Pokémon TCG legend Mitsuhiro Arita on illustrating his first card for Magic: The Gathering

It’s hard to overstate the impact artist Mitsuhiro Arita has had on trading card games. Nearly 30 years ago, as a member of the original design team on the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Arita contributed to the look and feel of the franchise’s original 150 monsters. He also authored the art for some of the most iconic Pokémon cards, images that have global recognition — including some of the first interpretations of Pikachu and Charizard.

Image: The Pokémon Company

Image: The Pokémon Company

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Since then, Arita has remained one of the Pokémon TCG’s most prolific illustrators, while occasionally contributing art for other card games such as the Shin Megami Tensei Trading Card Game, the Monster Hunter Hunting Card Game, and even the Power Rangers Collectible Card Game.

And now, for the first time, Arita’s work will appear on a Magic: The Gathering card as part of its latest expansion, in a world of anthropomorphic animals known as Bloomburrow. Although his art will only feature on one card in the set, a special, full-art treatment for a new creature called Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, the massive elemental bear highlights the detailed approach that makes Arita one of the most cherished TCG artists in the world.

Polygon was able to share questions with Arita ahead of Bloomburrow’s official tabletop release on Aug. 2. What follows are his professionally translated answers, which have been lightly edited for clarity and concision.

Polygon: Was working on a Magic card different from your typical process with the other card games you have contributed to?

Mitsuhiro Arita: In Japan, it’s very common to have detailed checks at every stage of the drawing process. Character consistency in particular is strictly controlled. I’m used to making changes all the way through the process. Usually you present the piece for detailed feedback around 60-70% of the way through, so you can make adjustments before starting on the final details. With Magic, the most thorough checks were at the conceptualization stage. After that, there weren’t any further corrections, so I realized I had to make sure things were spot-on from the beginning.

Can you describe your process in creating the art for this Magic card?

I was asked to create the piece using sketches by Matt Stewart as a reference. After that, the process was like any other job — I’d draw the rough, and once that had been approved, I’d draw the pencil sketch, scan it, and paint the final image using software [such as Photoshop and Painter].

Image: Wizards of the Coast

What was your opinion of Magic: The Gathering’s art style before you were asked to illustrate a card for the game?

I’ve always liked the feel of high fantasy, and have wanted an opportunity of drawing in that style.

Can you describe Magic’s reputation in Japan, compared to other trading card games?

In Japan, TCGs based on existing manga, anime, and video game franchises, which are aimed primarily at the collectors’ market, are very prominent. On the other hand, card products like Magic, which has a solid card game at its core, can feel a bit overshadowed. Of course, it’s not just card games but all games played face-to-face which are losing ground. I think a lot of it stems from how smartphones are eating up any bits of free time in which you’d otherwise have played a game like that.

For Magic or in general, is it hard transitioning your art style to other card games?

When I’m drawing, I usually like to put myself in the shoes of the fans. I think to myself “What kind of Arita artwork would I want to see?” Of course, each job provides its own challenges and you need to adapt your vision, but I didn’t go out of my way to do anything specifically different. If you look at my website’s blog, I think you can see how varied my style has been over the years.

Looking through Arita’s body of work, his art from the original Pokémon TCG base set feels noticeably simpler, minimalistic, and two-dimensional compared to his current style. For instance, the evolution line he did for Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard mostly feature the Pokémon in profile, and there’s no mistaking them as cartoons.

Image: The Pokémon Company

Image: The Pokémon Company

This approach is not at all indicative of who Arita is, as an artist, today. The art he did for the Power Rangers CCG could be mistaken for stills from the television show. Lumra, like many of the Pokémon he now draws, exists in a highly detailed and lived-in environment.

Image: Bandai

Image: Bandai

His takes on Pokémon and Magic almost could be mistaken for photorealism, if the subject matter of both games weren’t so steeped in fiction and fantasy. He creates action that jumps off the page, or the card in this case, giving his illustrations a practically tangible weight that in turn makes the cards themselves feel unique.

