Amano's World

Yoshitaka Amano's newest book "Worlds of Amano" is now available at Star Clipper. Amano is best known for his concept and character design for the hugely popular video game series Final Fantasy and his illustrations for Vampire Hunter D. More recently, he illustrated Neil Gaiman's "Sandman: Dream Hunters", earning him a nomination for a Hugo Award in 2000, and "Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer" for Marvel. "Worlds of Amano" encapsulates dozens of his paintings and sketches that inspired his various projects.

Like most people familiar with Amano's work, I remember him best from his character designs for the Final Fantasy series. In fact, Final Fantasy is the only video game that I can think of that is worth buying for the cover art alone, which should say a lot for Amano's quality. I have to admit that I still have the game boxes stored away just because of his art, but I'm a huge pack rat so thats forgivable, right?

Anyway, If you're looking to get a full overview of his work "Worlds of Amano" is a perfect place to start. So find a Chocobo and walk the world map down to Star Clipper to discover the amazing work of Yoshitaka Amano!

-Jon