Amelicart Pokemon Cards: Storybook Style & the Slowpoke Award

Who Is Amelicart?

Amelicart is a freelance illustrator based in Tokyo. Alongside illustration work, Amelicart holds a position as guest professor at Kyoto University of the Arts. Bulbapedia describes his working method as producing lineless artwork in PhotoShop.

Amelicart’s first official Pokemon work was not a trading card at all. Before the TCG debut, Amelicart’s artwork appeared on the “GOOD GOOD SMILE!” merchandise line, which the illustrator’s Bulbapedia entry lists as the earliest official Pokemon-licensed work. The move into the Pokemon Trading Card Game came afterward, with a full debut spread rather than a single card.

Since that debut, Amelicart’s Pokemon TCG catalog has grown to 17 main-line cards plus 4 more in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket; the Limitless database lists 19 Japanese-language prints including reprints. That is a comparatively small catalog next to prolific TCG illustrators — our Jerky guide covers an artist with a larger catalog — but it includes one of the more unusual recognitions in the illustrator community: the Slowpoke Award.

The Slowpoke Award is a special prize at the Pokemon Card Game Illustration Grand Prix. According to Bulbapedia, it was not a standing category — it was created specifically in response to how popular one of Amelicart’s pieces became. For an illustrator with a small catalog, a purpose-built award category is a notable marker.

Later Work: Squawkabilly ex, Victini, Mow Rotom & Shaymin

Amelicart’s catalog since the debut spans several Scarlet & Violet-era Japanese sets. Later pieces include a Squawkabilly ex special art rare from SV2P (094/071) — a different Squawkabilly SAR from the one in our own inventory, which comes from M2a (244/193) and is illustrated by a different artist entirely.

Beyond Squawkabilly, Amelicart illustrated a Victini promo card at SVP 271 and a separate Victini alternate art at SV11B (097/086) — two distinct printings of the same Pokemon in two different card formats. The catalog also includes a Mow Rotom from SV7 (006) and a Shaymin from SVM (105), rounding out the artist’s Scarlet & Violet-era work.

None of these later cards are currently in our graded inventory either, but they give a fuller picture of Amelicart’s range beyond the debut spread — multiple Trainer and Pokemon illustrations across several sets rather than a one-set artist.

Beyond the Cards: Amelicart’s Wider Work

Amelicart’s route to the Pokemon TCG ran through a long stretch of training and client work. Per his official About page, he spent around seven years studying illustration in San Francisco, graduating from the Academy of Art University, then worked as an in-house illustrator and designer in Tokyo before going freelance; a self-introduction on his note blog adds that he grew up in Nagasaki.

The client list on that About page is broad: loading-screen illustrations for Niantic’s Pikmin Bloom, in-game illustrations for Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Builders 2, the official tribute cover for “Pollyanna” in Hobonichi’s MOTHER project, and character design for Tokyo Banana cookies, with clients including Supercell, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Warner Bros., Aniplex, and Shueisha. Since 2021 he has also worked in visual development and concept art for Spin Master, and per his note blog he runs the illustrator community Amelab and illustrated a Mew immersive card for Pokemon TCG Pocket.

Two more anchors round out the picture. In 2019, Shoeisha published his instructional book How to Draw “Lineless” Illustrations (March 18, 2019, 160 pages) — a guide to the same lineless technique visible on the Bidoof and Victini cards above. And the GOOD GOOD SMILE! merchandise mentioned earlier was, per Bulbapedia, a Pokemon Center daily-goods line released July 17, 2021, spanning cups, plates, towels, T-shirts, and socks built around smiling Pokemon. Why this matters to collectors: the artist behind a 17-card TCG catalog is an established commercial illustrator whose work already sits in games, books, and store shelves across Japan.

Requesting an Amelicart Card from Japan

We source and ship Japanese Pokemon cards and sealed product from Tokyo with tracked delivery. For an illustrator like Amelicart, where we don’t hold graded stock on hand, the process runs through a direct request rather than an existing listing:

• Flag which Amelicart card you’re after — Bibarel, the Bidoof AR, one of the four Item cards, Squawkabilly ex, either Victini printing, Mow Rotom, or Shaymin — on our Quick Order page.
• Browse our current PSA 10 collection or the visual PSA 10 card list for graded cards already in stock from other illustrators.
• If you’d rather chase the s12a VSTAR Universe set directly, our Japanese booster box collection covers sealed product from the same era.

For more illustrator profiles built the same way — catalog, notable cards, and current stock status — see our guides to sowsow and Raita Kazama. If you’re weighing a graded purchase generally, our Japanese PSA 10 price guide explains how we price and source graded cards from Japan.