Seiun Award Dragon Con Award Julie Award Inkpot Award, 2018[1] Artist Guest of Honor, Worldcon 65 (Nippon 2007)[2]
Yoshitaka Amano (
Japanese: 天野 喜孝, born March 26, 1952) is a Japanese visual
artist,
character designer,
illustrator, a
scenic designer for theatre and film, and a
costume designer. He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of Speed Racer. Amano later became the creator of iconic and influential characters such as Gatchaman, Tekkaman, Honeybee Hutch, and Casshern. In 1982 he went independent and became a freelance artist, finding success as an illustrator for numerous authors, and worked on best-selling novel series, such as The Guin Saga and Vampire Hunter D. He is also known for his commissioned illustrations for the popular video game franchise Final Fantasy.[3]
Since the 1990s Amano has been creating and exhibiting paintings featuring his iconic retro pop icons in galleries around the world, primarily painting on aluminium box panels with acrylic and automotive paint. He is a five-time winner of the
Seiun Award, and also won the 1999
Bram Stoker Award for his collaboration with
Neil Gaiman, Sandman: The Dream Hunters.[4]
Amano's influences include early Western comic books,
Orientalism,
art nouveau, and Japanese woodblock prints. In early 2010, he established Studio Devaloka, a film production company.[5]
Biography
Amano was born in
Shizuoka,
Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, to Yoshio Amano (1917–1962) and Kesano Amano (née Fujimoto). He is the youngest child of four. Amano's father was a lacquer artist, specializing in traditional
Suruga lacquerware.[6]: 9–13 As a young adolescent, Yoshitaka Amano was fascinated with drawing. In 1967, he began working in the animation department of
Tatsunoko Productions, where he was introduced to the early Japanese
anime movement.[7][8] His first paid project was for the Speed Racer anime franchise. He was a character designer for anime shows such as Time Bokan, Gatchaman, Tekkaman, and Honeybee Hutch.[9]
In the 1960s, Amano was exposed to Western art styles through
comic books, which he claims among his artistic roots. He has cited
Neal Adams as his favorite comic book artist, noting that he would often purchase used comics based on Adams's cover artwork, only to be disappointed that the interior artist was different.[10] 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.[11] In the 1970s, Amano studied the artworks of the late 19th century and early 20th century European movement of
Art Nouveau, as well as the Russian orientalists (
Leon Bakst, Ivan Bilibin) and the ancient Japanese hand woodblock printing work of
Ukiyo-e.[11] Amano remained at Tatsunoko Productions until 1982.
Early fantasy works
During the 1980s, Amano concentrated on illustrations for science fiction and fantasy works. Combined with the influence of his prior experience in animation, this focus resulted in a personal style influenced by both modern surrealism and realism.[9]
He left Tatsunoko Production and started his activities as a freelancer in 1982. He did illustration and cover page design of Kimaira series, written by
Baku Yumemakura, from this year. In 1983, he illustrated the novel Demon City Shinjuku and the first in
Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novel series.[9] He also worked as a character designer on the 1985 movie adaptation of Vampire Hunter D, which was one of the first anime movies to be released outside Japan. In interviews, however, Amano has stated that he was not pleased with the final product of the movie.[12]
His illustrations begin to be published in collections such as Maten in 1984.[13] That year he drew the manga
Amon Saga, written by Baku Yumemakura, which was later adapted into an
OVA.
Video games
In 1987, Amano joined
Square (now known as
Square Enix) to work on a
role-playing video game for the
Nintendo Entertainment System: Final Fantasy. Amano produced conceptual design pieces for the game in both traditional and computer designed artwork.[14] At this time, he also worked for another video game company,
Kure Software Koubou, producing box cover illustrations as well as some character designs. This work included designs for Kure's First Queen series.[15] Following Final Fantasy VI in 1994, he stepped down as the main character, image, and graphic designer of the series. He continued to provide promotional and character artwork for the following games and to design their title logos.[16]
Amano became the world's highest-earning artist in 1996, earning $40,000,000 (equivalent to $78,000,000 in 2023) that year from sales of
silk screens,
lithographs and
etchings based on his
book illustrations. His work began receiving international recognition following the release of Final Fantasy VII in 1997.[17] In 2006,
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the former designer and creator of the Final Fantasy series, recruited Amano and composer
Nobuo Uematsu to work on video games at
Mistwalker.[3]
Amano's first
exhibition, called "Hiten", was held in 1989 at Yurakucho Mullion in
Tokyo, Japan.[19] In 1990, he began to work as an artist and set designer for stage theater. His first work for theater was
Tamasaburo Bando's Nayotake.[11]
Beginning in 1995 with his work at the Biennale d'Orléans in
France, he received increased recognition outside Japan. Further international exhibitions followed, including the 1999 "Hero" at the
Angel Orensanz Foundation and the 1997 workshop and exhibition "Think Like Amano".[20][21]
In 1998, Amano appeared as Hiroshi in the movie New Rose Hotel, loosely based on the
William Gibson short story of the same name.[22]
He 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).[25]
In 2004 Amano was asked by creative director
GK Reid to create illustrations in collaboration with author
Neil Gaiman and featuring
David Bowie and
Iman as sci-fi characters, for "The Return of the Thin White Duke" a portion of which were published in
V Magazine.[26]
In 2010, following a small solo art exhibition tour titled "
Devaloka" it was announced that Amano had established a film production company, Studio Devaloka, and would be directing a
3D anime titled Zan, with additional projects to be announced in the future.[5] On December 15, 2010, the official website for the film, now titled Deva Zan, was unveiled, along with information concerning an upcoming press conference, to be held on December 21, 2010.[30] The roughly ten-minute-long conference revealed details about the project, including staff, as well as a short trailer for the film, which stylistically emulates the look of Amano's paintings.[31]
In April 2012, an illustrated novel adaptation of the work was announced by
Dark Horse Manga. To be released in January 2013, the novel will be Amano's debut as an author and will include over 240 original illustrations.[32] Despite a projected 2012 release date, Amano stated in an October 2012 interview that the animation project was still in its development and funding stages and may instead be realized as a TV series. The possibility of a video game adaptation was also mentioned.[33]
In 2013, Amano collaborated with Japanese rock star
Hyde (L'Arc-en-Ciel/VAMPS) on an art exhibition titled Destiny and Decay: Nippon Evolution.[34]
On July 2, 2023, Amano appeared at
Anime Expo to reveal the cover art for the classical single "Requiem" by rock artist
Yoshiki.[35]