Who designed the characters in the first Final Fantasy games?

When Hironobu Sakaguchi built the first Final Fantasy at Square in 1987, he wanted a visual identity unlike the rounded look of rival role-playing games. Accounts of the decision describe his artist shortlist as coming down to Amano or the French master Moebius. He chose Amano, by then Japan's most celebrated fantasy illustrator, and the choice fixed the series' face for a decade.

Amano was credited as character designer on Final Fantasy I through VI, and he drew the monsters as well as the heroes. The working method surprises people: because he is an illustrator rather than a production designer, he largely worked from text, a character's age, role and a few lines of description, and returned finished paintings. Square's own artists then translated those paintings into the sprites the hardware could actually show.

The credits tell the rest of the story in single lines: character designer on the first six games, a return as original character designer on Final Fantasy IX, the deliberate throwback entry, and image illustrator on the modern games in between and since. The Library's Final Fantasy shelf covers the games themselves, their history and their art, and this hub is where their painter gets a shelf of his own.