Ken Sugimori is one of the founding members of GAME FREAK Inc. He was in charge of the official character design for Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green. He is currently a director at the company and also has done a lot of art that has been used for TCG cards.
As a graphic designer at GAME FREAK inc., Mr. Sugimori was involved in the initial development of Pokémon. In fact, he was the first person to graphically create the world of Pokémon, and he has produced many of the most popular Pokémon characters.
For Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, he designed the powerful Dialga and Palkia, and he created all of the Pokémon illustrations used for the videogame software and strategy guide. Currently, he is an art director for the Pokémon videogame series and manages the entire graphic design team.
For the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Mr. Sugimori not only works on illustrations of the Pokémon themselves, but also produces art for Trainer cards, expressing both the characteristics of the cards' functions and the unique personalities of the Trainers on those cards.