Favourite Final Fantasy Character Designer/Artist?

[Croyles]

Not which designer you like personally (:rolleyes2 ) but which one made your favourite designs in the Final Fantasy series.

[Zeromus_X]

Yoshitaka Amano.

[Vincent Valentine]

Yoshitaka Amano.
And that other guy.

The guy who... isn't Tetsuya Nomura.

[Zeromus_X]

Akihiko Yoshida. :)

[Croyles]

Ive just included the poll. It took me a while cause I sort of forgot about it :p

And DAMN THOSE SWEAR FILTERS!
EDIT: Thanks to whoever fixed it.

[Northcrest]

This was very hard to choose from. I chose Tetsuya Nomura because I have seen the graphics of FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, and Fabula Nova Crystallis. I've also seen the creation of Akihiko Yoshida for FFXII, FFIII, and FFT. But overall I've seen Fabula Nova Crystallis which are better than FFXII. So I chose Tetsuya Nomura.

[Takara]

Amano has an unique style, and I like the way it's different from the typical anime-like character designs for a lot of games. Granted the characters tend to be blonde, anorexic, paler than a ghost, and wear black lipstick (especially if they're male), but that is what makes his designs stand out.

I'm also fond of Akihiko Yoshida's designs. *drools* Basch...

<-- *is such a fangirl*

[Elpizo]

I've got to say Yoshida. If he's really the guy who designed the characters of FF III DS, then he's the guy who designed Refia, so he gets my vote. Besides, I liked his work on FF XII (and FFTA?) as well. Of course, Amano is great too.

[Galvatron]

I'm going to have to go with Amano on this one. His character designs seem strange at first, but I grew on them. He is also good at drawing epic landscapes that fit the fantasy mood of the games he designs for.

My second favorite is Yoshida, I don't know why...but for some reason I think the designs just work well.

I despise Nomura, every character has so many belts and zippers that aren't necessary. The uninspired goth-ish look of his characters got old fast. He ruined Setzer in KHII, even though he originally made him. Added one wing on Sephiroth and Cloud and all those belts to create a false sense of complexity. His designs are pretty juvenile and simplistic when it comes down to it.

I've seen Amano's take on the FF7 cast, they look more interesting and eye catching than Nomura's style.

[Slothy]

I've seen Amano's take on the FF7 cast, they look more interesting and eye catching than Nomura's style.

Agreed on that point.

Amano is my favourite as I think he's one of the most talented and original artists I've seen period. I love every character he's designed more than the ones he hasn't. Yoshida would be second. Funny enough, I have concept art by both characters framed and hanging on my wall.

[Vincent Valentine]

He ruined Setzer in KHII, even though he originally made him.
I'm personally convinced that that wasn't originally intended to be Setzer. Now, I can understand redesigning a character, but what does the character in KHII have to do with the original Setzer at all? His appearances doesn't even *hint* at the FFVI design, and there isn't a single nod to his identity and personality ala FFVI, like there is with... well... every other Final Fantasy character in the game.

It's like Nomura desired to design a "good" Axel, couldn't find a way to fit him into the plot, and so decided to stick the name Setzer on him in a poor attempt to appeal to the older fans, who ironically just ended up being hating him even more for the moe.

[ReloadPsi]

I voted Nomura, but what I really meant was "Not Amano" for reasons I repeatedly repeat around here :P I intensely dislike his identical, genderless faces and wispy "wtf is this actually meant to be?" clothing. Any FF documentary could show a picture of Princess Garnet's concept art and say it was supposed to be Edgar from FF6 and I think people would believe them too. (Yeah, I know, she looks like Celes, leave me alone)

[atlanteay]

Amano's art is too repetitive. Almost every single face has that sharp nose and wispy clothing like ReloadPsi said.

Yoshida designed FFIII DS :eek: i loved their designs...but that's just one game so i have to go with Nomura. His style is inspiring and unique. Sometimes it looks tacky but hey, he designed Rinoa. That's all that matters :)

[Takara]

I despise Nomura, every character has so many belts and zippers that aren't necessary.

I have two words for you: Belto Maxson.

[LunarWeaver]

Yoshida claims a few personal favorites like Ashe and Sydney (who isn't from FF but whatever), but Nomura has my final vote when considering all of them.

I don't dislike Amano but I don't get excited over him either. People claim Amano is original and Nomura copies himself too much, but I've always seen it the other way around with the majority of their peeps.

[Laddy]

Nomura, because his designs vary from every game, as apposed to everyone else.

[Rocket Edge]

Akihiko Yoshida's work is pretty good, but Amano always comes out on top. The guy is a genious.

[Shiny]

Tetsuya Nomura. Yoshitaka Amano is good too, but he sometimes over does it with his characters by making them look too extravagant for lack of a better word. Shukou Murase is the worst out of the group in my opinion, because he has the tendency to make the characters big-headed.

[Bolivar]

It's hard to vote for Amano considering that none of his illustrations have been faithfully employed into any game in the series. I remember in an interview he said he got so frustrated with with his designs basically being for nothing that he began drawing them as sprites. Square didn't get the joke apparently.

I gotta go with Nomura then. I definately like Yoshida's vision alot but Nomura's been pushing the boundaries of Fantasy since V.

