CGC Cards Artist Showcase: Yuka Morii

When it comes to pop culture collectibles, the artwork displayed on a comic, card, video game or home video collectible is — to put it mildly — significant. Some collectors will center their collections around one or more artists due to a preference in art style, proving just how impactful an artist’s work is to a product’s success. To celebrate these artists’ accomplishments and contributions to our favorite TCGs — and because the full launch of CGC Signature Series for cards is coming soon! — CGC Cards™ is dedicating a regular series to artists and their work on TCGs, collectible card games and other pop culture collectibles. First up, we have Yuka Morii.

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About Yuka Morii

Yuka Morii is a professional illustrator, character designer and clay modeler who has contributed to several projects around the globe, including the Pokémon TCG. In addition to her work for the TCG, she has also designed mascots for various companies, published several books, provided artwork for publications and lectured at the Kuwasawa Design Institute part-time.

Yuka Morii and the Pokémon TCG

Morii began working on the Pokémon TCG in 2000, with some of her first cards appearing in Neo Discovery. Instead of drawings or sketches, Morii sculpts Pokémon out of clay, then photographs them against arranged scenery or real-world locations. Since her debut in the Pokémon TCG, Morii has illustrated 209 cards.

Neo Series

Neo Discovery was the first Pokémon TCG expansion to feature Morii’s artwork, starting with sculpted depictions of Omanyte, Kabuto and Caterpie. However, Morii’s illustration of Corsola — also in Neo Discovery — is a fan-favorite among collectors because of the sculpted Pokémon’s smile and the beautifully crafted underwater accompaniment. Her depiction of Light Azumarill is also a fan favorite.

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Secret Rare Cards

Some of the most coveted cards in the Pokémon TCG are Secret Rare cards, which have a card number higher than the standard set number. These cards are extremely scarce and usually come in the form of full art cards — or cards with artwork that displays across the entire card instead of being confined to the art box. Yuka Morii has illustrated several of these full art cards, including (but not limited to) the ones shown below:

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Promos and Other Cool Cards

Promo cards are special because they are given out to commemorate an event or release within the Pokémon franchise. Yuka Morii has illustrated several promo cards for the Pokémon TCG, including this Venusaur & Snivy GX, which was included in TAG Team box sets, and this Pikachu from POP Series 2.

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Overall, Yuka Morii has illustrated several fan-favorite cards in the Pokémon TCG, and the uniqueness of her sculptures inspires many collectors to collect the cards she’s illustrated. If you’re interested in building a master set of cards that Yuka Morii has illustrated, keep an eye out for her clay depictions! Here is another card you can look forward to seeing from Morii:

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If you liked these cards featuring Yuka Morii’s artwork, be sure to check out her website for more of her illustrations and other works. Also, keep an eye out for more CGC Cards Artist Showcase columns in the future.

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more.