tajiri ken immediately saw the potential in the publication and recognized its need for an experienced artist after meeting with satoshi ken was hired on as a freelancer for the publication ken's art added a level of professionalism to the magazine and soon tajiri would need to hire a publishing company to keep up with the rise and demand with business booming gamefreak stepped its toe into video game development and released its first video game quinte for the famicom it was a success even getting a manga adaptation illustrated by ken gamefreak would release two more titles within the following 24 months jerryboy and yoshi the former of which would also receive a manga illustrated by ken this marks a pivotal moment in ken's life up until now ken wasn't an official employee of game freak the artwork he made for them was done on commission on top of that ken was working in other ventures in the manga industry mainly jerry boy and quinte when asked about this time in his life ken goes on to say while i had my regrets of living the lifestyle of a manga artist i honestly also felt i was at my limit on the other hand it was really fun working with gamefreak it was at this time ken was asked to work at game freak full time an offer which he happily accepted during the next two years ken would help with the development and release of four more games magical taru ruto run mario and wario kurukuru puzzle and pulseman ken was not only working as a video game designer but also as a director for game freak and with a few successful games under their belt they could finally shift their focus on creating the game that would change everything [Music] pokemon red and green later released in the us as red and blue would take the world by storm and ken is the illustrator who brought these pokemon to life his distinctive pen on paper line work coupled with his use of watercolors would set the tone for the pokemon franchise for generations but how did we get here ken and satoshi saw the potential of helping a friend out by trading via the game boys link cable this coupled with satoshi's love for collecting bugs as a child was the spark for what game boy is today when tasked with coming up with the first monsters ken drew inspiration from the kaiju he watched ultraman fight as a kid i had never drawn monsters like that before and i was honestly pretty lost but i managed to create about 20 or 30 different designs some were cute some were cool some were slithering and some well you really couldn't tell what they were as gameplay and story developed other members of game freak were tasked with designing the pokemon as well ken ever saw this process and finalized the creation of all 151 of the original pokemon creating many of the monsters himself if ken liked to pokemon someone created he would redraw it making slight alterations so that the overall look for the pokemon world would remain consistent this also means that all of the official artworks done at this time were hand drawn by ken when designing a new pokemon ken prefers doing research on real animals so he doesn't distort the pokemon or leave anything out if i'm drawing a pokemon based on a bird i need to properly research a bird's skeletal and wing structure it would be embarrassing to make a mistake ken combines his research with his ultimate goal of showing a player a creature that not only feels new but is also memorable often redrawing a pokemon several times until he feels he got the proportions right he tells his team members not to make pokemon that look too edgy and he encourages additions that take away from a pokemon's coolness saying that if it looks too cool it takes away from what makes it memorable for the players after a successful launch in the west pokemon would go on to have an official tcg release less than a year later without the limitations of a game console the tcg gave kenzart a chance to be the focal point for gameplay nearly half of the cards released with base set were drawn by ken ken's base set cards nearly always featured a pokemon large and in the center of the artwork ken would draw and color the pokemon featured on these cards but he didn't make the background in 2021 a twitter user by the name of animal discovered backgrounds for the cards on a stock image website used for japanese media often the source files were slightly distorted before making it onto the card here's an example that i recreated using a pikachu drawn by ken and a stock image of a lightning bolt found on this website after adjusting it slightly you can see how this card was made this format would carry on through jungle and fossil but with the release of team rocket you can see his style begin to change while there are still some cards with the pokemon blown up and in the center of the card dropped on a background other cards begin to feature pokemon and people in more dynamic poses once gym heroes and gym challenge were released we could finally see ken loosen up and produce incredible art his experience as a manga artist shines through in this set as his cards tell a story at a glance take the card good manners erica is off center her body is facing away from you while she looks over her shoulder peeking at you through her hair for some reason this random trainer card always stuck out to me as a child and that reason is ken's ability as an artist also new are cards featuring people interacting with their pokemon cards no longer feel lifeless or two-dimensional this art has depth in more ways than one on top of that ken does something simple yet incredible he shifts the pokemon off to the side this use of negative space makes the pokemon feel as if they're in a much bigger world than themselves and in a way it humanizes them ken's art in this set is nothing short of iconic ken has done more card art than any other illustrator with a catalog that boasts more than a thousand cards since the release of the first games for the game boy ken is stayed on is the main art director for the franchise for every new series of pokemon his team designs hundreds of creatures most of which never get used we probably design around three times more pokemon than we actually intend to use each designer brings in rough sketches of their designs i meet with them individually to discuss certain features of their designs and they bring them back with revisions if the pokemon makes a cut i will draw its official art as ken draws the final draft for the pokemon his goal is to keep the look of the franchise consistent while also maintaining the artist's concept and individuality much like the pokemon he draws ken's art style has evolved over the years ken transitioned away from using watercolors and started digitally coloring his pokemon one thing that hasn't changed is ken's insistence on doing the pokemon's outlines on paper before scanning them in and coloring them on the computer he enjoys the sensation that comes with moving his g pen across the paper and he loves the look of rough and inconsistent lines he takes pride in the fact that his illustrations are hand drawn believing perfect vectored line work loses charm along the way and looks boring despite the success of pokemon and by extension ken ken often downplays his abilities in interviews he even attributes the low standards of early video game companies as the primary reason he was offered the job in the first place saying explicitly that it was a brand new industry back then and the standards were lower than in other fields ken mentions in a separate interview that because of the talented artists flocking to the industry today he often feels inadequate when he compares his art to newcomers and he worries that one day he will outlive his usefulness pokemon's continued success has also led ken to feel conflicted about the path he has chosen on one hand he has a successful career while on the other his legacy will always be tied to this franchise if i were to continue drawing for pokemon i'm sure it would bring a sense of peace and security but i also wonder what would happen if i were to do something completely different an art book released in 2014 titled ken sugamori works perfectly illustrate that ken hopes he is remembered for more than just pokemon of the more than 350 pages featuring projects he has worked on only 20 were dedicated to pokemon ken sugimori provided the art that captured people's imaginations and brought the world of pokemon to life in addition to that the pokemon he helped create inspired generations of artists to pursue a career in illustration and his story teaches us what never giving up on that pursuit can look like ken could have led a different life one where he focused on a career in manga but i can confidently say that pokemon would not be where it is today without ken sugamori and had he not picked up that issue of game freak all those years ago it is possible that pokemon would not exist at all i want to thank everyone who made it to the end of this video and i want to give a special thanks to fellow youtuber dr lava his translated interviews helped make this video possible links to his channel as well as all sources used are in the description i encourage you all to like this video and leave a comment down below letting me know about artists you might like to see covered in the future and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the next one [Music] you

Channel: Soup Likes Art

Views: 22,652

Keywords: ken sugimori art, pokemon, pokémon, artists, cards, tcg, watercolor, game freak, gameboy, drawing, biography, history, interview, information, illustrator, pokemon art, ken sugimori, deep dive, iceberg, draw, digital, trading cards, card game

Id: -8zBzObv52o

Length: 11min 34sec (694 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 22 2022