Image: Matsuhiro Arita/Wizards of the Coast

Your work has appeared across so many card games over the years, it’s a wonder you haven’t worked on Magic until now. Are there any other games, or brands that you still hope to work on for the first time?

Magic has always been high on my list of card games which I’d like to do work for, so I was extremely happy to get the opportunity to be involved on this project. I’d done work for Culdcept before, and I’m very keen to do so again, if there’s ever a sequel. It was the first job in my career when I got to go all-out on a series of high-fantasy artworks.

How important is understanding a new game before designing art for it?

It’s important to try and understand that the perspective of hardcore fans is not an entirely objective perspective. In fact, I think that introducing the perspective of an outsider can help bring about positive innovation. I’ve been involved with [Pokémon] for a long time, but [my work] still feels very fresh [to the fans]. I think that having multiple product lines which employ various styles has helped to change and progress it over time.

When creating characters for a new client, such as Magic, how do you tailor your approach to fit the specific lore and themes in that game’s identity?


When doing research for a creature, I think about it as if it really existed. If it had this set of characteristics, what would it look like? Where would it live? How would it behave? And I always keep in mind the visual impact while I think through these things.

How much did you have to learn about Magic before working on your first Magic card?

I like to keep my work feeling fresh and original, so I tend to avoid looking at other artists’ work. I prepared for this project just as I would for any other project — I didn’t really do anything differently.

In some ways, Arita’s career in art was an unexpected one. Not only was Pokémon TCG his first professional job as an artist, prior to that assignment he had very little formal training in art or drawing.

I read that your art is self-taught, following a natural talent from a young age. Is this true, and have you ever sought some formal training once your career in arts began to take shape?

I did attend sumi-ink painting classes at a cultural center. Watching the instructor do live demonstrations, I came to understand how water and pigment behave inside the body of the brush, and the techniques used to control it. I also took all five of the workshops at the Liquitex School, which focuses on acrylic paint, where I learned about the history and special chemical properties of paint.

That knowledge turned out to be a very useful foundation for when I started working in watercolor and other liquid-based media later on. As I didn’t have a comprehensive art education, I’d only had limited experience with [legacy] art materials. Every time I tried my hand at a new medium — watercolor, opaque watercolor, acrylic paint, oil paint — I was able to increase my understanding by paying close attention to the work of my predecessors.

Apart from formal training, how do you continue learning at this stage in your career?

When I’m grappling with new subject matter, I turn to YouTube and get studying.

As Arita’s career expanded beyond his roots in Pokémon TCG, he eventually had to adjust his style to new stories, characters and worlds. These new projects also brought with them new audiences and expectations, and for a mostly self-taught artist like Arita, this came with the unique challenge of evolving and adapting beyond the potential comfort zone of his home within Pokémon.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Do you need to make an effort to evolve and explore new styles, or does it come naturally through the work you’re assigned across different games?

I actually find it more natural and not at all laborious to continue to change and take on new challenges. I’m convinced that I won’t catch anyone’s interest unless I draw with an intense level of focus. One of the things that has contributed most to my changing creative style has been the fact that I’ve worked on so many different kinds of projects, in so many different domains over the years.

How do you handle feedback and critique from fans and colleagues?

You’d think that you needed a distinct and consistent style and set of themes, if you wanted to be an established artist but, for some reason, I haven’t really been criticized for not following that path. The fans are very much up for the adventure, and they enjoy following me on that journey, for which I’m very grateful. I find it slightly curious that fans will seek out some of my art pieces, even when they have no consistency with the rest of my work, just because it’s by me. I really appreciate the open-mindedness of my clients and my fans.

Can you recall an instance where constructive criticism significantly influenced one of your pieces?

The idea that you don’t have to draw things as they look in real life really freed me up as an artist. But, for a while, I just couldn’t get it!

Mitsuhiro Arita’s first Magic card can be found in all Bloomburrow booster packs, including Play Boosters and Collector Boosters, when the set goes on sale Aug. 2. The most coveted version of the card, the raised foil borderless treatment with the first-of-its-kind gold accents, is exclusive to Collector Boosters.