In a time where there was no such job title as a concept artist twenty something years ago a Graphic Designer and Animator named Yoshitaka Amano illustrated concepts and illustrations for Square Enix's Final Fantasy game.
Despite being the company's "Final" game it became a commercial success and thus saved the company and became their flagship series.
Amano has been a staple and set the groundwork for Square Enix's look for future games until FFVI and contributed to designs until 7. Even now Amano has designed pretty much all the Final Fantasy logos which are symbols of what the game is about or a theme.
Amano works in a distinct mixed media style with sumi-e, watercolors, inks and other materials.
Since I got the book at a used bookstore at a extremely discounted price, the sacrifice is I didn't get the cool awesome cover flap... I'm not a hardcore collector where it has to be in extreme pristine condition.
The book is hardcover, spans 115 pages of high grade glossy paper.
Published by Dark Horse, the price has gone down to justify the price of the book.
It is relatively thin with the hardcover and without.
One interesting aspect of the book is that it is purely a picture book with no text just letter and number annotations. In the last page there is an index matching the annotations with the title of the work. I have mixed feelings about this. The titles of the images are not long and could of been placed on each page but then again it would ruin the flow and consistency in the design layout of the book.
It is difficult to convey the expansive panorama pages in
the book that have high volumes of detail with multiple figures and such.
All the images are in high resolution and fairly large where one can see the bleed and noise of the watercolor and inks being used. Even un-intentional tiny ink splatters!
Dawn: The Worlds of Final Fantasy is a nice forgotten gem that is from my library.
When I was a fan it was awesome to see the artwork from
these illustrations was the base for sprites in game. It is a nice edition to your library seeing Amano's work with his elegant brushstrokes that sweep you into his images.
Watercolor and inks are one of those mediums that require a light touch because it can look overdone and sloppy without careful precision to achieve vibrant translucently.
Yoshitaka Amano is definitely a master of his craft.
My favorite character in the Final Fantasy Franchise. Gilgamesh.
Screw Cloud, Squall, Balthier and other bishis of the series.
He wields weapons from other characters and is generally a hard boss fight.
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