Worlds of Amano

[Ashley Schovitz]

Sop have you heard of Amano's new book release for March 10 with the title above? It's featuring all his work, plus never before released ones as well. As a fan of his work from FF I'm going to buy it, you?
http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=13-426

Awww look at the cute black panther.

[Sephex]

I may get it one day.

[Zeromus_X]

WANT.

[Shlup]

I have no desire to even look at it.

[edczxcvbnm]

Oh God! That cover reminds me of everything I hate about his art work. Screw this noise.

[Nominus Experse]

It will one day be in my possession, though I know not when.

[Roto13]

*looks for a torrent*

[Bunny]

WANT.

NEED.

[Rocket Edge]

WANT.

NEED.

REQUIRE.

[Madame Adequate]

Oh God! That cover reminds me of everything I hate about his art work. Screw this noise.

Quote that for truth, yo.

[Craig]

What's so special about this Amano guy anyway?

[DK]

Oh God! That cover reminds me of everything I hate about his art work. Screw this noise.

Quote that for truth, yo.

+1

[Slothy]

WANT.

NEED.

Now this should be quoted for truth.

[Ashley Schovitz]

What's so special about this Amano guy anyway?

Oh You're new to Final Fantasy are you? then.....

W:choc: E:moomba: L:mog: C:choc2: O:tonberry:M:monster: E:moogle:
T:twocents:
http://www.arcadia-animations.com/anims/eyes.gif ON FINAL FANTASY

[Ramza Beoulve]

WANT.

NEED.

REQUIRE.
NOW.

[Bunny]

WANT.

NEED.

REQUIRE.
NOW.

This is why we can't have nice things. I was making a WoW joke you meanies.

[Ashley Schovitz]

*looks for a torrent*

what do you mean by that?

[Roto13]

*looks for a torrent*

what do you mean by that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

[Shoeberto]

I'd like to see it. I really enjoy his style.

[Ashley Schovitz]

*looks for a torrent*

what do you mean by that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent
Oh I thought you meant this
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Torrent

But I still don't see how you were relating it to the thread.

[Roto13]

*looks for a torrent*

what do you mean by that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent
Oh I thought you meant this
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Torrent

But I still don't see how you were relating it to the thread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy

[Ishin Ookami]

I've always felt that Amano was the best artist square ever employed. His designs are all beautiful, ethereal, creative, unique, and evocative. His worst work is about ten different leagues above anything Nomura ever produced on his best day.

[Big D]

If it ever becomes available at a reasonable price in my country, then I'll probably grab it. Aside from his preoccupation with blondes, Amano's work has some great qualities, and his style and palette often hearken back to earlier eras.

[Giga Guess]

Meh...his style doesn't really work for me. I don't think I'll be buying that.

[Fatal Impurity]

I might buy it, but i'd rather buy a book full of Nomura's much superior artwork...;)

[Ishin Ookami]

I might buy it, but i'd rather buy a book full of Nomura's much superior artwork...;)

Man, I'm surprised a lightning bolt didnt strike out from the heavens the immolate you for even thinking such blasphemy.

Nomura, superior? I've flushed toilet tissues that had artwork superior to anything Nomura ever scribbled. More creative too.

[Fatal Impurity]

Oh c'mon Nomura doesnt draw like a four year old like Amano does! Plus even with Amano a supposed much better artist and conceptualist, i still dont see any difference in the quality of character designs between the two!

[Ishin Ookami]

Oh c'mon Nomura doesnt draw like a four year old like Amano does! Plus even with Amano a supposed much better artist and conceptualist, i still dont see any difference in the quality of character designs between the two!

The main difference is creativity and style. Lets talk female designs (in terms of artwork). Nomura creates all the same characters. His female characters all have similar figures and facial features, typically his favored ones just have less clothing. I find his main characters all bear the same characteristic, brooding emo style with bad hair and pimped out swords. Hell, Penny Arcade had a gag where they figured they skipped a FF just cuz FFIX didn't have a character with a pimped sword. Even his most favored male design, Auron, had a stylistic sword and fairly generic (in terms of japanese design) features.

Then there is the appropriateness of the designs to the characters. Lulu's profile reads that her demeanor is often cold hearted, but beautiful. With warm feelings for Yuna and powerful sorcery. This sounds a great deal like Celes, espescially when you consider the estranged relationship between celes/locke/Rachael and Wakka/Lulu/Wakka's brother. The reason I make the comparison is that Lulu really does bear in terms of character, a very striking resemblence to Celes, which isn't a surprise considering they were conceptualized by Sakaguchi. But look at the stark contrast of designs and you will soon see who is the more creative. Amano gave celes a distinctly shapely figure, yet rounded it out with cold features and a decidedly deadly air about her. Nomura on the other hand seemingly designed Lulu just for sex appeal. From her outfit to her battle animations, everything about her screams fan service, which runs in direct contrast to her profile and role in the game. Amano on the other hand delivered the fan service, but kept the design of the character appropriate.

One more mention of nomura's designs in FFX. If Yuna is raised in a religious order, whats up with her looking like she just stepped out of a cameo in Memoirs of a Geisha? And don't even get me started on how Nomura redesigned her for X-2. Just seeing the design where her features are made much more submissive looking, and her hair longer, jet black, just makes me wanna vomit. I swear I really don't wanna know what Nomura was doing with his other hand while he was making up that design.

Amano also doesn't have any problem designing characters to look remarkably different. Shadow may be the stereotypical ninja, but his outfit and design is remarkably unique and yet deadly looking. Edgar is defined as a player, and Amano designed him to look the part, but still gave him strong noble features that make him unique from other tough, noble types like Cyan or Sabin. These all look like characters in a story, Nomura bases his designs off long standing anime stereotypes. I swear sometimes I think Squall stole his fur of sesshomaru while he was sleeping, and I really hope Cloud plans to return Kaneda's Motorcycle (star of Akira, and we all know it's true.) after borrowing it in advent Children.

And while I'm on Advent Children, the design of multiple swords in one is not at all unique. It's been done many times before, yet often very simply. Cloud has roughly eight or so swords in that one blade, and more in his bike. No while that's cool if your Doctor octopus, explain to me how this is in anyway keeping with creating a believable character.

Just another example of how Nomura doesn't so much design, as he rips off and borrows ideas. Not that Amano doesnt, but while Nomura doesn't do anything to disguise his lack of originality, amano usually adds his own style and flair, as well as some original features to make the character his own. The eight swords in one gimmick was one of the first times I've ever seen him try to add an original concept, and I'm sorry but there is only so much falic imagery I can stand before I request the character designer to seek help immediately.

As for Amano drawing like a four year old, I rather like his imaginative and wild style. It has much more of a wild, fantasy like feel while still maintaining creative and interesting character designs. Im fairly certain the main art director for Zone of Enders and Metal Gear solid takes some inspiration from Amano, as they both have similar styles when it comes to their line art.

[Venom]

I have no desire to even look at it.

[Fatal Impurity]

Oh c'mon Nomura doesnt draw like a four year old like Amano does! Plus even with Amano a supposed much better artist and conceptualist, i still dont see any difference in the quality of character designs between the two!

The main difference is creativity and style. Lets talk female designs (in terms of artwork). Nomura creates all the same characters. His female characters all have similar figures and facial features, typically his favored ones just have less clothing. I find his main characters all bear the same characteristic, brooding emo style with bad hair and pimped out swords. Hell, Penny Arcade had a gag where they figured they skipped a FF just cuz FFIX didn't have a character with a pimped sword. Even his most favored male design, Auron, had a stylistic sword and fairly generic (in terms of japanese design) features.

