30 Facts About Yoshitaka Amano

1.

Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, a scenic designer for theatre and film, and a costume designer.

2.

Yoshitaka Amano first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of Speed Racer.

3.

Since the 1990s Yoshitaka 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.

4.

Yoshitaka Amano is a 5-time winner of the Seiun Award, and won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for his collaboration with Neil Gaiman, Sandman: The Dream Hunters.

5.

Yoshitaka Amano's influences include early Western comic books, Orientalism, art nouveau, and Japanese woodblock prints.

6.

Yoshitaka Amano's father was a lacquer artist, specializing in traditional Suruga lacquerware.

7.

Yoshitaka Amano's first paid project was for the Speed Racer anime franchise.

8.

Yoshitaka Amano was a character designer for anime shows such as Time Bokan, Gatchaman, Tekkaman, and Honeybee Hutch.

9.

Yoshitaka Amano 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.

Yoshitaka Amano was fascinated by the art styles of psychedelic art and pop art of the West, particularly the work of American Pop artist Peter Max.

11.

Yoshitaka Amano left Tatsunoko Production and started his activities as a freelancer in 1982.

12.

Yoshitaka Amano did illustration and cover page design of Kimaira series, written by Baku Yumemakura, from this year.

13.

Yoshitaka Amano 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.

14.

In interviews Yoshitaka Amano has stated that he was not pleased with the final product of the movie.

15.

Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations begin to be published in collections such as Maten in 1984.

16.

In 1987, Yoshitaka Amano joined Square to work on a role-playing video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System: Final Fantasy.

17.

Yoshitaka Amano produced conceptual design pieces for the game in both traditional and computer designed artwork.

18.

Yoshitaka Amano continued to provide promotional and character artwork for the following games and to design their title logos.

19.

Yoshitaka Amano's work began receiving international recognition following the release of Final Fantasy VII in 1997.

20.

In 1998, Yoshitaka Amano appeared as Hiroshi in the 1998 movie New Rose Hotel, loosely based on the William Gibson short story of the same name.

21.

In 2000, Yoshitaka Amano illustrated Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, which won several awards and was nominated for a Hugo Award.

22.

In 2001, Greg Rucka and Yoshitaka Amano collaborated on another comic book tale, Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer.

23.

Yoshitaka Amano was key visual and costume designer for movies written by Baku Yumemakura, including Onmyoji, Onmyoji 2, and Taitei no Ken.

24.

Yoshitaka Amano illustrated three album covers for the Japanese power metal band Galneryus: The Flag of Punishment, Advance to the Fall, and Beyond the End of Despair.

25.

In 2004 Yoshitaka 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 2008, Yoshitaka Amano created an illustrated adaptation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute, published by Radical Comics.

27.

Yoshitaka Amano collaborated with Christopher "mink" Morrison of Quentin Tarantino's A Band Apart production company, providing illustrations for the novel Shinjuku and Shinjuku Azul, as well as a third unannounced follow up and an online game, Shinjuku Nexus.

28.

Yoshitaka Amano was the character designer for the 2009 Jungle Emperor TV special, directed by Goro Taniguchi, to commemorate both the 50th anniversary of Fuji Television and the 80th anniversary of Osamu Tezuka's birth.

29.

In 2010, following a small solo art exhibition tour titled "Devaloka" it was announced that Yoshitaka 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.

30.

In 2013, Yoshitaka Amano collaborated with Japanese rock star Hyde on an art exhibition titled Destiny and Decay: Nippon Evolution.