[Rengori]

Amano, with Yoshida following very close. Nomura fails for FFX.

[Nifleheim7]

Not which designer you like personally (:rolleyes2 ) but which one made your favourite designs in the Final Fantasy series.

Well,if you put it like that i'm forced to say Tetsuya Nomura...

BUT

Amano was one of my favourite artists long before i knew who was him.I think that a part of who i am today i owe it to him...
He is one of my favourite contemporary artists period!

[Slothy]

I remember in an interview he said he got so frustrated with with his designs basically being for nothing that he began drawing them as sprites. Square didn't get the joke apparently.

That's funny since that would seem to contradict this interview (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3152237) completely. He mentions that since he knew his art would be transferred to small characters made of pixels he started by doing a few designs in that style. They asked him to design normally instead so they could then shrink it down into pixel format. He didn't seem to mind that at all either.

[Bolivar]

I remember in an interview he said he got so frustrated with with his designs basically being for nothing that he began drawing them as sprites. Square didn't get the joke apparently.

That's funny since that would seem to contradict this interview (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3152237) completely. He mentions that since he knew his art would be transferred to small characters made of pixels he started by doing a few designs in that style. They asked him to design normally instead so they could then shrink it down into pixel format. He didn't seem to mind that at all either.

thats funny i don't see the part where he agrees or disagrees with what i read in another interview.

[Croyles]

I remember in an interview he said he got so frustrated with with his designs basically being for nothing that he began drawing them as sprites. Square didn't get the joke apparently.

That's funny since that would seem to contradict this interview (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3152237) completely. He mentions that since he knew his art would be transferred to small characters made of pixels he started by doing a few designs in that style. They asked him to design normally instead so they could then shrink it down into pixel format. He didn't seem to mind that at all either.

thats funny i don't see the part where he agrees or disagrees with what i read in another interview.

Dude I dont know where you read such an interview but I have watched the 1up interview ages ago and just now again (theres a written version and the actual video interview), and it honestly just sounds like he found it funny. Nothing of what he said even remotely hinted to him being frustrated by his characters being turned into sprites. Why would he? He signed up for the job and that was the best of graphics back then.


1UP: Since the early video games featured such primitive graphics, how did you feel about seeing your elaborate illustrations transformed into such tiny sprites?

YA: There's actually an interesting story behind that. Because the art was so small and pixelated, I created a design like that. But they came back to me and said "please design it normally so we can shrink it down ourselves into a game character." They wanted a real design from me, not for me making something looking like a game character. [Laughs]

He really sounds bitter and frustrated here. :D Check out the video interview too.
A Day in the Life of Final Fantasy's Yoshitaka Amano from 1UP.com (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3152237)
Its about four fifths into that part of the interview.

As for the topic, I was tempted to vote for Yoshida because I love his work too. I also like some Nomura stuff, but it does get repetitive. Although, Amano's work can get repetitive too, but in a different sort of way. I ended voting for Amano, but I think if I was in a different mood I could have probably voted for Nomura or Yoshida instead.

[silentenigma]

With Amano, i seem to have the least amount of trouble differentiating the men from the women. check.

[sockmonkey]

I think it would be great to have Peter Chung (the guy who did the Aeon flux cartoon) do the designs for the next game.

[Bolivar]

I remember in an interview he said he got so frustrated with with his designs basically being for nothing that he began drawing them as sprites. Square didn't get the joke apparently.

That's funny since that would seem to contradict this interview (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3152237) completely. He mentions that since he knew his art would be transferred to small characters made of pixels he started by doing a few designs in that style. They asked him to design normally instead so they could then shrink it down into pixel format. He didn't seem to mind that at all either.

thats funny i don't see the part where he agrees or disagrees with what i read in another interview.

Dude I dont know where you read such an interview but I have watched the 1up interview ages ago and just now again (theres a written version and the actual video interview), and it honestly just sounds like he found it funny. Nothing of what he said even remotely hinted to him being frustrated by his characters being turned into sprites. Why would he? He signed up for the job and that was the best of graphics back then.


1UP: Since the early video games featured such primitive graphics, how did you feel about seeing your elaborate illustrations transformed into such tiny sprites?

YA: There's actually an interesting story behind that. Because the art was so small and pixelated, I created a design like that. But they came back to me and said "please design it normally so we can shrink it down ourselves into a game character." They wanted a real design from me, not for me making something looking like a game character. [Laughs]

He really sounds bitter and frustrated here. :D Check out the video interview too.
A Day in the Life of Final Fantasy's Yoshitaka Amano from 1UP.com (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3152237)
Its about four fifths into that part of the interview.

As for the topic, I was tempted to vote for Yoshida because I love his work too. I also like some Nomura stuff, but it does get repetitive. Although, Amano's work can get repetitive too, but in a different sort of way. I ended voting for Amano, but I think if I was in a different mood I could have probably voted for Nomura or Yoshida instead.

When did I mention the 1Up interview in any of my posts?

[Slothy]

When did I mention the 1Up interview in any of my posts?

When I linked to it and you replied that you didn't see where he agreed or disagreed with what you saw in another interview. In the 1up interview he mentions nothing about hating that his designs were condensed into small sprites. In fact, he seems to like it, which would seem to contradict what you say you read in another interview.