Then there is the appropriateness of the designs to the characters. Lulu's profile reads that her demeanor is often cold hearted, but beautiful. With warm feelings for Yuna and powerful sorcery. This sounds a great deal like Celes, espescially when you consider the estranged relationship between celes/locke/Rachael and Wakka/Lulu/Wakka's brother. The reason I make the comparison is that Lulu really does bear in terms of character, a very striking resemblence to Celes, which isn't a surprise considering they were conceptualized by Sakaguchi. But look at the stark contrast of designs and you will soon see who is the more creative. Amano gave celes a distinctly shapely figure, yet rounded it out with cold features and a decidedly deadly air about her. Nomura on the other hand seemingly designed Lulu just for sex appeal. From her outfit to her battle animations, everything about her screams fan service, which runs in direct contrast to her profile and role in the game. Amano on the other hand delivered the fan service, but kept the design of the character appropriate.

One more mention of nomura's designs in FFX. If Yuna is raised in a religious order, whats up with her looking like she just stepped out of a cameo in Memoirs of a Geisha? And don't even get me started on how Nomura redesigned her for X-2. Just seeing the design where her features are made much more submissive looking, and her hair longer, jet black, just makes me wanna vomit. I swear I really don't wanna know what Nomura was doing with his other hand while he was making up that design.

Amano also doesn't have any problem designing characters to look remarkably different. Shadow may be the stereotypical ninja, but his outfit and design is remarkably unique and yet deadly looking. Edgar is defined as a player, and Amano designed him to look the part, but still gave him strong noble features that make him unique from other tough, noble types like Cyan or Sabin. These all look like characters in a story, Nomura bases his designs off long standing anime stereotypes. I swear sometimes I think Squall stole his fur of sesshomaru while he was sleeping, and I really hope Cloud plans to return Kaneda's Motorcycle (star of Akira, and we all know it's true.) after borrowing it in advent Children.

And while I'm on Advent Children, the design of multiple swords in one is not at all unique. It's been done many times before, yet often very simply. Cloud has roughly eight or so swords in that one blade, and more in his bike. No while that's cool if your Doctor octopus, explain to me how this is in anyway keeping with creating a believable character.

Just another example of how Nomura doesn't so much design, as he rips off and borrows ideas. Not that Amano doesnt, but while Nomura doesn't do anything to disguise his lack of originality, amano usually adds his own style and flair, as well as some original features to make the character his own. The eight swords in one gimmick was one of the first times I've ever seen him try to add an original concept, and I'm sorry but there is only so much falic imagery I can stand before I request the character designer to seek help immediately.

As for Amano drawing like a four year old, I rather like his imaginative and wild style. It has much more of a wild, fantasy like feel while still maintaining creative and interesting character designs. Im fairly certain the main art director for Zone of Enders and Metal Gear solid takes some inspiration from Amano, as they both have similar styles when it comes to their line art.


Whilst i respect you for having your opinion and going into great detail with enough attention being paid to your writing, i believe your just speaking through the eyes of the average Amano fanboy (or any fanboy for that matter). I say this because you dont seem to realise this but other than the ACTUAL artwork Amano and Nomura are practically identical, (even to the extent that most non FF fans that i know dont even realise that there is more than one character designer)
with both artists paying close attention to both anime sterotypes and what appeals to the gamer. You were saying that Lulu was a ripoff of Celes...who in turn is probably a ripoff of a hundred other anime females. All because Amano came before Nomura it doesnt mean he is completely original nor does it mean that he is any more original as Nomura has been... I think Nomura has done much more interesting things with the character design (such as the multi sword idea) than Amano ever did. I mean for example he created a leader of a faction at war who had a leg and arm missing (Nooj, FF10-2)... At which point your probably thinking so what? Well i find this design intruiging due to the fact that it shows the power of spirit over body, and intelligence/tactical thinking over strength/manpower. I never recall anything too simaler in any of Amano's designs. I'm not calling Amano's designs bad they are just not as developed in my opinion eventhough they share a fair few simalarities. It's mostly Amano's artwork that i have porblems over, i can apreciate whimsical but why does his "people" look like aliens or mutants? I prefer my characters/people to look proportionate, realistic and generally not going off into the realms of sillyness. As for your crack about Nomura's facial fgeatures i think the same can be said if notr more so for Amano. I mean the guy draws practically all his amles and females the same with the same bone structure (if you can call it that) and the same pallid skin colour. With Nomura on the otherhand he adds diversity by using different skin tones and races to create a international, worldly atmoshpere to the design...i have never seen such things with Amano's work. Anyway at the end of the day we all have our opinions and we probably wont be able to change each others views, so meh...enjoy what you like..its your life! ;)

