Yoshitaka Amano Illustrator - Final Fantasy
Yoshikata Amano is a Japanese illustrator, artist, character designer, costume designer, and film scenic designer. He became well known after working on the anime version of Speed Racer in the late 1960s. He is the creator of characters like Tekkaman, Hutch the Honeybee, Gatchaman, and other well-known characters. As a freelance artist, he collaborated with various authors and was commissioned for work on the Final Fantasy series.
Since the 1990s, he has worked on retro paintings of iconic pop icons and exhibited them around the world. His paintings are made mostly using aluminum box panels with acrylic and automotive paint. He has been the recipient of various high profile awards for his work. His influences include western comics, orientalism, art nouveau, and Japanese woodblock pieces. Amano has also established a film production company named Studio Devaloka in 2010. His work has garnered a worldwide following and fan base.
Biography
Yoshitaka Amano was born in 1952 in a small town of Shizuoka, Japan, close to the base of Mount Fuji. Amano had a passion for drawing ever since he was a child, as he would make drawings on large paper rolls. In 1967 in Tokyo, he took his work to the anime studio Tatsunoko Production, and he was immediately hired, moving to the company dormitory at the age of 15. He ended his career after creating various famous characters and went freelance, getting work at the Science Fiction Magazine, which hosted his work. He published his first collection of paintings in 1984 called Maten (Evil Universe). He worked with a number of authors and contributed to many illustrated books such as Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Kaoru Kurimoto's Guin Saga, Yoshiki Tanaka's Arslan Chronicles, and Rasen-Oh (Spiral King) and Chimera by Baku Yumemakura.
He contributed to the film Angel's Egg, a cult hit in Japan and eventually became involved with video games. His first project, Final Fantasy, went on to be a world-famous hit. He also contributed to Front Mission, Gun Hazard, Rebus (released as Kartia in the US), and Emblem of Eru (to be released in Japan by Capcom). He began working in New York City, exhibiting various works such as "Think Like Amano'', which was traveled to Tokyo’s Uenonomori museum where it was very popular. He also worked on the collaborative film/music project known as 1001 Nights with composer David Newman, which was commissioned by the LA Philharmonic.
Final Fantasy Work
Amano joined Square in 1987 to work on the RPG game Final Fantasy for the Nintendo Entertainment System. He made concept designs using digital and traditional artwork. While employed with Square, he was also working at Kure Software Koubou, where he made box illustrations along with character designs. After Final Fantasy VI, he resigned from his position as lead image, graphic, and character designer, but continued to give promotional and character art and logo designs for the later games as well. In 2006, he worked at Hironobu Sakaguchi’s studio, Mistwalker, with legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu to work on game production.
Devaloka and Present Times
In 2010, Amano opened Studio Devaloka and announced he would direct a 3D anime film titled “Zan”. In 2010, an official site for the film was released with information about an upcoming press conference. In 2012, an illustrated novel of the film was announced by Dark Horse Manga, the book marked Amano’s debut as an author and included many of his original paintings.
Popular Quote
Your parents will die before you do, so you'd better make your own life decisions. Your own choices are always good if you know yourself - especially in art, because whenever you do something new, everyone will be against you.
List of Final Fantasy Works
- Final Fantasy (1987) – Character Designer, Title Logo Designer and Graphic Designer
- Final Fantasy II (1988) – Character Designer, Title Logo Designer and Graphic Designer
- Final Fantasy III (1990) – Character Designer and Title Logo Designer
- Final Fantasy IV (1991) – Character Designer, Image Designer and Title Logo Designer
- Final Fantasy V (1992) – Character Designer, Image Designer and Title Logo Designer
- Final Fantasy VI (1994) – Character Designer, Image Designer and Title Logo Designer
- Final Fantasy VII (1997) – Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrator, Title Logo Designer and Character Artwork
- Final Fantasy VIII (1999) – Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrator, Title Logo Designer and Character Artwork
- Final Fantasy IX (2000) – Character Illustrations and Original Character Designer
- Final Fantasy X (2001) – Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrations, Title Logo Designer and Character Artwork
- Final Fantasy X-2 (2003) – Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy XI (2002) – Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy XII (2006) – Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008) – Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy XIII (2010) – Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy XIV (2010) – Title Logo Designer
- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (2011) – Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy Type-0 (2011) – Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy XIII-2 (2011) – Title Logo Designer
- Fantasy Life (2012) – Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy XV (2016) – Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
- Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius (2016) – Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer