Yoshitaka Amano drawings are UGLY

Visual Novel Community Off Topic
#1

I can’t draw. I freely admit that. But there seems to be a sort of “universal” sense of what’s good and what’s bad. People can generally agree on what’s drawn great and what’s drawn horrific.

But what the hell is it about Yoshitaka Amano that makes people wet themselves? The guy’s stuff is HORRIBLE to me:

[url=http://www.amanosworld.com/html/work.html]http://www.amanosworld.com/html/work.html[/url]

His color selection drives me insane, the people look like andro-freaks, and the outfits make me wanna puke. Exquisite style? That’s like saying rotten milk has an exquisite taste. :stuck_out_tongue:

I know it wasn’t called Time Bokan in the English dub though… “Time” was in the title though… can’t remember it all that well…

[ 06-25-2007, 01:51 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#2

Beauty depends on the eyes of the beholder. Some people like Picasso, other hate it; some people hate Dali, I love him; some erogee fans love Mutoh Keiji’s (from ZyX) character designs, I find it ugly.

#3

But what in God’s sweet holy name is there to like about Amano’s work?

I’m no Picasso fan, but understand the art form he revolutionized.

Amano only revolutionizes my headaches. :slight_smile:

EDIT 2
Now that I’ve had time to cool off a bit…
The thing about Dali and Picasso, is that their artwork is supposed to make you “think” and “imagine” - comparing Kosuke Fujishima and Leonardo da Vinci doesn’t make much sense, because their whole intentions for drawing are different. :stuck_out_tongue:

Amano was a character designer, and for what I see as 90% of his work, the end results looked like nothing he originally designed. The animators and/or sprite artists did the real designing… he just picked the colors. :roll:

[ 06-25-2007, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#4

Because he’s not a character designer: he’s an artist who got hired to draw characters based on whom the animators make the actual character designs.
Most of his work are not anime or game-related.
Just consider his bibliography, for instance and read the comments. And, yes, in case you didn’t guess, I’m an Amano fan. :stuck_out_tongue:

[ 06-25-2007, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol ]

#5

Actually he IS a character designer, according to the unofficial (since there isn’t an official) biographies. He started his career as an anime artist for Tatsunoko, did Speed Racer work, and drew character designs on several other projects. This was in the 1960’s. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that he got into that weird art style of his, after being inspired by American and European art. He used the money he made from the 1960’s work to by books and fly to the West. In the 80’s he started going with his personal style full time, and as it crawled to the 90’s he got more and more to what we see today. Final Fantasy was his first video game gig.

Still character designing I might add.

I’m not an Amano fan, but I do research about things… even those that I don’t like. :wink:

EDIT
If I may ask though… help me understand: what is it that you like about Amano’s work? What do you find appealing about it?

[ 06-25-2007, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#6

But he’s now foremost an artist than a character designer, which is what I meant.

The play on colours, the Art Nouveau-like designs, the evanescent forms.
How can I say that? The dream-like sceneries and characters, as if coming out of the dream of some insane god, the surrealism of the whole picture. In a way, it’s for the same reasons I like Surrealism, with a “past” touch, a bit as if it was painted by medieval artists – or rather, as if medieval artists had created Surrealism and painting using its principles and their visions of the world back then.

[ 06-25-2007, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol ]

#7

i personally like the monster designs more than the chara designs…at least for final fantasy

#8

Don’t diss or misunderstand the eccentric mind. Dali’s mind is pretty much a mind similAr to Vincent Van Gogh’s, Einstein’s, and, iF I needed anime equivalents, Osaka and Haruhi Suzumiya. The eccentric genius is an unusual individual; he/she has all sorts of preferences, some absurd, some biarre, but that rationale is that it’s this uniqueness that gives them an edge over what they are good at.

Anyway, back to Amano’s art… I’ll say this. I have not seen a lot of his art aside from the FF ones he designed, but it has a slight ethereal quality to it, so those who go for mainstream designs won’t really ‘like’ it. Surrealism takes a little bit of acquired taste, more so then Dada (which is loathed far more for the fact that it’s supposedly anti-intellectual).

#9

I like the ethereal quality that his work evokes. Everything is flowing, his colors are good. His pictures aren’t really meant to be directly absorbed in the traditional manga style… they are supposed to jumpstart your own imagination when looking at them. At least that’s how I feel. I can’t imagine the Vampire Hunter D world without his illustrations. I quite liked the work he did on The Dream Hunters as well.

