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Yoshitaka Amano

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Profile photo of Yoshitaka Amano.

Yoshitaka Amano (天野 喜孝, Amano Yoshitaka) is an artist who designed many characters for the Final Fantasy series as well as for other series. He is a native of Shizuoka, Japan.

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[edit] Profile

His uniqueness in his designs are such that he does not design images directly for animation or comics. Amano's art revolves around the medium of printmaking. Printmaking involves processes such as carving wood and/or scoring copper plates, running ink, and transferring ink to paper. Aside from woodcut and copper plate prints, Amano also uses the method of lithography. He typically uses acrylics to color his prints, using an effect resembling watercolor, and many of his works are influenced by ukyo-e aesthetics. His prints contrast to many modern Japanese designers in that his prints are made with smoother, flowing lines, especially when it comes to hair, a characteristic that defies the stereotype of pointy, spiky hair used by other designers, which is also one of the reasons for the critic of the newer designers for Square Enix. To this day Amano has drawn and designed most of the main characters and prominent points in the iconic games of the series.

Before beginning his career as a fantasy illustrator, having grown up reading Western super hero comics, Amano worked for Tatsunoko Productions as a character designer for several of their early super hero anime, including Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Tekkaman Blade, and Neo-Human Casshern. Beginning in the '80s, he left the anime industry to illustrate novels, including several Japanese versions of Western heroic fantasy series, as well as early volumes of Guin Saga and the ongoing Vampire Hunter D series, which he still illustrates. More recently, he has illustrated Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, mink's Shinjuku, and his own Hero series. He has occasionally returned to working on anime, such as the surreal Angel's Egg, as well as experimental works such as Fantascope: Tylostoma, and the more mainstream NY Salad: Vegetable Fairies. In addition to the Final Fantasy series, he has also worked as character designer for the Front Mission game series. He has also appeared as the character Hiroshi in the live action movie New Rose Hotel.

[edit] Works within the series

Amano was the lead character designer for many games in the series. He designed the characters and most of the enemies for Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy VI. He was also one of several designers for Final Fantasy IX. In Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy X, he also drew several pieces of art of the characters, for which he is credited as an Image Illustrator. His artworks for Final Fantasy XII can also be found in the International Zodiac Job System Ultimania. Amano also made the logos for all the main games in the series.

Game Name Amano's Role(s)
Final Fantasy Character Designer, Title Logo Designer, and Graphic Designer
Final Fantasy II Character Designer, Title Logo Designer, and Graphic Designer
Final Fantasy III Character Designer and Title Logo Designer
Final Fantasy IV Character Designer, Image Designer, and Title Logo Designer
Final Fantasy V Character Designer, Image Designer, and Title Logo Designer
Final Fantasy VI Character Designer, Image Designer, and Title Logo Designer
Final Fantasy VII Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrator, Title Logo Designer, and Character Artwork
Final Fantasy VIII Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrator, Title Logo Designer, and Character Artwork
Final Fantasy IX Character Illustrations and Original Character Designer
Final Fantasy X Promotional Artwork, Image Illustrations, Title Logo Designer, and Character Artwork
Final Fantasy X-2 Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer, and Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy XI Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer, and Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy XII Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer, and Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy XIII Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer, and Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy Versus XIII Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy Agito XIII Title Logo Designer and Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy XIV Title Logo Designer

[edit] Gallery

Character design of Rydia from Final Fantasy IV.

Promotional artwork of the character Tifa from Final Fantasy VII.

Landscape artwork from Final Fantasy IX.

Promotional artwork of the characters Balthier, Ashe, Fran, and Vaan from Final Fantasy XII.

[edit] External Links

Retrieved from "http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Yoshitaka_Amano"
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