Amano vs Nomura vs Yoshida

[sir helix]

theres nothing wrong with an over amount of belts.....exept when you have to go to the bath room

[Bolivar]

I can't really even consider Amano in this because his designs have never been faithfully interpreted in a game, to the extent that the most basic aspects of their appearance have been changed. Even when it came time to remake his characters in more detail (Final Fantasy III and IV DS) they opted to get different artists (Yoshida and (can't remember?), respectively). However, with the one screenshot of the character in front of the painting, it looks like he may finally get some representation in Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

Belt and buckel fetishes aside, Nomura has always struck me for his original concepts, making characters one has never quite seen before. Although VIII definately tried to maintain a real world (school days) aesthetic, I would say all his games have an original flare I'd commend him for.

Yoshida also is a heavy contender, especially for his work on Final Fantasy XII. If you take a good look at the characters in the field, even their faces with the way their eyes look, it's really impressive how his style translates into the game. FFXII I give credit for being apart of the amazing "last generation" lineup of PS2 games that really went all out for te console. Of course his art and the rendering of such in vagrant story, FFTactics especially is enough to make him legendary. Definately one of the greats in the industry today and I'd like to see him contracted out for more SE projects in the near future, hopefully a Fabula Nova Crystalis installment in the XIII series with Hiroshi Minagawa and Sakimoto preferrably.

[jammi567]

Whilst Amano has a fettish of trying to dramatically reduce the human population by roughly half by making all his male characters gay, Nomura only has a thing for zippers, spiky hair and belts. Can you see why I prefer the latter to the former?

[Slothy]

Whilst Amano has a fettish of trying to dramatically reduce the human population by roughly half by making all his male characters gay, Nomura only has a thing for zippers, spiky hair and belts. Can you see why I prefer the latter to the former?

Ironically, Nomura has designed some of the more effeminite characters in the series. Coincidence?

[Wolf Kanno]

Its difficult for me to make decisions in this. I'm very bias towards Amano cause I respect him as an artist and I adore all his works. In my opinion he's easily the best artist out of the three but Yoshida is not very far behind either. I would love to see more non-FF related work from Yoshida.

Amano's works have never been properly transferred to games with a few minor exceptions. I always felt the FMVs of Anthology were breathtaking to behold and through them I feel its easier to understand where Amano's influence can be felt. Amano's designs and illustrations are inspiring and dreamlike. They capture the imagination of the viewer and show fantastic places we see only in our dreams. Even his characters are set with mood and life. He doesn't draw pictures, he captures moments.

This is where I have issues with Nomura. Nomura is a true character designer. His designs feel lifeless in comparison to the other two cause he tends to draw flat images with the characters basically staring in the distance. They lack emotion. His style is also rather unimaginative and borrows heavily from the anime industry of the 80's and early 90's as well as whatever is fashionable in Shibuya. They are not bad though just simplistic and plain in comparison to the other two. I prefer Nomura's heavy anime style and I must say its good to see it come back. His lifelike drawings are boring unless he makes them fashion disasters. I also wish he could make better outfits, they seem to range from boring and plain (VII, VIII, AC, FFvXIII) to just plain gaudy (VIII, X, X-2, KH, FFXIII) Personally, I wish he would return to monster designs as that is where his real creativity seemed to flourish imo.

Yoshida has been a fave since FFT but now with games like Vagrant Story and XII under his belt and showing his diversity, I must say I feel Yoshida has proven worthy of taking over the mantle of lead character designer.

I will also say that Amano will always be remembered as the character designer for the FF series. Dissidia is more than proof since Nomura took such painstaking lengths to capture Amano's style and designs for the characters. In fact, Nomura's redesigns of Amano's pictures are probably my favorite works he's done.

[Rocket Edge]

I like Nomuras stuff, regardless of some criticism that has come his way. However, nothing touches Amano's artwork.

[Jiro]

I have to say Amano, but the other two are not far behind.