(born July 28 1952) is a Japanese artist 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 (formerly Square)..

Biography

Animation

Amano was born in Shizuoka, Japan; as a young adolescent, he was fascinated with drawing. In 1967, he began working for Tatsunoko Productions in the animation department, where he was introduced to the early Japanese anime movement. 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 Bokan series, the Gatchaman series, Tekkaman and the Honey Bee.

In the 1960s, Amano was exposed to Western art styles through comic books and their Japanese Western-influenced counter parts. Amano was also fascinated by the art styles of psychedelic art and pop art of the West, particularly the work of American Pop artist Peter Max. 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, as well as the ancient Japanese hand woodblock printing work of Ukiyo-e. While concentrating on illustration, he was still at Tatsunoko Productions until he left in 1982.

Early fantasy works

In the early 1980s, he concentrated on illustrations for Science Fiction and Fantasy, while still keeping the influence of his animation and other illustration works from the 1960s and 1970s. This in turn created a unique personal style, which was influenced by both modern surrealism as well as 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. 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, however, 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.

Final Fantasy

In 1987, he was introduced to a newly developed art department with a promising future for conceptual design for video games. He joined Square (now known as Square Enix) 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 video game technology was very young, Amano produced striking pieces of conceptual design for the games in both traditional and computer designed artwork. Final Fantasy, the first in a continuing 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.

Branching out

In 1989, he had his first exhibition called "Hiten" at Yurakucho Mullion in Tokyo, Japan. 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. 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, which followed another exhibition in New York at the Angel Orensanz Foundation entitled "Hero. Amano also appeared in the 1998 movie New Rose Hotel which is loosely based on the William Gibson short story with the same name, in which he played the character Hiroshi.

Freelancing

In 2000, Amano did the illustrations for comic writer and novelist Neil Gaiman on Sandman: The Dream Hunters which won several awards and was nominated for a Hugo Award, 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. 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. He also stated in an interview in the French magazine "Japan Vibes" that he is working on artwork for Final Fantasy XIII . 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)..

List of works

Animation

• Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972)
• New Honeybee Hutch (1974)
• Time Bokan (1974)
• Neo-Human Casshern (1975)
• Gowappā 5 Godam (1976)
• Tekkaman: The Space Knight (1976)
• Hurricane Polymer (1977)
• Akū Daisakusen Srungle (1983)
• Genesis Climber MOSPEADA (1983)
• Okawari Boy Starzan-S (1984)
• Sei Jūshi Bismarck (1984)
• Angel's Egg (1985)
• Vampire Hunter D (1985)
• Amon Saga (1986)
• Twilight of the Cockroaches (1987)
• 1001 Nights (1998)
• Ayakashi (2006)
• Fantascope ~Tylostoma~(2006)
• Bird's Song (2007)
• Vegetable Fairies: N.Y. Salad (2007)

Illustrations

Select domestic Japanese works

• Vampire Hunter D (1983-ongoing)
• Guin Saga (1984-1997)
• The Heroic Legend of Arslan (1986-1999)
• Sohryuden (1987-ongoing)
• Rampo Edogawa Mystery Collection (1987-1989)
• Tekiha Kaizoku Series
• Shinsetsu Taikō-ki
• Chimera-ho Series
• Garouden
• The Tale of Genji (1997)
• Galneryus - Album art
• Sword World RPG - Assorted artwork

Select Japanese editions of foreign works

• A Cup of Magic! (1981)
• The Prince in the Scarlet Robe, Corum (1982)
• Erekosë Saga (1983)
• Elric Saga (1984)
• Dream Weaver (1985)
• The Chronicles of Castle Brass (1988)
• Hoka Series
• Seven Brothers (2006)

Foreign works

• The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999)
• Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer (2002)

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
El Dorado Gate Vol. 1 to 7	2000-2001	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, Xbox 360	Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer & Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy Agito XIII	?	PlayStation Portable	Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer & Image Illustrator
Final Fantasy Versus XIII	?	PlayStation 3	Promotional Artwork, Title Logo Designer & Image Illustrator
Dissidia: Final Fantasy	?	PlayStation Portable	Title Logo Designer
Lord of Vermilion	?	Arcade	Card Illustrator
Beyond Good & Evil 2	?	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	Art Designer

Note: Tetsuya Nomura was also character designer of minor characters in Final Fantasy VI , main character designer of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XIII, and Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Tetsuya Nomura and Nobuyoshi Mihara were the character designers of Final Fantasy XI. Toshiyuki Itahana 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.. It is confirmed that he will be the Title logo designer and Image illustrator on Fabula Nova Crystallis.

Notes and references

External links

• Amano in pinkwork city (interview sound & video)
• Amano's World - The Art of Yoshitaka Amano (English website)
• A Day in the Life of Yoshitaka Amano (videos and interview)
• Yoshitaka Amano's work on Marvel.com
• Interview at Official Dark Horse Website
• Ga-nime: Fantascope ~Tylostoma~
• Ga-nime: Bird's Song