Yoshitaka Amano is a master of classical Japanese printmaking, as well as the illustrator behind a lot of modern Japanese pop culture. Between his work on the Final Fantasy video game series, his illustrations for novels such as the "Guin Saga," and even his early work as an animator, Yoshitaka Amano is undoubtedly one of the most talented and diverse artists currently working in Japan. Amano started work as a professional when he was 15 years old and has since then become the designer of many fantastic worlds, characters, and even stranger creatures.
As previously mentioned, Amano began his career in art as an animator at age 15. The series he worked on was called “Mach GoGoGo” (“Speed Racer” in the U.S). Using the knowledge he gained about the Japanese animation industry, as well as the drawing and design skills he attained from his time working as an animator, he went on to become an anime (Japanese animation) character designer. He created characters for anime series such as “Gatchaman”, “Tekkaman: The Space Knight”, and “Neo Human Casshern.” Character design was Yoshitaka Amano’s first step into illustration and design work.
In 1987 Yoshitaka Amano joined the video game company Square as an illustrator for the video game “Final Fantasy,” eventually becoming the hidden face of the series. Although many people did not know Amano as an illustrator, they knew his work, and that his style was THE style of “Final Fantasy.” He acted as the main character, image, and graphic designer of the series until the year 1994. The artwork he produced during this time were done using his knowledge of traditional Japanese printmaking, and despite his work as an animator, held more of a Japanese bubble art aesthetic than they did of cartoon characters. Amano worked in watercolor, ink, pencil, charcoal, and sometimes (albeit rarely) digitally. Even after he stepped down as the head artist for the game series, Amano continues to produce artwork for the company now known as Square Enix.
Amano began freelance illustration in the year 2000, and worked on Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman: The Dream Hunters,” the comic book “Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer,” and “Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.” Amano was also the key visual and costume designer for several movies in 2006. During this period the artwork Yoshitaka Amano produced highly reflected his interest in western comic books, though his voice still spoke very clearly through the way he drew his character’s faces, as well as his use of color. The characters he draws always maintain very feminine eyes as well as a very earthy color scheme.
Yoshitaka Amano was very influenced as an illustrator by art nouveau, which is made evident by his use of color and the stroke of his pencils. Many of his pieces look like they could be made into posters, and in fact many are. His other influences include the Japanese “Hanga” movement. During this period, there was a very heavy influence of western art on the Japanese artists who participated in the “Hanga” movement. Amano, during his work on “Final Fantasy,” used western costumes and backgrounds to create a Medieval fantasy atmosphere. He also states in a foreword he wrote in a book featuring his art that he enjoys the works of Picasso.
Pablo Picasso was an artist who at a very young age had already become an accomplished painter. He was trained by his father in a very classical style that was popular at the time. As an Avant-Garde artist, however, he practiced a very different style called cubism. Amano was inspired by Picasso’s abstract depictions that are frequently seen in Amano’s more abstract artwork such as his humanoid animals.
During Amano’s long stay at the company Square he influenced many artists who worked, and aspired to work, in the same field he did. One such artist is the character designer and producer at Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura. Nomura during his time with the company has worked on many games, a great sum of which were games other than the “Final Fantasy” series. Tetsuya Nomura designed characters for “Final Fantasy X,” “Final Fantasy X-2,” “Final Fantasy XI,” and ‘Final Fantasy XIII,” as well as characters for the “Kingdom Hearts” franchise and the game “The World Ends with You.”
Nomura’s importance at the company took off the years following Yoshitaka Amano stepping down from his role working on the “Final Fantasy” series. The last game that Amano worked on was “Final Fantasy VI.” Nomura contributed a decent amount of the character backstories for “Final Fantasy VII” and ironically this was the game that led into a new generation of “Final Fantasy” games.