[Yuriev's ghost]

Shadow may be the stereotypical ninja, but his outfit and design is remarkably unique and yet deadly looking.
Nomura designed Shadow (along with Setzer) iirc

As for the topic, I like his art but would probably only buy his art book if I saw it around, wasn't too expensive and had a decent amount of FF artwork in it. 2 and 3 seem to be pretty likely, but the 1st won't happen unless I look for it, so no dice.

[Renmiri]

I will buy it if/ when I have some extra money for "toys". I love Amano's creativity but Nomura draws more to my taste.

[Ishin Ookami]

Shadow may be the stereotypical ninja, but his outfit and design is remarkably unique and yet deadly looking.
Nomura designed Shadow (along with Setzer) iirc

As for the topic, I like his art but would probably only buy his art book if I saw it around, wasn't too expensive and had a decent amount of FF artwork in it. 2 and 3 seem to be pretty likely, but the 1st won't happen unless I look for it, so no dice.

Umm, last I checked both characters bore Amano's license. Nomura worked as a monster designer, but not as character designer prior to FFVII. Character designs were always left to Amano prior to that.

[Yuriev's ghost]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Nomura


...as well as his involvement in the creation of popular characters Shadow and Setzer Gabbiani for Final Fantasy VI, which were both redesigned by Amano for the game itself.

[Big D]

A lot of the conceptual designs were done by Amano, then developed by Nomura. Even in FFVII, there's Amano art for all the characters - including a blonde Tifa.

The re-released version of FFVI is quite interesting, because its FMV sequences use characters based quite directly off Amano's artwork.Celes and Terra are practically indistinguishable, except that Terra is even skinnier. Their costumes are definitely creative, but wouldn't work too well in battle. Same goes for Yuna's and Lulu's garments in X.

Anyway... the designer isn't wholly responsible for how the character looks and acts in the finished product. The cast of FFVIII and X all have totally immaculate hair, skin and clothing - even after they've just been through a hellish battle and days of living rough. Those kinds of details have more to do with presentation than by design - how the directors and animators choose to make the characters look. For every character there are probably dozens of other concepts that were rejected.

Personally, I love Amano's artwork for FFIX. The game would've been considerably better of the characters and architecture had remained more true to his designs, in my opinion. Steiner actually looked like he meant business, and the cities had a look of ancient grandeur. However, it'd be impossible to turn his designs directly into in-game imagery - Garnet and Zidane are devoid of skin colouring; Freya's features are practically unidentifiable, and Eiko doesn't actually look human. Still great designs with a lot of imagination, though.

I guess my main point was just that the appearance of a character in a finished game isn't totally the responsibility of the designer. There's a small army of folks working on any given project, and the artist probably doesn't have too much direct control over what their design finally becomes.

[Yuriev's ghost]

Personally, I love Amano's artwork for FFIX. The game would've been considerably better of the characters and architecture had remained more true to his designs, in my opinion.

One of the reasons I preferred FFIX to VII and VIII was because it didn't take itself too seriously and incorporated a fair amount of humor into the cutscenes. I doubt the game would have been anywhere near as hilarious had it not looked like someone turned DK mode on.

[Ishin Ookami]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Nomura


...as well as his involvement in the creation of popular characters Shadow and Setzer Gabbiani for Final Fantasy VI, which were both redesigned by Amano for the game itself.

Gotta love people that think wikipedia is the authority on everything. Check the licenses and credits. Amano has often displayed shadow and setzer on his own personal website, the credits of FFVI specifically state Amano as the character designer, with Nomura credited with doing monster designs. In past interviews Nomura has often stated that the first time he designed characters that were used in FF was FFVII.

Also note that if Nomura did design any of the characters, his name would have had to be included in the credits for designing them. And I will note again that wikipedia is a website where ANYONE can contribute info, so it's not always entirely accurate.

