Naoki Saito was born in Yamagata in 1982, trained at Tama Art University and spent his early career at Konami Digital Entertainment before going freelance and joining the TCG with HeartGold & SoulSilver. His look favours strong highlights and contrasting colours that lift the Pokémon off the card, and he has done in-game graphics for Ranger: Guardian Signs, Black and White and the Sun and Moon trainer classes. In 2019 he opened a YouTube channel of drawing streams and tutorials that has since grown past a million subscribers, which makes him probably the most-watched working TCG illustrator. He has illustrated around 250 cards and another 35 in Pokémon TCG Pocket.
First card
Arcanine
Feb 10, 2010
Latest card
Canari
Jan 30, 2026
Master Set
716 cards across English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese sets