THE LIBRARY
Collector guides, cover censuses, and edition answers, documented issue by issue. Every page answers one specific question, completely.
← Back to YOSHITAKA AMANO on the Library shelf
YOSHITAKA AMANO
18 shelves
Who is Yoshitaka Amano?
The artist hired at 15 who drew Gatchaman, the Vampire Hunter D novels, the first Final Fantasy games and their logos, then became a gallery painter.
How did Yoshitaka Amano start at Tatsunoko?
A Tokyo trip at fifteen, a portfolio shown to Tatsuo Yoshida, and a company dormitory: how a Shizuoka schoolboy joined the Speed Racer studio in 1967.
Who designed the characters in Gatchaman?
Gatchaman's bird-suited five were a Tatsunoko team creation: founder Tatsuo Yoshida led, and teenage Yoshitaka Amano worked on the designs from 1972.
What did Yoshitaka Amano do after leaving Tatsunoko?
He quit at thirty in 1982 and went freelance: Twilight Worlds in S-F Magazine, four straight Seiun Awards, and the novel covers that made him famous.
Who illustrated the Vampire Hunter D novels?
Yoshitaka Amano has painted every Vampire Hunter D cover since the first novel in 1983. His D, all hat and cloak, overruled the author's own image.
What was Yoshitaka Amano's role in the 1985 Vampire Hunter D film?
Amano was the film's character designer, but director Toyoo Ashida redrew parts of the cast, and Amano has said he was not pleased with the result.
Who did the art for Angel's Egg?
Angel's Egg is Mamoru Oshii's direction and Yoshitaka Amano's world: Amano is co-creator of the story and the film's art director, and it shows.
Who illustrated the Guin Saga novels?
Four artists in relay: Naoyuki Kato, then Yoshitaka Amano for volumes 20 to 57, then Jun Suemi and Shinobu Tanno, across a saga running since 1979.
Did Yoshitaka Amano draw Elric?
Yes: from 1984 Amano illustrated the Japanese Elric editions, plus Corum and Erekosë. Moorcock praised the covers and wrote a preface for Amano.
What is The Sandman: The Dream Hunters?
A 1999 prose novella by Neil Gaiman, painted throughout by Yoshitaka Amano. It won the Bram Stoker Award, and the folk tale behind it never existed.
Who designed the characters in the first Final Fantasy games?
Yoshitaka Amano designed the characters and monsters of Final Fantasy I to VI, working from text descriptions, and returned as designer for IX.
Who draws the Final Fantasy logos?
Every main Final Fantasy logo wears a Yoshitaka Amano emblem. The format began with FFIV's Kain, and he redrew the first three games' marks later.
Why does Amano's art look different from the Final Fantasy games?
Amano paints the interpretation, not the sprite sheet. His Final Fantasy figures are taller, paler and stranger than the characters you control.
Who did the art for Front Mission?
Amano drew Front Mission's people, all forty of them, and Kow Yokoyama built its machines: the 1995 strategy game's split authorship is its look.
Who illustrated the Arslan novels?
The original Arslan novels wear Amano art: he illustrated the Kadokawa edition's ten volumes from 1986. The current edition is Shinobu Tanno's.
Why did Yoshitaka Amano start painting on aluminium?
In late-1990s New York, Amano turned fine artist: acrylic and automotive paint on aluminium box panels, his cartoon icons rebuilt at room size.
What are the best Yoshitaka Amano art books?
From Maten in 1984 to The Sky's three Final Fantasy volumes and the 328-page Beyond the Fantasy biography: the Amano books worth shelf space.
What inspired Yoshitaka Amano's style?
Neal Adams comics, Peter Max psychedelia, Art Nouveau, ukiyo-e and a lacquer worker's household: the five ingredients of the Amano line.
