The characteristic Amano touch is immediately recognizable in any of his works. We review the story of a creative who has been between acrylics, pencils and watercolors since he was fourteen years old.
Although his name may not be as well remembered as Yoko Taro, Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu or Dan Houser, the truth is that this Japanese artist is another asset to keep in mind if we want to review the lives of the most influential creatives in the world. video game industry. Today, for example, you cannot understand a new Final Fantasy installment without a logo that passes through your hands.
And it is that Yoshitaka Amano is perhaps the only person who has worked in all the numerical chapters of the Square Enix saga and in some other spin off. But his legacy goes far beyond Final Fantasy since, in addition to being an artist of the brush and watercolors, he has also written a novel, painted sculptures or created his own comic published by Dark Horse; Deva Zan. Let's review a bit the story of an artist who leaves no one indifferent.
His story
Yoshitaka Amano, 68, was born on March 26, 1952 in Shizuoka, Japan. The location of this city of less than a million inhabitants – nowadays, the number was much smaller – places it very close to Mount Fuji, between mountains and the beach. Due to both characteristics and to his, according to him, little physical strength, as a child he often fell ill and took advantage of those moments to entertain himself drawing. In fact, he was always looking for an excuse not to hang out with friends and lock himself in his room painting; "That's how I used to enjoy being a child" Yoshitaka remembers in an interview.
Little is known of his childhood, he hardly talks about it in the few interviews he has given to the press – with respect to other names in the industry – but it is also true that he hardly had time to live it because, at fourteen, He started working at one of the world's leading animation production companies, Tatsunoko Productions. He has affirmed on many occasions that he had a deep love for Disney animators, specifically those who worked on Bambi and Snow White and, later, for Neal Adams, one of the most influential artists in Marvel Comics and DC Comics, or Andy Warhol.
Going back to 1966 with a fourteen-year-old Yoshitaka, the Japanese artist visited Tokyo to see his best friend, one who also lived in Shizuoka but who, due to fate, had to move to the big city. At that time Amano already knew Tatsunoko Productions and his dream was to work for them. "It was an act of fate," he told Anime News Network because his colleague moved to a house adjacent to the headquarters of the producer. Knowing this beforehand, he made a drawing, left it in the offices and the next day they called him saying that they wanted to hire him. "I said yes without consulting my parents," said Yoshitaka Amano, "for the first time, no one could scold me for wasting time drawing, it was going to be something wonderful."
Whether or not it was fate, the truth is that as soon as he got to Tatsunoko Productions, he kept smiling at him. His first job as a salaried employee was nothing more and nothing less than helping in the animation of the Mach GoGoGo series, which may not sound familiar to you by that name, but what if we tell you that the name it receives in these parts is Speed Racer? All this while studying at a university in Tokyo, which, according to him, he left shortly after to dedicate himself entirely to the production company.
Between 1967 and 1972 Amano worked on various animated series of greater or lesser success. One of the ones she fondly remembers the most and which she believes to be her greatest contribution at Tatsunoko Productions is Honeybee Hutch – Bee Hutch -, the adventures of a bee in search of her beloved mother. But the fattest hit – at least for us in the field of Japanese animation – would come just at the end of this five-year span; Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. This extravagant and perhaps strange name for many of you has an easy translation; Command G. That's right, Yoshitaka Amano was the character designer of this mythical series that many of you will remember from your childhood, although the series we saw was a sweetened version created by the producer Sandy Franks, who were the ones who took over the rights to broadcast the series in different countries.
His work at Tatsunoko Productions ended in 1982, but not before creating a new job that until his arrival in the world of animation did not exist, that of character designer. "They put me in a secret room from time to time and I couldn't get out of there until I designed a new character," 1Up told the media. “After a while that secret room became mine. There everything I did was confidential, ”declared Yoshitaka. However, Amano stated that the company highly respected the creativity of its workers and even let them go to watch movies, buy comics or watch American animations with the company's money, "this is how Tatsunoko supported the creators."
Leaving a producer as important worldwide as Tatsunoko makes sense for someone who does not want to be classified as a character designer. Amano wanted his art to be seen worldwide and to innovate in other areas. Said and done, Yoshitaka went from creating characters for animated series to illustrating the Vampire Hunter D novels in 1983, well known to manga fans and who, in turn, many of their scenarios are strongly inspired by Spain as he loves our culture.
