Cards by Hajime Kusajima: TCG Illustrator Guide

Hajime Kusajima (Japanese: 草嶋一) is an illustrator for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Kusajima's first cards were Karen's Pokémon from the Japanese Pokémon VS expansion. His first English cards released in the Expedition Base Set expansion.

Over the years, he has changed his style several times. During the e-Card Series, Kusajima's method consisted of watercolor and ink, but he also used varying intensities depending on the Pokémon portrayed. In some cases he used light tones with thin outlines, but for more dominant images, switched to deeper colors with heavier brushstrokes and thicker outlines. During the early EX Series, he switched to a more computer-aided style with solid colors and tone highlights that gave an almost cartoon-like appearance. It was also during this time that he began to use often very colorful or detailed backgrounds in order to create contrast. Towards the end of the EX Series, he expanded on this style by using much heavier outlines, larger areas of shadow and more vivid colors while also experimenting with his original style to produce soft and realistic images by effectively using light and shadow. He would not illustrate any other cards until the Stormfront expansion, where he again demonstrated the variety of his coloring techniques over the coming sets. Some featured plainly colored images and others with varying brushstroke effects, while some featured extremely deep colors and areas of shadow, as well as the complete opposite with images highlighted with intense light. Kusajima stopped contributing new artwork to the TCG around the beginning of the Sun & Moon Series.