Yoshitaka Amano was born in Shizuoka City, Japan on July 28, 1952. His name as an artist first became popular for his dark illustrations behind the Vampire Hunter D novel series, and the gaming community today knows him for his hefty contributions
to the Final Fantasy RPG craze. Amano's career in artwork started at the age of 16, in the animation department at Tatsunoko Productions in 1967 where he became involved in the early Japanese anime movement. The Speed Racer anime was the first project handed
to him, with more positions in anime character design to follow. At the same time, Amano was also studying art styles found in Western comic books and American pop art.
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In his twenties, Amano became interested in studying early 20th century European arts and Japanese ancient hand woodblock printing. He left Tatsunoko Productions in 1982 and in the following year was hired to illustrate the Vampire Hunter D novel
series, and further served as character designer for the movie adaptation in 1985. In 1987, Amano ventured into video game conceptual design, joining the struggling Squaresoft company to illustrate for what was believed to be their last video game, Final Fantasy.
His fantasy themed illustrations grew in popularity with the game's unpresedented fame, and the Final Fantasy series continued with Amano as returning artist.
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After Final Fantasy VI, Amano's art involvement with the Final Fantasy series took a back seat to the new and much younger contemporary artist Tetsuya Nomura, who handled character design for the following installments. Amano continued to provide
promotional artwork and his own impressions of the characters, and returned once more as character designer for Final Fantasy IX. Meanwhile, his name was spreading worldwide with an art exhibition at Orlean Art Museum in France, followed by a 'Think Like Amano' exhibition
in New York, and another 'Think Like Amano' exhibition at the Uenonomori Museum of Art in Tokyo.
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In 2000, Amano illustrated for The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, which was nominated for a Hugo Award and won several other awards. Shortly after, he also provided character design for the Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust movie, and worked with
Marvel Comics on Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer. In 2006, Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi asked Amano to illustrate for video games at his new company Mistwalker. Amano has also recently commented that he is working on artwork for Final Fantasy XIII.
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Artist's Video Game Work
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1987 Final Fantasy (NES)
1988 Final Fantasy II (NES)
1988 First Queen (PC)
1989 Duel (PC)
1989 Duel98 (PC)
1990 Final Fantasy III (NES)
1990 First Queen 2 (PC)
1991 Final Fantasy IV (SNES)
1992 Final Fantasy V (SNES)
1992 Kawanakajima Izu. (PC)
1993 First Queen 3 (PC)
1994 Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
1995 Front Mission (SNES)
1996 Front Mission: GH (SNES)
1997 Final Fantasy VII (PS)
1998 Kartia: World of Fate (PS)
1999 Final Fantasy VIII (PS)
2000 Final Fantasy IX (PS)
2000 l Dorado Gate V.1-7 (DC)
2001 Final Fantasy X (PS2)
2002 Final Fantasy XI (PS2)
2006 Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
???? Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
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