[ 06-25-2007, 11:40 PM: Message edited by: Faust ]

#10

Hahahahahaha, looks like you’re a minority, Nargrakhan! (^^)¬Åi^^¬Åj¬Åi¬ÅO_¬ÅO¬Åj¬Åi¬ÅO¬ÅQ¬ÅO¬Åj¬Åi ¬ÅO ¬ÅQ ¬ÅO ¬Åj

#11

Seems so… although I was never one for conformity anyways. :wink:

#12

What, that, since you’re in the minority, you’re not under the delusions that the majority often tend to suffer from ? (after all, popularity isa beautiful thing; it makes over-rated items really huge)

#13

I’m here to back up Nargrahkhan. I don’t see why people go crazy and praise Amano’s art - more specifically his Final Fantasy series and what I’ve seen of the cover of Vampire Hunter D Novels 6 and 7. I’m not an art critic either - nor can I draw even a bit; also, my handwriting is horrible. Maybe that’s why I can’t appreciate his stuff. I don’t know. But I think people only like him because they like Final Fantasy. That game probably changes your perception of things. And surprise surprise, I don’t play Final Fantasy outside of Crystal Chronicles…which he has no illustrations for. My other friend, who is an art major, but doesn’t play final fantasy, thinks Amano’s art is just scribbles…

[ 06-27-2007, 02:01 AM: Message edited by: Mockingbird ]

#14

I’m not a fan of the Final Fantasy series… Not at all.
And, when Faust quoted some of his works he particularly enjoys, there’s no mention of Final Fantasy either.

[ 06-27-2007, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol ]

#15

But you must admit that Final Fantasy had a TREMENDOUS impact on his fame. It’s also what the vast majority of people are exposed too that’s his work. Like how Leonardo is renown for the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper - yet if you mention The Adoration of the Magi, people will give you a blank stare.

Same goes for Amano. Final Fantasy gets a sign of acknowledgment, but if you mention Time Bokan (which was a hit in Japan to such a point, it was aired in the US before the anime craze of today), only the most “hardcore” fans of his would know.

And to claim that Final Fantasy was hit because of Amano’s character designs is a stretch because - as I mentioned before - if you compare what the sprites looked like in the original FF1 (indeed most of them until FF4), its a far cry from the actual drawings he produced. Starting with the SNES era, then I can see the strong similarities… but Final Fantasy was hit by then: and the lack of a DQ showing on the SNES at an early stage, lead the series to taking a lead in the RPG market.

Final Fantasy gave Amano his mainstream popularity: even he admits as such. Granted he did work on Vampire Hunter D (which may or may not have influenced the Castlevania series; no one really knows) - but then he didn’t like it 100% (see his comments in Maten).

Given the age of Final Fantasy, its popularity, and the influence it has had in RPG titles - one can easily argue that there has been time for people to grow to Amano’s style - even when it was not appropriate for the market. There are technical and presentation reasons why Amano wasn’t chosen to continue the Final Fantasy line after the 16-bit era… although they tend to soften it that Square felt he was too exquisite for 3D hardware. Please. It was because his style didn’t TRANSLATE into the format: it’s not a limitation of the system as they try to imply. :wink:

For example, I dislike the Mona Lisa because she has no eyebrows. Great painting - I mean it is Leonoardo who produced it - but when discussing the subject of the person in the art… well her smile isn’t what I’m focused on.

And many people don’t even notice that the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows, because their always told to focus on the smile. I tell people to focus that she has no eyebrows, and it’s kinda freaky. Now if the Mona Lisa was a pair of twins… :wink:

I feel the same with Amano. People are told to focus on one thing about his work, but are not led to focus on another. That and I think Amano is no Leonardo or Picasso. My own opinion - nothing more - but important to me nonetheless. :stuck_out_tongue:

[ 06-27-2007, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#16

Just to straighthen this out…

Amano’s art does not fall under Surrealism right?

#17

I asked my art major neighbor what Amano’s style was, and he told me it was Modern Surrealism with some Realism techniques thrown here and there. I asked him again to make sure he wasn’t BS’ing me, and he was certain that’s how it should be classified. Looking around on the Internets, that seems to be general thought as well.

However in most cases, Amano’s style is considered unique - especially for a Japanese (since the Western influences are so major in his works) - hence the reasons why he wins so many awards by professional art critics. He’s not “groundbreaking” as it were, but rather “highly creative.”

How all that works confuses the hell out of me too. :stuck_out_tongue:

[ 06-27-2007, 10:29 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#18

I’m not the biggest fan either; but it’s very very distinctive.

In truth, you answered your own question. The key word you used is “generally”. You just kind of glossed over all the subtleties involved in that. But those are exactly what’s important here. Not everyone looks at things exactly the same way!

For stuff that’s far off the beaten path (and he is) … Some people just won’t “get it”, others won’t care. Some will love it, others will hate it.

Personally, I dislike pretty much all jazz. It just doesn’t register as music to me; it registers as barely coherent fooling around. It doesn’t do anything for me. But I’d never dare to presume that that my position means anything other than “I don’t get it”.

Of course, it’s entirely possible Amano really doesn’t have any talent, that it’s all right place-right time and marketing and the like. But somehow I doubt it. Anytime anyone invents a style that’s never been done before, it’s noteworthy for that alone.

#19

It isn’t so much that I’ve lost my mind … it refuses to come back.

#20

Oh? Really? Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of the FF designs either, for VI anyway I feel they add a layer of ethereality / otherworldliness that cuts out a lot of the human feeling from the characters.

But you fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia – but only slightly less well known is confusing cause and effect!

That is – Did Amano become popular riding the coattails of Final Fantasy? Or did he get asked to do FF because he already had a reputation? He’d been working for several years as an artist before he got asked to do FF. His work on Angel’s Egg, for example, was 2 years prior.