Aya Kusube is a freelance illustrator born in 1966 in Saitama Prefecture, with deep family roots in Japanese animation — her late father founded Shin-Ei Animation and her brother still works there as a CG animator and lyricist, including on Doraemon, where she has also done conceptual design. She has illustrated for Pokémon since 1998, building a portfolio of 138 TCG cards plus several authored Pokémon Tales picture books, and her recognisable look mirrors a child's drawing — solid shapes with only a few key colours, accompanied by dense hatching or dot work in charcoal pencil. She has recently added 14 cards to Pokémon TCG Pocket as well.
First card
Beedrill
Jun 1, 2001
Latest card
Alakazam
Sep 26, 2025
Master Set
347 cards across English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese sets