Tetsuya Nomura lists Yoshitaka Amano as one of his high school art influences and is the reason he ended up working for square as a character designer. Despite this, Nomura’s art is significantly more modern than Amano’s. He derives a lot of inspiration from Yoshitaka Amano’s fantasy aesthetic and costume designs, but Nomura’s art appeals a lot to modern Japanese audiences due to its resemblance to the “anime” look that is prominent in a lot of Japanese media.
During his work on “Final Fantasy VII,” his style was what he considered to be the typical anime look at the time, however it was while he was working on “Final Fantasy VIII” that his style began to truly emerge. He felt that the storyline for VIII was a lot more gritty and realistic, so he began to tie in a more realistic look to his characters. In doing so he started down his journey to developing his own artistic voice and has ironically achieved a position in the company much like Amano’s, despite his nearly opposite style and themes. Tetsuya Nomura has been the designer for practically every main series “Final Fantasy” game since Amano departed.
Since Nomura took point on character design, his modern style took over not just the look of the game, but the entire atmosphere of the franchise. “Final Fantasy” games became more Sci-Fi and had modern or even futuristic settings. Nomura had completely changed the image of “Final Fantasy” that Amano had built up and turned it into something that was completely his own.
One of Yoshitaka Amano’s many beautiful pieces that I feel is one of his strongest is an illustration he did of the protagonist and heroine of “Final Fantasy X”, Tidus and Yuna. This piece depicts the two pushed into the air by a stream of water from below. Tidus, the boy in front and Yuna, the girl next to him, seem to be sitting on the water as if it were a cushion. Behind the couple is what appears to be a tree of some sort made out of strange gray branches. Watery flowers that also look like souls are either splashing or flying out of the trees branches. This “tree” is in fact the monster plunging the world of “Final Fantasy X” into chaos. The creature is known as “Sin.”
The reason the there is so much water involved in this piece is because the game itself uses water as a motif quite frequently. The protagonist, Tidus, is a professional player of a fictional sport called Blitz Ball. Blitz Ball is a game played under the water and as such the main character is a very skilled swimmer. Tidus’s homeland called Zanarkand is destroyed by Sin and is swallowed by the sea. Sin itself is also a creautre of the sea and travels around punishing humanity for the attrocities mankind has commited.
A strong argument can also be made that the light blue shapes escaping the tree are actually spirits due to the character Yuna’s connection to summonable creatures called Aeons. Yuna is a summoner and must fulfill her destiny by visiting temples and claiming the Aeons for her own. It is believed that Aeons are the key to defeating Sin and so Tidus along with many others travel with Yuna in hopes of defeating Sin. The spirits escaping from Sin may hint at their origin, as well as Sin’s.
Yoshitaka Amano is a highly talented illustrator and master of many mediums, styles, and techniques. Despite this, there is a clear unity between all of his work, made apparent by his loose yet purposeful placement of line, and powerful Japanese elements present in his artwork. Although the type of work Amano creates is no longer as desirable to Japans younger audiences due to the changing state of pop culture, Amano will forever be remembered and beloved by those who grew up with the work he created. The time he spent crafting beautiful enviornments, building heroic characters, and imagining fantastic monsters, have built an entire generation of artists who wish to do those same things. Amano isn’t just a talented artist, he is an ispiration to all children who grew up playing the games he worked on, watching the anime he designed characters for, and of course reading the books who’s covers he designed.
Parish, Jeremy. “The Final Fantasist: A Conversation With Yoshitaka Amani.” Usgamer.net. October 05, 2016. Accessed November 19, 2016. http://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-final-fantasist-a-conversation-with-yoshitaka-amano.
Yoshitaka Amano foreword from “Amano the Complete Prints” Trans. OFFICE MIYAZAKI, Inc.
Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, Ltd. 2002
Amanda T. Zhender “Sosaku-Hanga” and “Shin-Hanga” in Modern Japanese Prints ed. Arlene Sanderson, 8-10 Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute.
Melissa McQuillan. "Picasso, Pablo." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T067316.
FinalFantasy.wikia. Accessed November 19, 2016. http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Tetsuya_Nomura.
