Hello dear readers!
I'm happy to introduce the final piece of the San Diego Comic Con interview trilogy! Many thanks again to Comics Beat for the incredible opportunities. If you'd like to learn more about what happened during SDCC, check out my interview with Deadpool's Stefan Kapicic and my stint in the Arrow Press Room.
Big piece of news: Life at the Crux had its one year anniversary 17 days ago! My first article was a recap of New York Comic Con, published on November 2, 2017. Check out my adventures with Marvel's The Runaways, and other NYCC hijinks, here.
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When you think about art nouveau, what comes to mind?
A decadent and elaborate art style from 19th and 20th century Europe?
Do you perhaps think about Gustav Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer? Or Henry Van de Velde's alterations to his Bloemenwerf residence?
What about Yoshitaka Amano, the illustrator behind Vampire Hunter D, and the logo designer behind all Final Fantasy games?
The prominent artist's 50-year career will reach a milestone this Fall with the publication of "Yoshitaka Amano - The Illustrated Biography - Beyond Fantasy", under American publisher Dark Horse Comics. The tome spans over 300 pages, and i penned by Florent Groges, who is one of France's leading videogame historians.
Join us as we sit down with Amano-sensei and discuss his fears, the joy of travel, his thoughts on the upcoming biography, and commonalities he may, or may not have, with characters such as the eponymous D.
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With Suzuki-san and Yoshitaka Amano-sensei.
Gabriela: First of all congratulations on "Yoshitaka Amano - The illustrated Biography" being released this fall. Considering your decades-long career, why did you think this year was the ideal time to tell your story to others?
Yoshitaka Amano (translated by Michael Gombos, who works for Dark Horse): So this is Suzuki-san, she's been a manager for Amano for 30 years. So the thing is there's, a man named Floren, he's a from a game company in France. He's the one who, over the period of three years, decided to do Amano sensei's biography, and Amano-sensei said he's fine with it, and he's actually offered to do it in Japan. But Amano-sensei said: "because I can read Japanese, it's embarrassing to read about myself." So they did it in France first, and then he felt: "as long as it's in language and I can't read, I don't mind having a biography about me," but he's very humble. We talked to Floren, he's like me in France. We're kind of the analog to each other. He said: "Michael, what do you think of this?" and we really wanted to do this. So Amano-sensei said yes, but it wasn't his decision to do it. He just feels like he wants to do it as long as it's not in English or Japanese, that he doesn't have to bear reading about himself.
Gabriela: Thank you! My second question is: as a book of more than 300 pages - that spans your 50 years of professional work - were there any aspects of collaborating with it that made you feel vulnerable about revisiting those early years?
Amano/Gombos: He says it's hard for anybody to look back on their life. There's parts he doesn't like because they make him feel vulnerable. He said that's important because it's what he did. That's what he did at the time, and maybe there's some things in the 70s that are difficult for him to be open about. But he also realizes that when doing a biography, the things you want to talk to least about are actually the things that people want to know the most! It's also just not about him, like through the autobiography people who maybe assisted or worked on the projects with him will be able to reflect on themselves and say: "oh, I remember that happening in my life." So, he thinks that's a really good part about having an autobiography done.
Gabriela: It's very personable in the sense that it makes you revisit things that makes people really feel a connection with you and that: "hey, this person I look up to has undergone these things that I myself have felt at a given moment of time as well," and it's a very appreciated step forward.
Amano/Gombos: He says that if it helps bring that out in people, then that's a pretty good thing.
Gabriela: My other question is: your career has taken from Japan to France, and all over the world. Would you say that you draw different kinds of inspiration from the places that you have visited?
Amano/Gombos: It's hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of inspiration he draws from somewhere, but he says that having experiences that transcend your average daily experience are very important for him in creation and inspiration. He says going to France or coming here is a lot of work, but once you get here, you realize that there's a lot of inspiration coming from these experiences that you wouldn't have in your home country, or in his case, staying home in Japan.
Gabriela: One comment that I would like to add to that is that usually some of the greatest sources of inspiration, and some of the greatest ideas do generally come from being in unexpected environments with circumstances we are unfamiliar with, because it pushes us beyond the boundaries of what we are used to. I think that also adds a lot to the beauty of his work - there's all these layers of complexity from all of these different experiences that he has had.
Amano/Gombos: He wanted to add one thing to what you were saying: you hear a lot of information from third parties, so when he actually goes to New York, he can touch it and be there himself. And that's the most important thing - it's not about having experiences diluted by information from third parties or what you read, but about going and doing things yourself.
Gabriela: It's humanized, it's concrete. It's no longer something you hear from extenal sources of information gathered from other people, but it becomes something that you yourself have experienced.
Amano/Gombos: This is a really weird example he used matter, but no matter how much you say: "this cake is delicious, it's really good, you can't really know until you eat it. This is one of the examples we talked about last time when I was in Japan. He had never been to a place that's like a tropical island. So he said: "I'm going to go to Bali, and see what it's like there." And he had this image that he'd be sitting there, looking out on this beautiful ocean scene with waves, but he's a really in an air conditioned room, and he's looking at it from this vantage point where nothing could touch him, or it's not hot or humid. When he actually got there the illustrations he did weren't cool or wavy, but kind of frantic, impassioned, which he didn't expect, and that he wouldn't have drawn had he not gone. All he's saying is, you have to go, and if you don't go, you'll never understand.
Gabriela: My next question is: a bit theme in your work is fleshing out characters that do not feel like they fit into their world, with D being one of them. Have you ever felt at this crux, having moved throughout different cultures around the world? What would you say you have in common with D?
Amano/Gombos: He doesn't have much in common with D, he didn't feel like he had a destiny. You have these characters that have this destiny that's on their shoulders, it's pushing them. He doesn't feel like he has much in common with D, but he always wanted to project and try to write something that he felt like someone was out of place, or being pushed by a higher power.
Gabriela: I was also curious, since that's also a theme that's analyzed in the Final Fantasy titles he's worked on, because of the fact that he's moved around so many different cultures, that maybe he's felt he has given characters any of these aspects.
Amano/Gombos: This is in his biography too, but creating characters, or adding a personality to a character was one of his goals as a character designer. That was his specialty, in a way.
Gabriela: My final question is: a few years ago, you created your own studio, Studio Devaloka, and I'm interested in knowing what are some current projects you're excited about developing with the studio?
Amano/Gombos: There's the book "Deva Zan" that Dark Horse published. There's actually something in the works happening with that, a live action movie, which is what they produced at Studio Devaloka. The producer is actually right outside. That was one of the ideas that he had always wanted to do as a novel, and he's known as the illustrator for a lot of things, but Amano sensei wrote this as his own book, and so it's published by Darkhorse actually, and it was the first place where it was published. He wrote this from his heart, and he made all the elements from scratch, and to have that made into a movie, or some other media, was one of the original desires of Studio Devaloka. And a long history with them too. So. For. Me. That is. How. He got the.
Gabriela: Thank so very much for your time! I appreciate the time you have all taken to be here, it's an honor to be in your presence.
