kawayoo

About

Kawayoo — full name Yōhei Kawaguchi, born 1974 — is the freelance digital painter behind some of the heavier, oil-painting-style cards of the modern TCG, starting with Walrein and Hippopotas in Rising Rivals. He works on a graphics tablet, layering hundreds of strokes for shape, outline, background and final detail, which gives his pieces a surreal, almost cyberpunk weight that emphasises muscle, expression and contrast. He also produced map and promotional art for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and for every Generation VII core game, and to date he has handled every Pokémon C card alongside roughly 214 standard TCG cards and 40 in Pocket.