CGC Cards Artist Showcase: Kouki Saitou

When it comes to trading cards, the artwork featured is — to put it mildly — significant. Some collectors focus their collections on a particular artist (or artists) due to a preference in art style, proving just how impactful an artist’s work is to a product’s success.

The CGC Cards Artist Showcase series is a celebration of these artists’ accomplishments and contributions to our favorite TCGs. In this installment we showcase Kouki Saitou, who signed cards as part of a CGC Signature Series signing event in China last year.

About Kouki Saitou

Kouki Saitou works as a freelance illustrator who provides artwork for several TCGs, manga adaptations and company mascots. He is well known for providing illustrations for the Pokémon TCG and many of The Pokémon Company’s promotional materials, including game box art and key art, merchandise artwork and manga illustrations. Saitou credits his love for art to Akira Toriyama — the creator behind Dragon Ball — and often posts about his cat on social media.

Saitou has also provided artwork for other collectible card games, including PokeColor promos. In September 2024, CGC Signature Series had the honor of collaborating with Saitou and PokeColor for a signing event, where all the cards signed by Saitou were witnessed and certified by CGC Cards and encapsulated with the yellow CGC Signature Series label. Saitou signed dozens of cards for submitters at the event — here are some of our favorites.

Artist Sketch Card, PokeColor Promos (2024)

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In addition to illustrating cards for TCGs, Saitou often creates his own artwork and displays it on his social media pages. These illustrations are drawn on Shikishi boards — traditional Japanese paper often used for autographs — and Saitou often gives them to fans through a lottery system. This artist sketch card features one of the characters commonly used in these Shikishi drawings and is dedicated to Super S. It received a grade of CGC 8.5 and Auto 10.

Kabo-Chan & Sairyuu, PokeColor Promos (2024)

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This PokeColor promo is a full-art illustration featuring two more characters from Saitou’s personal IP. Kabo-Chan is a small humanoid figure with a pumpkin head and one button eye, while Sairyuu is a large dragon. The card received a grade of CGC Gem Mint 10 and Auto 10.

Kakashi & Sairyuu, PokeColor Promos (2024)

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This card isn’t a full art card, but the artwork is just as stunning! Once more featuring Sairyuu, this Saitou illustration shows Sairyuu interacting with Kakashi, a small witch. It received a grade of CGC Pristine 10 and Auto 10.

If you liked these cards featuring Kouki Saitou’s artwork, be sure to check out his Instagram for more of his illustrations and opportunities to win artwork in his lotteries. Also, keep an eye out for more CGC Cards Artist Showcase columns in the future.

About PokeColor

PokeColor is one of China’s largest consignment auction houses for trading cards, with a special focus on the Pokémon TCG. In addition to hosting auctions for rare Pokémon cards, PokeColor also sells supplies to enhance collectibles, such as slab protectors, carrying cases, display stands and more. PokeColor also creates their own cards in collaboration with local artists and celebrities.

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.