Yoshitaka Amano Talks About His First Job And His Working Habits

If you aren’t familiar with Japanese artist, Yoshitaka Amano, he’s best known in video game circles as the character designer for a lot of the older Final Fantasy games, particularly on the NES and Super NES.

Amano’s portfolio extends well beyond Square Enix’s role-playing series, however. He’s also worked on designs for various manga and anime series, and is presently directing his very first movie, a CG feature titled Zan.

The Japan Times recently published an interview with Amano (via MangaBlog), which revealed — amongst other things — his work habits. Amano is a relentless worker, telling the Japan Times that “the best way to relax is to work more.” When he’s tired of drawing detailed characters, he moves to another table and begins doodling with colours.

Amano also reveals that he his first job as an artist was at the age of 15, at Tatsunoko Productions. He would often skip working hours and come and go as he pleased, but the president of the company would cover for him due to his talent, and also because he understood that creativity couldn’t be enforced at a nine-to-five job.

I’d recommend heading over to the Japan Times’ site and reading the entire feature if you’re interested in Amano’s work — it’s an interesting piece.