Yoshitaka Amano

 

NHK World video
Legendary Creator Yoshitaka Amano

Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese artist, character designer, illustrator and film scenic designer He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working at Tatsunoko Productions on anime adaptation of Speed Racer. As a graphic artist he is the creator of iconic and influential characters such as Gatchaman, Tekkaman: The Space Knight, Hutch the Honeybee and Casshan. In 1982 he became a freelance illustrator, finding success as an illustrator for numerous authors, and worked on best-selling novel series, such as The Guin Saga and Vampire Hunter D.

He is also known for his commissioned illustrations for the popular video-game franchise Final Fantasy.


Since the 1990s Amano has been creating and exhibiting paintings featuring his iconic retro pop icons in galleries around the world, primarily painting on aluminum box panels with acrylic and automotive paint. He is a 5-time winner of the Seiun Award, and also won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for his collaboration with Neil Gaiman, Sandman: The Dream Hunters.

A a young child, he reveled in making unbroken loops of drawing on the huge paper rolls that his brother brought home from his job at a paper factory

“ I can't remember a time when I wasn't making drawings.”

“When you're a teenager, you don't divide art into different types.”

So it was that at the age of 15 Amado began a life of work a day fantasy, immersing himself from 9 to 5 in the characters he pulled from his imagination and rendered them for the television and movie screen.

“My faces are not Asian or European or anything else, They're just faces”

Amano notes that his propensity for fantasy and for Greek, Roman and Celtic mythology may in fact have roots in Japanese art, with its unfolding, aerial perspective-views of mythic narrative, people of fiendish demons, fierce warriors or gyrating dragons.

“I have absorbed this from my culture.” Amano says. “The difference between me and most of other people is that I can put the images back out again.”

Amano used his years at the animation studio to complete the education that was interrupted by his premature entry into the workforce. He studied life drawing at a local art school, mined the company library for art books for information and ideas and socialized with a group of creative “misfits, hippies” who had colonized a former American military base in Tokyo.

In the early 1990's Amano paid a master print maker to teach him new print making techniques. He also experimented with ancient recipes for pigment, mixed with rabbit's skin glue, this was due to the fact that he found commercial oil paint too transparent.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Amano in October 13th of 2006. During my brief conversation with him, I asked him about some of his influences, he mentioned in particular the work of Spanish artist Joan Miro. 



Event photos courtesy of Ann Marie Rapach 

Source:
"Think Like Amano"








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