And yah, I know that Amano's work doesn't translate itself to FMV or game design very well. It would be cool if he teamed up with Nippon Ichi. Their approach of using static backgrounds and character portraits during cinema's would serve for a much better showcase of his talents. I was also disappointed of how his line art translated into 3D form in FFIX. I felt that while it would be impossible to represent his art accurately in 3D, they could have done a much better job than that.

[Old Manus]

*looks for a torrent*

what do you mean by that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent
Oh I thought you meant this
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Torrent

But I still don't see how you were relating it to the thread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win

[Yuriev's ghost]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Nomura


...as well as his involvement in the creation of popular characters Shadow and Setzer Gabbiani for Final Fantasy VI, which were both redesigned by Amano for the game itself.

Gotta love people that think wikipedia is the authority on everything.
Gotta love people who refute things on there on there just because they can, when they offer no other sources to support their own claims.

The information is sourced (in Jap, of course. Google Translation version (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.critiqueofgames.net/data/ros/kai-ff6.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcritiqueofgames%2BFFVI%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG)), and the same information comes up on the 'credit' part of the Shadow and Setzer pages. It's not really refutable.

[Zeromus_X]

Although Nomura may've conceived the characters of Shadow and Setzer, Amano was the person who actually drew the character designs. I'm not arguing that he had a part in thinking up the characters, but he never did any of the artwork of them, so I don't understand why people will occasionally bring that up.

On the converse side, Amano did not actually do character designs for FFVII, VIII, X, and other games where Nomura was the character designer. He drew concept artwork, as he did for most of the other main-numbered games where he wasn't the character designer.

[Ishin Ookami]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Nomura


...as well as his involvement in the creation of popular characters Shadow and Setzer Gabbiani for Final Fantasy VI, which were both redesigned by Amano for the game itself.

Gotta love people that think wikipedia is the authority on everything.
Gotta love people who refute things on there on there just because they can, when they offer no other sources to support their own claims.

The information is sourced (in Jap, of course. Google Translation version (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.critiqueofgames.net/data/ros/kai-ff6.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcritiqueofgames%2BFFVI%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG)), and the same information comes up on the 'credit' part of the Shadow and Setzer pages. It's not really refutable.

As a tutor I use wikipedia often, but I often cross referrence the info I get there with other sources just to make sure it's accurate. The problem with wikipedia is that anyone can contribute info there. I have often come across articles there that contain contradictory info, and must have a note there referencing both sources. So abosolutely any info on wikipedia is refutable.

I also note you ignore official credits, prior interviews, nomura's own testimony, as well as Amano being able to post his designs of characters that you claim were conceptualized and designed by someone else on his own offical website. Which is against the law in just about every major country.

As for the conceptualization of the characters, sakaguchi was the lead story director on that project, which means that technically, the characters are his creations. The character designer would then tender in art that fit with the characters profiles. I'm sure nomura, while working on some of the art chores, tendered in his own line art of the way he thought the characters would look, but it was Amano's sketches that were used. Thus the reason why the official credits do not link him to any of the designs.

[Ashley Schovitz]

Sorry for the wrong information his book is being released of March 28 not the 10. I'm never trusting Gameinformer again on release dates.

[black orb]

>>> Nice, if I had the money I would import it, if I buy it in a local store it would cost me like 140 us dollars (no joke), since its published in north america you guys get all those artbooks pretty cheap..

[Rengori]

I have a love-hate relationship with Amano, his artwork is freakin' amazing but he makes all the men look so gay. So I probably wouldn't buy it. *joins Roto looking for Torrent*

[Slothy]

Sorry for the wrong information his book is being released of March 28 not the 10. I'm never trusting Gameinformer again on release dates.

IGN actually shows it in their comic cover gallery for this week, which means it should be out tomorrow/thursday. A quick check of the ship list at Diamondcomics.com confirms it too. $27.99 american no less. Not a bad deal considering what I've paid for things like my Absolute Kingdom Come hardcover.