Hironobu Sakaguchi knocks on his door
As with Nobuo Uematsu, Yoshitaka Amano "suffered" the same experience as the Japanese musician. While the cartoonist worked creating covers for European novels, Sakaguchi approached him with three other men to ask him to join the Final Fantasy team. As commented in the interview, Amano has previously worked on another American video game, although he does not remember in which company, "I only remember that they wanted me to do an illustration similar to that of the Dragon’s Lair arcade".
The Japanese artist was confident in the potential offered by video games around art, so he accepted the challenge and designed the characters for the first final fantasy. From those times, he remembers that “I designed characters as if they were pixelated because I believed they wanted that, just as they were seen on screen. However Sakaguchi told me that he did not want that, they wanted me to design normal and that they were already in charge of adapting it in the video game ”.
Although for the first Final Fantasy his designs were not yet as ethereal as those we are used to seeing, the cartoonist created the characters of the video game mixing that style so characteristic of himself with the usual ones he did in Tatsunoko. It was in later titles when the classic protagonists of pale color and enigmatic scenes began to be one of the most characteristic elements of the saga.
"My favorite character is Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI since she was the first protagonist of the saga but I also loved doing Faris from Final Fantasy V", she revealed in an interview at the same time that she added that she also likes monsters that are easy to draw, like the jelly and the bomb of the franchise. Despite her complex works of art, Amano says she identifies better with simple designs, "I feel like they represent me better."
His last major involvement with the saga was in Final Fantasy IX where he designed the characters and created the illustration for them. It was perhaps the game in which he had the most involvement but, curiosities of life, the logo of the ninth final fantasy is not signed by him. Or at least that's what a legend says on the internet since in this audiovisual document we see how Sakaguchi confirms giving the order to Amano to create it. What's more, if we take a look at the official website of the game – to name a few – we see how copyright is associated with its name dated 2000, the year Final Fantasy IX saw the light of day.
Although he has been on board the Final Fantasy ship from the first video game to the fifteenth, passing through the online genre, the creative has also put his bit in titles such as Front Mission, Lords of Vermillion, Fairy Fencer or even Child of Light by Ubisoft. In the latter he worked creating a promotional poster that was offered as a gift in the special edition in which he once again demonstrated his innate talent for art.
But you are going to forgive me for the goat throwing into the bush and going back to the conception of the world map of Final Fantasy XI Online to tell you a curiosity. Yoshitaka, who declares himself unskilled in creating them, was asked to design the game and decided to tip the balance in favor of creativity by adding mythological elements to the Vana’diel map; “It will be a mythological game that will be enjoyed by people from all over the world, so I will add elements of this type. Maybe in the future someone will find the map, see the creatures I have drawn and wonder if this really existed in the past. "
Much more than games
Beyond video games – area in which he continues working – Yoshitaka Amano has designed from covers for music records, collaborated with Neil Gaiman (American Gods, Good Omens) in the creation of The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, passing by creating his own novel called Deva Zan —which also became a film that he directed himself— or launch almost forty signed art books from his handwriting on the market.
He has won five times one of the most prestigious awards in Japan, the so-called Seiun Prize, which is awarded to different artists related to science fiction. Also, from his collaboration with Neil Gaiman, he received a Bram Stoker Award for The Sandman. As if that were not enough, his works have been exhibited in many countries in the most prestigious art galleries while harvesting enviable box offices.
Lover of cinema and art in general, she has produced, directed and scripted different films and series such as Tenshi no Tamago, Yasai no Yousei: N.Y. Salad or Ten Nights of Dreams and has even acted alongside Willem Dafoe and Christopher Walken in the movie New Rose Hotel.
A few months ago he made the news again for being one of the illustrators of a special edition of the Italian print run of Vogue magazine. The cover, painted by Yoshitaka Amano in her quirky style, featured model Lindsey Wixson dressed in Gucci. But also for announcing to the world the creation of a new original anime series where he takes the role of producer. Its release is expected for July of this year as confirmed by its official website and the project involves Yuzo Koshiro in the soundtrack – along with Yoshida Brothers – and Naoki Serizawa, cartoonist for the Resident Evil manga.
An untold legacy
It is impossible to discuss in an article everything that Yoshitaka Amano has created with his hands in his almost 70 years of life. His legacy is endless and a good example of this are some of the examples cited here, although there is more, much more. For example, last year the Japanese artist collaborated with Magic the Gathering creating an exclusive letter from Liliana for the Japanese market. We can also see portraits of David Bowie made by him or classic scenes from children's stories reimagined with his vaporous style. Everything is capable of being captured with its acrylics and brushes on a sheet and a good account of this is this small gallery that includes some of his drawings made throughout his life.
