Yoshitaka Amano
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| Yoshitaka Amano | |
| Birth name | 天野 嘉孝 |
| Born | July 28, 1952 (age 54) Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Field | character design, illustration, printmaking, painting, sculpting |
| Famous works | Final Fantasy series, Vampire Hunter D |
| Awards | Seiun Award, Dragon Con Award, Julie Award |
Yoshitaka Amano (天野 喜孝 Amano Yoshitaka?) (his birth name is 天野 嘉孝, pronounced the same) (born July 28, 1952) is a Japanese artist, best known for his illustrations for Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs, image illustrations and title logo designs for the Final Fantasy video game series developed by Square Enix Co., Ltd. (formerly Square Co., Ltd.).
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early Beginnings 1960s to 1970s
Amano was born in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan; as a young adolescent, he was fascinated with drawing. In 1967, he began working for Tatsunoko Productions in the animation department were he was introduced to the early Japanese anime movement[1][2]. His first paid project was for the Speed Racer anime franchise (also known as Mach GoGoGo). He worked in character design for anime shows such as the Time Boken series, the Gatchaman series, Tekkaman and the Honey Bee[3].
In the 1960s, Amano was exposed to American and other Western art styles through comic books and their Japanese Western-influenced counter parts. Amano also was fascinated by the art styles of Psychedelic and Pop Art of the West most particularly the work of American Pop artist Peter Max[4].
In the 1970s, Amano's intrigue led him to the study of the artworks of the late 19th century and early 20th century European movement of Art Nouveau and the ancient Japanese hand woodblock printing work of Ukiyo-e. While now doing illustration as well, he was still at Tatsunoko Productions until he left in 1982[4].
[edit] 1980s to present
In the early 1980s, he then concentrated on primarily illustrations for Science Fiction and Fantasy, while still keeping the influence of his animation and other illustration works from the 1960s and 1970s[3]. This in turn created a unique personal style, a style taking from both modern surrealism as well and realism fluent in many classic and modern techniques.
In 1983, he was behind the illustrations for the novel Demon City Shinjuku and the first of Hideyuki Kikuchi's novel series Vampire Hunter D[3]. This was adapted to a movie in 1985 for which Amano worked as character designer. The film was one of the first anime movies to be released outside of Japan. In interviews, though, Amano has stated that he was not pleased with the final product of the movie. More involvement in illustration had led to the creation of collections of his artwork being published, such as "Maten" in 1984[5].
In 1987, he was introduced to a newly developed art department with a promising future for conceptual design for video games. He joined Square Co., Ltd. (Now known as Square Enix Co., Ltd) to work on what was expected to be their last video game for the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System) Final Fantasy (released on December 18, 1987 in Japan). This task opened a new realm for Amano to work in. Even though at the time video game technology was very young, Amano produced striking pieces of conceptual design for the games in both traditional and computer designed artwork[6]. Final Fantasy (the first in a still running series) was a success and brought Square popularity in the RPG genre in Japan, as well as modest international fame. But the series would ignite extreme international fame as the series continued. At this time, he also worked for another video game company called Kure Software Koubou in which he did box cover illustrations as well as some character designs. This included work on Kure's First Queen series, which despite being fairly unknown overseas is regarded a classic in Japan.
In 1989, he had his first exhibition called "Hiten" at Yurakucho Mullion in Tokyo, Japan[7]. He continued to work with Square and their Final Fantasy series, and in 1990 he started to work as an artist for stage theater. His first work for theater was Tamasaburo Bando's Nayotake which was in the same year[4]. During this time while working as illustrator, character designer and set designer he had exhibitions of his becoming well known for his printing works.
In 1994, after Final Fantasy VI, he was no longer the main character, image and graphic designer of the series (he started to provide promotional and character artwork for the next games, as well as working on the title logo designs for most of the games), but in 1995 he started to become better known world wide with his work at the Biennale d'Orléans in France, and then in his newly established workshop and exhibition "Think Like Amano" in New York in 1997[8]. Which followed another exhibition in New York at the Angel Orensanz Foundation entitled "Hero"[9].
Amano also appeared in the 1998 movie New Rose Hotel which is loosely based off the William Gibson short story with the same name, in which he played the character Hiroshi[10].
In 2000, Amano did the illustrations for comic writer and novelist Neil Gaiman on Sandman: The Dream Hunters[11] which won several awards and was nominated for a Hugo Award[12], as well as having his character designs used again in another Vampire Hunter D movie entitled Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. In 2001, Greg Rucka and Amano collaborated with another comic book tale, this time for Marvel Comics, Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer[13].
In 2006, he was selected with Final Fantasy video game composer Nobuo Uematsu, by former designer and creator of Square-Enix's Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi to work on video games at his company Mistwalker[14]. He also stated in an interview in the french magazine "Japan Vibes" that he is working on artwork for Final Fantasy XIII [15]. Finally, his series, Hero, will debut to American audiences by Boom Studios. He has also illustrated three album covers for the Japanese power metal band Galneryus: The Flag of Punishment (2003), Advance to the Fall (2005) and Beyond the End of Despair (2006).[16].
