The style of the Japanese artist is reminiscent of Art Nouveau.

Yoshitaka Amano (天野嘉孝) was born in a small town near Mount Fuji. As a child, he drew on rolls of paper that his brother brought from the factory especially for him.

At the age of fifteen, he came to visit a friend in Tokyo and showed his works at the Tatsunoko Productions studio. The young boy’s undoubted talent was appreciated, and Amano received a job offer. Soon, however, the family had to let the future artist go to Tokyo with great reluctance. After a year of training, Amano was allowed to work full-time.

Amano’s most notable works are the illustrations for the novel Shinjuku: Hell City (1983) and the character designs for the film adaptation of the Vampire Huner D series of novels (1985). Beginning in 1984, his illustrations began to be included in collections such as Maten. In 1987, Amano’s history as the main artist and character designer for the Final Fantasy series began.

In the 2000s, Amano switched to illustration. Among his works from this period are: illustrations for Neil Gaiman’s novel The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (2000), which received several awards and was nominated for a Hugo Award; the creation of the comic book Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer, published by Radical Comics in 2001, together with Gregory Rucka; an illustrated adaptation of the libretto of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute (2008).

In his latest works, the artist uses the ancient sumi-e technique.