Atsuko Nishida

Atsuko Nishida (Japanese: 西田敦子 / にしだあつこ) is a graphic artist who has been involved with several aspects of the Pokémon franchise since it began. She was part of the graphics team on , one of Game Freak's most successful early titles, working alongside Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and artist Ken Sugimori. During the development of the first Pokémon games, she helped design key characters and several Pokémon, notably the cuter ones as opposed to the tougher ones. She also contributed to the conceptual design of characters that appeared in the first few Pokémon movies. Nishida has continued to work within many areas of the franchise, credited on the majority of the main series games, movies, and produced an array of original illustrations for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. She is also the illustrator for the mini-comic series titled (Japanese: ポケモンといっしょ！ Together with Pokémon!) for a monthly children magazine (Japanese: キャラぱふぇ Chara Pafe).

Nishida is a character designer for the mascot of the Pokémon franchise,. She stated that first design of Pikachu looked like a vertically long rice confection with ears. She also modeled Pikachu's cheeks, which are used to store electricity, after squirrels storing food in their cheeks. Nishida is also a fan of and the Eeveelutions and personally designed  and, as well as.