 Ink & watercolor character design for Gordon from Final Fantasy II by Yoshitaka Amano (1988). |
 Ink & watercolor character design for Layla from Final Fantasy II by Yoshitaka Amano (1988). |
 Pencil & watercolor character design for Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI by Yoshitaka Amano (1994). |
 Pencil & watercolor character design for Gogo from Final Fantasy VI by Yoshitaka Amano (1994). |
 Cover artwork for First Queen by Yoshitaka Amano (1988) |
 Cover artwork for First Queen 2 by Yoshitaka Amano (1990) |
 Cover artwork for First Queen 3 by Yoshitaka Amano (1993) |
 Cover artwork for Duel by Yoshitaka Amano (1989) |
[edit] List of works
[edit] Illustration
- Genji
- Rampo
- Chimera
- Vampire Hunter D
- Guin Saga
- The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
- The Heroic Legend of Arslan
- Sohryuden
- Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer
- Yoshitaka Amano: The Sky (series of artwork from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy X)
- Galneryus - Flag of Punishment, Advance to the Fall, Beyond the End to Despair album art
- Elric's saga - Japanese edition of Michael Moorcock's works. Amano also illustrated for some other Eternal Champion novels in Japan.
[edit] Video Games
| Game Name | First Released | System Name(s) | Amano's Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final Fantasy I | 1987 | NES | Character Designer, Title Logo Designer & Graphic Designer |
| Final Fantasy II | 1988 | NES | Character Designer, Title Logo Designer & Graphic Designer |
| First Queen | 1988 | PC98 & X68000 | Box cover artist |
| Duel | 1989 | PC88 | Box cover artist |
| Duel98 | 1989 | PC98 | Box cover artist |
| Final Fantasy III | 1990 | NES | Character Designer & Title Logo Designer |
| First Queen 2 | 1990 | PC98 & X68000 | Box cover artist |
| Final Fantasy IV | 1991 | SNES | Character Designer, Image Designer & Title Logo Designer |
| Final Fantasy V | 1992 | SNES | Character Designer, Image Designer & Title Logo Designer |
| Kawanakajima Ibunroku | 1992 | PC98 | Box cover artist |
| First Queen 3 | 1993 | PC98 | Box cover artist |
| Final Fantasy VI | 1994 | SNES | Character Designer, Image Designer & Title Logo Designer |
| Front Mission | 1995 | SNES | Character Designer |
| Maten Densetsu | 1995 | SNES | Character Designer |
| Front Mission: Gun Hazard | 1996 | SNES | Character Designer |
| Final Fantasy VII | 1997 | PlayStation | Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrator, Title Logo Designer & Character Artwork |
| Kartia: World of Fate | 1998 | PlayStation | Art Designer |
| Final Fantasy VIII | 1999 | PlayStation | Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrator, Title Logo Designer & Character Artwork |
| Final Fantasy IX | 2000 | PlayStation | Character Illustrations & Original Character Designer |
| l Dorado Gate Vol. 1 to 7 | 2000-2001 | Sega Dreamcast | Creative Director & Additional Design |
| Final Fantasy X | 2001 | PlayStation 2 | Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrations, Title Logo Designer & Character Artwork |
| Final Fantasy X-2 | 2001 | PlayStation 2 | Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer & Image Illustrator |
| Final Fantasy XI | 2002 | MS Windows, PlayStation 2 & Xbox 360 |
Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer & Image Illustrator |
| Final Fantasy XII | 2006 | PlayStation 2 | Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer & Image Illustrator |
| Final Fantasy XIII | ? | PlayStation 3 | Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer & Image Illustrator |
Note: Tetsuya Nomura was the character designer of Final Fantasy VI (only minor characters), the main character designer of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIII. Nobuyoshi Mihara was the character designer of Final Fantasy XI. Shukou Murase was the character designer of Final Fantasy IX. Akihiko Yoshida was the character designer of Final Fantasy XII. Yoshitaka Amano has stated that he is currently working on Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII but his role is unknown so far. [17]. It is confirmed that he will be the Title logo designer and Image illustrator on Final Fantasy XIII.
[edit] Animation
- Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman (1972)
- Genesis Climber Mospeada (1983)
- Okawari Boy Starzan-S (1984)
- Sei Jūshi Bismarck (1984)
- Tekkaman The Space Knight (1984)
- Angel's Egg (1985)
- Amon Saga (1986)
- Casshan OVA (1993)
- Time Bokkan
[edit] Notes & References
- ^ ex.org interview. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ RPGamer interview. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ a b c 1UP.com A Day in the Life of Yoshitaka Amano. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ a b c Amano: The Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano Collins Design November 4 (2003) by Unno Hiroshi ISBN 0-06-056763-5. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Amano's World The Art of Yoshitaka Amano English Website Bibliography of "Maten". Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ ABC News The Genius Behind Final Fantasy. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Amano's World The Art of Yoshitaka Amano English Website Exhibitions. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Amano's World The Art of Yoshitaka Amano English Website "Think Like Amano Exhibition". Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Amano's World The Art of Yoshitaka Amano English Website "HERO Exhibition". Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Combustible Celluloid Movie Review New Rose Hotel. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ CNN Review "A dark tale 'of enduring charm". Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Powells.com Bibliography "The Sandman: The Dream Hunters". Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Cinescape Comics Book Review Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ ANS Exclusive Interview: 10 Questions To Yoshitaka Amano. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Japan Vibes interview. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ cdjapan.co.jp Galneryus listing. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
- ^ Amano Working on Final Fantasy XIII. Retrieved on 2006-5-9.
[edit] External links
- Amano in pinkwork city (interview sound & video)
- Amano's World - The Art of Yoshitaka Amano (Japanese website with blog)
- Amano's World - The Art of Yoshitaka Amano (English website)
- The Art of Yoshitaka Amano (fansite)
- Atma's Amano Final Fantasy Gallery (fansite)
- L'Art de Yoshitaka Amano (French fansite with an English version)
- A Day in the Life of Yoshitaka Amano (videos and interview)
- Yoshitaka Amano's work on Marvel.com
- Interview at Official Dark Horse Website
