Saya Tsuruta

About

Saya Tsuruta trained at Tama Art University and broke into Pokémon as in-house staff on the games: she was already on the credits of Diamond and Pearl under "Special Thanks" and by HeartGold and SoulSilver had been promoted to graphic designer, building every location preview in the game — work she has called genuinely demanding. Her TCG career started with a Lotad in Secret Wonders and has grown to over 132 cards plus 29 in Pocket, and since the Sword & Shield era she has hidden a small Poké Ball in nearly every illustration, often disguised inside sparkles, bubbles, doorknobs or flowers. The exceptions are documented (Shiny Vault white backgrounds, the Yokohama Pikachus, the 25-artist Pikachu V-UNION collaboration, and one Paldean Wooper where she joked the Poké Ball had rolled off the frame). Among the Pokémon she has personally designed are Audino, Galvantula, Goomy and Indeedee.