Cards by Sanosuke Sakuma: TCG Illustrator Guide

Sanosuke Sakuma (Japanese: 佐久間さのすけ Sakuma Sanosuke; born October 31, 1990) is a freelance illustrator living in Kanagawa, who began providing artwork for the Pokémon Trading Card Game in 2013, with her first illustrations featured on cards released in the Shiny Collection. During her career with the TCG, she began working as a character designer on Sun and Moon and Sword and Shield, where she created many of the games' various Trainer classes. She draws digitally, opting to use Adobe Photoshop as her application of choice.

Sakuma states that she began drawing from an early age with a particular interest in anime and manga, and was head of a manga club while at high school and college. She specializes in producing artwork with cute characters and invoking a warm atmosphere, utilizing a specific color palette and soft drawing style. She also experiments with different styles, including anime, impasto, and watercolor, and likes to convey a sense of motion in images that require it.